The Essex Breed of Swine.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 184, 25 December 1886, Page 4

The Essex Breed of Swine.

A rjßonoT.w bieetler of Esfox pi<j^ v. lifcs to the not'l/icn Cultivator as follows :--! would like to give a few facts about the E--ox of the present day, since the*' Imm been incicascd in si/c and otheiwi-e gieath imurovedby EnglUhand Ameiicati b reed t- is I ho^an experimenting with the Y. -i * about the year 1851., and hn\e made caietin m ler tions of lom.ilcs fiom year to at.t ..voided clo-"o bleeding- by obt.xinin^r tin i>( '-u male-* to he found in England an' Amend, until \\\\, held now ffji.nl- an\ ii inu woild in m/q ot the breeding storl. In Jecundiry it piobably excel* {hat of an otln l heid. In September lhiee ot nr matured . sows fanowed, btinuing A'A pij^ — .sixteen, fouitecn, and thiitten, ic-'(c tivc-ly. Of thes C) thirty two aie living a iu. •.Mowing inpidly, the mothers Wing c.ipi'.n i.m-ev. 1 have found the E-*ev t.ie most piohttihle of any of the im|)im(<l buciU thi/y aio frcu fiom dif-wu-o, mecih) kccpi-if and tiuttuie eatly. My held i,'i, <lo\fi and the glean in •:*. of the jriain hel(N, and .i good lanye in a wood pastuie ; thi- (-ame Lliem tliroujjli the spring- and .summer am. tall month-. Tho.-e intended for bacon are en (he run ot the pealield^, and use nmde ready for the knife with three \l tour bui-hel.s of corn per head. Tne K.-.m'\ tan be fattened at any a^re : the only ob jeetion to them is their becoming too Lit t. be depended on as reliable brccdei - when fed the usuul supply of food ui lowed te other s^ine. Tljomj iutijuiJeiJ furbicidr)ehould bo allowed to <fel their own ]i\in t i; on grn«s or in n woods lange aud stinted te breed at an early a<;e. My killing lio-;.-, an; ready for the knife a! eighteen to twenty mouths old and car. readily be made to weigh iT>O to ,'JOO poundnet nc a coit, of two t'j tliree cents pel pound. The Esj-ex, as a rule, aie not car nivorous. I have lia-1 sows attain the agt of four or live years, and yet dininjr tin twenty -seven yeais that I have bied the Essex, I have not seen noi heaid oi ;i chicken or lamb eater. The white breeds of swine are unsuited to a hot Climate on ac count of the mange. The Poland, China, and the Jersey breed? arc large and mature late; tnty'aie ad mimbly adapted to ft district i>lioie if cheap, but not profitable without tins ad vantage. The Bcrkshues, by many persotu at the South, are highly valued"; but oi> my farm I found thtm to be carnivorous, lamb and chicken eaters, and disposed k bpcome wild when allowed to run on a larg. range. Very many of them aho weie affected with lung troubles, indicated by a hacking cough. Many breeder? of the Efesex attribute the improvement in the Berkshire to a cro&s oi the Essex made by the English breeders. In the management of my herd for several years, I have used kerosene oil liberally, both externally and internally, to extoimi nate the parasites of the skin and tjie intestinal -vvormo to -which all the breeds of swine iire so liable in farm climates.