I. AGRICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 389 



accordance with agricultural experience, shows the difference 

 between the fattening and milk-producing processes." "The 

 amount of milk production is dependent upon the individual 

 peculiarities of the animal, and upon the duration of period 

 of lactation." The very interesting observation was also 

 made that the decrease in the amount of milk during the pe- 

 riod of lactation may be prevented to a considerable extent 

 by an increase in the amount of albuminoids in the fodder. 

 28 l\ January, 1874, 26. 



REMOVAL OF SMELL FROM HOG YARDS. 



Professor Horsford has lately been making experiments in 

 reference to the abatement, and if possible the removal, of 

 the nuisance caused bv the establishment of extensive ho<r 

 yards in the vicinity of cities, with especial reference to those 

 at present near Boston. It may create a smile of incredulity 

 on the part of our readers to be informed that at the present 

 time Boston, as a pork-packing centre, is second only to Chi- 

 cago, having long since distanced Cincinnati and other West- 

 ern towns in the race, and that probably, within a compara- 

 tively short time, it will outrank even Chicago. This is due 

 to the facilities secured by the Boston merchants for the 

 transfer of live stock to the East, rather than the packed pork, 

 and to the very complete and efficient labor-saving arrange- 

 ments for doing the work on a large scale, and at a very tri- 

 fling cost. 



Here, however, as elsewhere, the odor developed by the 

 concentration of so many living hogs has become very disa- 

 greeable to the neighborhood, and Professor Horsford, as an 

 expert, has been called upon to devise a remedy. He reports 

 that he has succeeded in preparing a liquid, which, when 

 sprinkled to the amount of about a pint to each animal upon 

 the hogs and their surroundings, will entirely remove the pe- 

 culiar odor, so as to make it inappreciable. This is also to 

 be applied to the floors and sides of the cars in which the ani- 

 mals are transported. When once within the pens, and a 

 supply of charcoal spread upon the floor, the emanations are 

 almost completely overcome. 



It is now proposed to thatch with straw the board walls 

 of the space where the hogs are last handled before dropping 

 into the scalding-tank. This will reduce the noise to a mini- 



