Vol. XVI. No. 409. 



THE AGRICULTUJIAL NEWS. 



409 



the best importei] pedigree strains, which attracted 

 ■considerable attention and bore testimony to the im- 

 .provement due to imported strains. Specially deserv- 

 ing of notice was the winner of the first prize in 

 "Class 1. This .goat, 'Snowdrop, is an animal of extra- 

 ordinary size, her milking ijualities causing her to be 

 regarded as one of the best of her kind to be found 

 anywhere. Her milk yield on the exhibition grounds, 

 ten months afce- kidding, was o ft. 14| oz. although 

 she had been milked dry at 5 o'clock on the 

 previous afternoon — a good yield for a well bred 

 •Jersey cow. 



(3n the industrial side, excellent workmanship was 

 displayed in the exhibits of various handicrafts. The 

 exhibition must be considered to have been a decided 

 success, but it is a matter for .some wonder why the 

 exhibits in each class were comparatively so few in 

 number. One hoped, for instance, to have been able, 

 in such a sugar-cane island, to have shown to intelli- 

 gent strangers mo;e than six clumps of cane, good as 

 those were. 



Agriculture among the Aborigines of America 

 A short, interssting account of the agriculture of 

 the North American aborigines may be found in a 

 paper on land tenure and the organization of agricul- 

 ture on Indian reservations in the United States, pre- 

 pared under the direction of the Commissioner of 

 Indian affairs, Mr. Cato Sells, in the International 

 Re>;i'nu of A(jricultural Economics, May 1917. It is 

 stated that almost .vithout exception the early explorers 

 ' found the Indians in what is now the United States, 

 from the border of the Western Plains to the Atlantic 

 •Ocean, dwelling in settled \illages, and cultivating the 

 soil. De Soto found all the tribes visited by him, 

 from the Florida Peninsula to the western part of 

 Arkansas, cultivating maize and other food plants. 

 The early voyagers found the same thing true along 

 the Atlantic coast. Captain John Smith, and indeed 

 all the early colonists depended at first very largely 

 for food supplies upon the products of Indian cultiv- 

 ation. Jacques Cartier, the first European to ascend 

 the St. Lawrence, found that the Indians had, as he 

 says, good and large fields of corn. Champlain, another 

 6arlv'French explorer, speaks of the cultivation of the 

 soirfor food by the Irocjuois. La Salle observed the 

 cultivation bv the Indians of maize. In addition to the 

 maize crop, beans, squashes, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, 

 and tobacco were cultivated to a considerable extent 

 by the Indian tribes, especially in what are now the 

 Southern States. Marquette, speaking of the Illinois 

 Indians, says that in addition to maize they also 'sowed 

 beans and melons which are excellent, especially those 

 with the red seed.' 



In reo'ard to the tribes further West, the Pueblo 

 Indians are known to have been tillers of the soil, and 

 though the implements used, and the methods of cul- 

 tivat'ion were both simple and primitive, cotton, corn, 

 wheat (after its introduction), beans, and many vari- 

 eties of fruit wore grown in abundance. 



The Indians of Arizona and New Mexico had 

 ;;.;iit the ar', of irrigation before the appearance of 



the white man. Existing remains of their ditches are 

 estimated to have been sufficient for the irrigation of 

 at least 250,000 acres. 



There is definite evidence also, that the Indians 

 used fertilizers. The Plymouth colonies were advised 

 by the Indians to apply fish to their old grounds. It 

 is also stated that the Iroquois manured their land. 

 Lescarbot says that the Virginian Indians and others 

 enriched their fields with shells and fish. The imple- 

 ments they used in cultivating the ground are described 

 by him as 'wooden hoes and spades made of hardwood.' 



The Health of Hogs. 



In a letter which appeared in the Journal of tke 

 Jamaica Agricultural Society for September 1917, 

 Mr. Archibald H. Ritchie, Government Entomologist, 

 points out that a properly coustructed hog wallow of 

 concrete would largely conduce to the keeping of hogs 

 in health. The wallow, besides being a means whereby 

 disease and parasites can be controlled or prevented, is 

 also a means of adding to the comfort of the animals. 

 A sanitary hog wallow charged with a reliable disin- 

 fectant and lice killer has become an essential part of 

 the furnishing of all well conducted hog farms in the 

 United States If the sanitary wallow for hogs be 

 adopted in preference to a loathsome, filthy, mudhole, 

 the increased bodily comfort of the hogs, and the 

 prevention of disease amongst them, and control of 

 parasites on them may lead the way to success in pork 

 production. The construction of a wallow is shortly 

 outlined as follows: — 



(T) Excavate a hole about 10 feet square by 

 2 feet deep. 



(2) Fill in with gravel or marl to a depth of 

 10 inches, and ram well. 



(3) On top of the gravel spread 4 inches of con- 

 crete composed of 1 part of cement, 2 of sand, and 

 4 of gravel. Pack well, and leave the fioor i-ough 

 to prevent the hogs slipping. The fioor should slope 

 gradually to one corner so that the wallow may be 

 easily drained. A drain pipe with a plug may be led 

 from this corner. 



(4) Side walls of concrete 12 inches high from 

 the floor, and 4 inches broad should then be erected. 

 The 2 inches of space above the ground level prevents 

 the inflow of surface water. 



(5) Construct a slope to one of the side walls 

 about 4 feet in length from the floor level, as an exit, 

 and corrugate this slope to prevent hogs slipping in 

 going in and coming out. 



(6) Erect a shed over the wallow with any rough 

 lumber, as a shade for the hogs, and to keep the wallow 

 cool. 



(7) The wallow should be charged to a depth of 

 10 inches, using either water with j-inch layer cjf 

 crude oil, or preferably, such a dip as 'Kreso", which 

 acts as a combined disinfectant and insecticide. 



A simple method of controlling lice on hogs has 

 lately been employed, it is said, in Mississippi. Piles 

 of sand saturated with crude oil are placed under the 

 rough shed erected for the shade of • hogs in the fi.^ld 

 or yard. The hogs delight to wallow in this materia), 

 and fleas, lice, etc., are thereby held in check. 



