512 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
(having reference to temperature also,) he arrived at conclusions exactly 
opposite to those held several years ago by Professor Mapes, Cassius 
M. Clay, the Shakers, and perhaps farmers generally, in favor of the 
economy of boiling food for stock. Mr. Trabue’s experiments, made 
with the ‘Chester Whites,” led him to the following conclusions: 
1. That the breed of hogs has been improved; that we have now one breed, if not 
more, that can extract every particle of nutriment from raw corn; that can do their 
own husking, shelling, taking to mill, grinding, packing back, straining and boiling, 
much: better than we can do it for them. 
2. That the best temperature in which to fatten hogs is from 42° to 60°, which is usually 
found from the last of August to the middle of October. 
3. That they should have shelter, or access to it. 
4. If the fall is dry, they should be turned into the field, to help themselves before 
the corn hardens, and after it is out of the milk. : 
5. All there is in corn is 18 to 20 pounds of pork to the bushel, and if fed to an im- 
mature pure-bred hog, cooking does not help it. , 
Mr. Trabue’s theory is, that nothing should be fed to animals ina 
moist state, whether horses, cows or hogs, as they are thereby tempted 
and enabled to swallow their food unmasticated ; while the more they 
chew it, the better and more intimately it is imbued with saliva, and 
the more easily digested. 
Mr. A. P. Mills, of Warren County, advises greater attention to produc- 
ing combing and delaine wools, for which the climate of Missouri is as 
good as that of Kentucky, where they have been successfully grown. 
While in growing fine woots we have to compete with South America 
and Australia, where they can be produced profitably at eight cents a 
pound, we can raise the grades in question at less cost than England or 
Canada, our greatest competitors; and French and English manufac- 
turers want ali the wools of this description that are produced in their 
respective countries. An immense demand exists for these wools in 
making lastings and uppers for ladies’ and childrens’ shoes, the single 
town of Lynn, Massachusetts, requiring this class of goods to the 
amount of $1,500,000 per annum; and this is only one branch of trade 
in which these wools are used. Upwards of 12,000,000 pounds are now 
annually required in the United States, for which our manufacturers 
*have to depend chiefly on Canada. The fleeces of the Cotswold and 
Leicester are preferred by the best manufacturers. These are also good 
breeders and feeders, and as mutton sheep far superior to the fine-wool 
or the native sheep, and at four years old frequently weigh three hun- 
dred to four hundred pounds. 
Fruit-raising begins to attract attention. Large vineyards flourish in 
various parts of the State, and Missouri wines are well known in the 
Eastern markets for their combinations of rich flavor, delicacy, and 
strength. Apples are a successful crop, particularly on dry or well- 
drained soils; in the northern part of the State early winter sometimes 
catches the applies before they are gathered. If there is snow on the 
ground, 2 loss of the fruit is prevented by shaking it into the snow 
before the sun has power to thaw the apples; they are seldom injured 
by freezing if gradually thawed. Root-pruning has been successfully 
practiced for throwing pear trees into bearing, and also for preventing 
the blight; say, for trees two inches through, prune from twelve to four- 
teen inches in diameter to a ball of roots; trees three inches, prune 
eighteen inches from the trunk; and for every inch of diameter of the 
stem, give a foot of radius in describing the circle around the root-ball 
to be left. Lime slacked with warm water and thrown into trees will 
kill the bark-louse and all other soft-skinned insects. Plums are given 
oyer to the curculios, which are traveling westward at the rate of sixty 
a 
