^ RuTA Baca culttuie. [Parti. 



130. Tmce a day I take about two bushels, and scatter 

 them about upon the grass for fifteen ewes with their 

 lambs, and a few wether sheep, and for seven stout 

 store pigs, which eat with them. Once a day I fling 

 out a parcel of the refuse that have been cut from the 

 roots sent to market, along with cabbage leaves and 

 stems, parsnips, fibres, and the like. Here tlie work- 

 ing oxen, hogs, cows, sheep, and fowls, all feed as they 

 please. All these animals are in excellent condition. 

 The cow^ has no other food ; the working oxen a lock 

 of hay twice a day ; the ewes an ear of Indian corn 

 each ; the pigs nothing but the roots ; the foAvls and 

 ducks and turkeys are never fed in any other way, 

 though they know how to feed themselves whenever there 

 is any thing good to be found above ground. 



131. I am iveaning some pigs, which, as every one 

 knows, is an affair of milk and meal. I have neither. 

 I give about three buckets of boiled Ruta Baga to seven 

 ■pigs every day, not having any convenience for steam- 

 ing; two baits oi Indian corn in the ear. And, with 

 this diet, increasing the quantity with the growth of 

 the pigs, I expect to turn them out of the sty fatter (if 

 that be possible) than they entered it. Now, if this be 

 so, every farmer will say, that this is what never w^as 

 done before in America. We all know how important 

 a thing it is to tcean a pig ivell. Any body can wean 

 them Avithout milk awA meal; but, then, the pigs are 

 good for nothing. They remain three months after- 

 wards and never grow an inch ; and they are, indeed, 

 not worth having. To have milk, you must have cows, 

 and cows are vast consumers ! To have cows, you must 

 have female labour, which, in America, is a very pre- 

 cious commodity. You cannot haA'e meal without 

 sharing in kind pretty liberal with the miller, besides 

 bestowing labour, however busy you may be, to 

 carry the corn to mill and bring the meal back. 

 I am, however, speaking here of the pigs from my 

 English breed ; thoiigh I am far from supposing that 

 the common pigs might not be Aveaned in the same way. 



132. Soica u-ith young pigs I feed thus : boiled Ruta 

 Baga twice a day. About three ears of Indian corn 

 a piece twice a day. As much offal Ruta Baga raw 



