RUT A BAG A CULTURE 



than they entered it. Now, if this be so, every farmer will say, 

 that this is what never was done before in America. We all know 

 how important a thing it is to zvean a pig well. Any body can 

 wean them without milk and meal : but, then, the pigs are good 

 for nothing. They remain three months afterwards and never 

 grow an inch ; and they are, indeed, not worth having. To have 

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

 have cows, you must have female labour, \vhich, in America, is a 

 very precious commodity. You cannot have meal without 

 sharing in kind pretty liberally 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 ; though I am far from supposing that 

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



132. Sows with 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 as they will eat. Amongst this 

 boiled Ruta Baga, the pot-liquor of the house goes, of course ; 

 but, then, the dogs, I dare say, take care that the best shall fall 

 to their lot ; and as there are four of them pretty fat, their share 

 cannot be very small. Every one knows what good food, how 

 much meal and milk are necessary to sows which have pigs. I 

 have no milk, for my cow has not yet calved. And, then, what a 

 chance concern this is ; for, the sows may perversely have pigs at 

 the time when the cows do not please to give milk : or, rather, 

 when they, poor things, without any fault of theirs, are permitted 

 to go dry, which never need be, and never ought to be the case. I 

 had a cow once that made more than two pounds of butter during 

 the week, and had a calf on the Saturday night. Cows always 

 ought to be milked to the very day of their calving, and during 

 the whole time of their suckling their calves. But, &quot; sufficient 

 unto the day is the evil thereof.&quot; Let us leave this matter till 

 another time. Having, however, accidentally mentioned cows t 

 I will just observe, that in the little publication of Mr. CRAMP, 

 mentioned above, as having been printed by the Board of Agri 

 culture, it was stated and the proof given, that his single cozo gave 

 him, clear profit, for several successive years, more than fifty 

 pounds sterling a year, or upwards of two hundred and twenty dollars. 

 This was clear profit : reckoning the food and labour, and taking 

 credit for the calf, the butter, and for the skim-milk at a penny 

 a quart only. Mr. CRAMP S was a Sussex cow. Mine were of 

 the Alderney breed. Little small-boned things ; but, two of rny 

 cows, fed upon three quarters of an acre of grass ground, in the 

 middle of my shrubbery, and fastened to pins in the ground, 

 which were shifted twice a day, made three hundred pounds of 

 butter from the 28th of March to the 27th of June. This is a finer 

 country for cattle than England ; and yet, what do I see ! 



133. This difficulty about feeding sows with young pigs and 

 weaning pigs, is one of the greatest hindrances to improvement ; 



