Ti''2 



AGRieiTLTURAL ESSAYS. 



other beasts : and hereby the profit of the farmer will be in- 

 creased. And if a common clover lay, will produce a good 

 crop of wheat, much more maybe expected of [the same 

 kind of ground, after pasturing swine upon it ; as their dung 

 adds much to the fertility of the soil. Hogs may be turned in- 

 to their pasture about the first of May, and kept in it till the 

 last of October ; and if the grass should not be quite sufficient 

 for their support, some potatoes or other ragtsmay be thrown 

 'Cp them. 



When it can with convenience be done, it is an excellent 

 piece of husbandry to make a hog pasture of an orchard ; their 

 dung is allowed to be the very best of manure for the trees. 

 They will keep the ground light and loose, destroy insects that 

 infect tlie trees,* and feed heartily on the premature apples 

 that fall, which ihe farmer is too often tempted to grind up for 

 cider. An orchard may be prepared with clover, as we 

 as any other spot of'ground." If the trees are young ai>d 

 amall, they should be secured by stakes drove in the ground 

 around them, to prevent their being wounded by stripping off 

 the bark. The loss v^'liich the farming interest sustains by 

 suffering hogs to run at large in the highways, is so obvious 

 that no good husbandman should suffer it in those districts 

 Vv'here by law they are commonable. It is observed by Mr. 

 Deane, that to prepare a pasture for hogs "the ground should 

 be broken up, tilled and manured, and then laid dawn with clo- 

 ver ; for swine are more fond of this grass than of any other 

 which our country produces. Let the quantity of land be so 

 proportioned to the number of swine, that they may keep the 

 grass from running up to seed ; for this will prevent waste ; 

 and the shorter the grass is the sweeter it will be, and the 

 more tender and agreeable to their palates. The same author 

 supposes that one acre of rich land in clover will support twen- 

 ty or more swine, large and small together, through the sum- 

 mer, and bring them well forward in their growth," and that "it 

 has been proved, by many trials, that hogs in such a pasture 

 m 'V be kept in good plight, without any other food." 



While they are young let the top of the gristle of the nose 

 be paired off with a sharp knife, which will ever afterwards 

 prevent their roocing up the sward, and answers the same pur- 

 pose as ringing. 



It has been uniformly remarked, that, although these animals 



*'S^e an account of the Curicules in essav on insects. 



