204 



The Hog-Pen a Mine of Wealth. 



Vol. IV. 



a bushel, while in other parts, they are suf- 

 fered to lie untouched about the potasheries. 



Ashes generally answer the most valuable 

 purposes wlien applied to Indian corn, particu- 

 larly where the soil is not suitable to tliis plant. 

 Where the soil is wet, cold, loamy or clayey, 

 the plants are apt to get stunted with the cold 

 rains which usually fall after planting ; and 

 then the ashes serve to supply tlie natural de- 

 ficiencies of the soil, till it becomes fertilized 

 by the sun. But where tiie soil is natural to 

 the growth of this plant, and there is no dan- 

 ger of its being stunted at its outset, perhaps 

 it may be better to apply the ashes later, so 

 that the plants may derive the greatest assist 

 ance from this manure, while the ears are 

 setting and forming. 



Ashes should generally be used for top- 

 dressing ; their salts lose nothing by exposure 

 to the air, and soon find their way into the 

 soil. 



Soot is much more efficacious than ashes ; 

 beside salts, it contains oil. The soot of coal 

 is esteemed equally as good as that of wood. 

 It is used for top-dressings, and requires about 

 40 bushels for an acre. When applied to 

 winter grain it should be sown in the spring ; 

 and the same may be observed of ashes. Coal 

 soot is particularly very good for meadow 

 lands which have become sour and mossy. 

 This manure, can, however, only be had in 

 considerable quantities in large towns. 



Of salts, which serve as manures, the prin- 

 cipal are the common sea salt, urine, stale of 

 cattle, sea water, saltpetre and alkaline salts. 

 To the latter, the virtue of ashes, as a ma- 

 nure, is principally owing. Soapsuds is in 

 part valuable on account of its alkaline salts, 

 and perhaps the neutralized oil it contains 

 adds much to its value. It is usual to throw 

 this manure away; but this is a needless 

 waste. It may be taken in the watering pot 

 and strewed over tlie garden, where it will 

 be of great service as a manure, and in ex- 

 pelling insects. — Yankee Farmer. 



Tlie Hos-Pen a Uliiie of Wealth. 



(From the American Swine Breeder.) 



The allotment of suitable enclosures, and 

 the construction of convenient pens for swine, 

 are matters of great importance to those who 

 rear these animals with a view to profit. The 

 miserable custom of permitting swine to roam 

 at large, unattended by a swine herd, and al- 

 lowing them to gather food throughout ex- 

 tensive districts, cannot be too severely rep- 

 rehended, ft is desirable that every farmer 

 who consults tlie comfort of his animals sliould 

 have both pens and pasture — the latter well 

 covered with clover, of small dimensions, 

 and, if possible, a (Sordino- the hogs rendy ac- 

 cess to water. To effect this object, the 



fences which enclose the pasture may be ex- 

 tended so as to embrace a portion of some 

 running stream, or if this is not practicable, 

 some spring, from which water may be con- 

 stantly flowmg into an artificial reservoir. 

 It is found that hogs thrive better, when they 

 enjoy the means of slaking their thirst as na- 

 ture prompts them, than when they are re- 

 stricted to water drawn from wells and fur- 

 nished at stated intervals. Even in the 

 absence of a stream suitable for the purpose, 

 or a spring, water should, if possible, be con- 

 veyed, to some artificial pool or trough, in suf- 

 ficient quantities for their use at any moment. 

 The size of the pasture will of course depend, 

 to some extent, on the situation of the farm, 

 and number of hogs. In generrJ, however, 

 where the herd is numerous, it is deemed 

 advisable, to scatter it in different enclosures, 

 placing those hogs that are nearly of the same 

 age and strength together. Small orchards, 

 well set in clover, afford an excellent pasture 

 for hogs. Their manure greatly enriches the 

 ground ; while the roots of the trees, near 

 which, in such enclosures, their rooting pro- 

 pensities are mostly exercised, derive great 

 advantage fiom frequent loosening of the soil. 

 It is a matter of great importance to the 

 farmer to provide such enclosures, and adopt 

 such treatment, as will secure from his hogs 

 the greatest quantity of manure. Hog ma- 

 nure is extremely valuable, and large quan- 

 tities may be obtained with slight attention. 

 Where these animals are allowed the range 

 of small yards or pastures, the method pur- 

 sued by a correspondent of the Farmer's 

 Cabinet, will prove advantageous :* — " I usual- 

 ly keep and fatten, he remarks, four hogs in 

 the year; these I keep confined in a yard 

 twenty feet square, with a warm and conve- 

 nient shed attached thereto, as a shelter for 

 them during the night time, and in cold and 

 stormy weather." Into the yard he placed 

 the scrapings of ditches, the dirt that is con- 

 tinually in and about buildings, and this be- 

 came mixed with the straw with which they 

 were littered. The whole was cleared out 

 as often as was judged expedient. The quan- 

 tity and quality of the manure would be 

 greatly increased, if the pen was supplied 

 with weeds, (an excellent way this of turn- 

 ing these noxious plants to a good account,) 

 and in the absence of weeds, which by the 

 way is not very common, even on our best 

 cultivated farms, resort may be had to the 

 woods; here the farmer has an abundance of 

 leaves and other rubbish that may be used to 

 great advantage. "By the adoption of the 

 above course, more than twenty-five loads of 

 manure was obtained, as the product of four 

 I hogs, and this, too, of a superior quality to 



* Vnl. ii. p. 43. 



