8 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HOGS— SHEEP, &c. 



sunk, to obstruct the passage opened by the still 

 rushing waters, while new earth is brought to fill 

 up the'^chasms. The sciuatter is seen shouldering 

 his rifle, and making his way through the morass, 

 in search of his lost stock, to drive the survivors 

 home, and save the skins of the drowned. Nev/ 

 fences have every wliere to ha formed; even new 

 houses must be erected; to save Avhich Irom a like 

 disaster, the settler places them on an elevated 

 platform, sui)ported by pillars made of the tmnks 

 of trees. The lands must be ploughed anew, and 

 if the season is not too far advanced, a crop of corn 

 and potatoes may yet be raised. But the rich 

 prospects of the planter are blasted. The traveller 

 is impeded in his journey, the creeks and smaller 

 streams having broken up their banks in a degree 

 proportionate in their size. A bank of sand, which 

 seems firm and secure, suddenly gives way be- 

 neath the traveller's horse, and the next moment 

 the animal has sunk in the quick-sand, either to 

 the chest in front, or over the crupper behind, Icav- 

 ino" its master in a situation not to be envied. 



Unlike the mountain torrents and small rivers 

 of other parts of the Avorld, the Mississippi rises 

 but slowly during these floods, continuing for seve- 

 ral weeks, to increase at the rate of about an inch 

 in the day. When tit its height, it undergoes little 

 fluctuation for some days, and after this subsides 

 as slowly as it rose. The usual duration of a flood 

 is from four to six weeks, although, on some occa- 

 sions, it is protracted to two months. 



Every one knows how largely the idea of floods 

 and cataclysms enters into the specidations of the 

 geologist. If the streamlets of the European con- 

 tinent afford illustrations of the formation of strata, 

 how much more must the 3'lississippi, with its 

 ever-shifting sand banks, its crumbling shores, its 

 enormous masses of brift timber, the source of 

 future beds of coal, its extensive and varied allu- 

 vial deposits, and its mighty mass of waters rolling 

 sullenly along, like the flood of eternity. 



DISEASES OF HOGS. 



From the Gencsoc Farmer. 



Mr. L. Tucker — I am engaged in milling, 

 and have kept a stock of about three hundred 

 hogs in a large frame pen, divided into twenty- 

 four rooms, with plank floor, and lodging rooms 

 covered and boarded, leaving open only sufficient 

 room for them to enter. They have been fed on 

 bran, shorts, and cross middlings. I have lost, 

 during the last winter, about fifty — many of them 

 were fat, and would Aveigh two hundred when 

 dressed. 



They were taken with wealaiess in the back, 

 and lose the use of their hind parts — generally 

 live from two to three weeks. On opening them, 

 have always found a great many slim worms a- 

 bout an inch long in the leaf and about the back 

 'bone. I have tried all medicine recommended by 

 farmers in this section, and in no instance had a 

 cure. 



I have a neighbor, who purchased a drove last 

 fall, and has given them seven hundred dollars 

 worth of corn, and the stock now left are not worth 

 the first cost in consequence of the same disease. 



You or your corresjiondents will confer a favor 

 by giving me such information as you or they pos- 

 sess, respecting a remedy. 



Yours, respectfully, r. h. h. 



Venice, Huron co., ( Ohio,) ^pril 2, 1834. 



ODDS AND ENDS. 



To tho Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



jUrunswickj March 31, 1834. 



I shall be glad to learn from some of the readers 

 of the Farmers' Register, what I have becii try- 

 ing tor thirty years in vain to find, a good and sure 

 -method to destroy lice on hogs, cows, and horses. 

 A decoction of tobacco will kill the lice, but will 

 not destroy the nits. I have Ircciuently sheared 

 hogs lor this purpose, and it is the best means to 

 rid them of lice: but shearing a hog is a tedious 

 job, which no one Avill be anxious to repeat. 



What is the best remedy lor worms in horses? 



By what means can house flies be destroyed, or 

 rendered less numerous and troublesome? 



W hat safeguard can be used against the worm 

 which cuts off young corn at the first joint in low 

 grounds? I am sometimes compelled to plant mine 

 three or ibur times, before I can get it to stand. 



What will prevent the i-avages of tlie fly which 

 eats tobacco plants? Mine have been oflen al- 

 most ei^-irely destroyed by these insects. But I 

 am now mostly a cotton planter — though the rot 

 and low prices together, have made me almost 

 heartless. 



When I plant tobacco in lots where I can 

 plough it well, I throw up beds of thirty-nine 

 inches wide, with a two-horse plough, and stick 

 the plants about twenty inches apart, on the mid- 

 dle of each bed. I never prime (or take off tho 

 lower leaves) when I top the plants: but when 

 they are hilled up, some of the small leaves are 

 taken off — such as probably were on the young 

 plant when first set out. Planting from the 1st to 

 the 10th of June, is preferred to any other time. 

 I generally top high, if the season and the land 

 will permit — and it" I can get the top leaves to 

 make, (or mature) it is all I want. The cold dews, 

 late in the growing season, help tobacco very 

 much. I am much in favor of packing tobacco 

 loose in the hogshead, (or without t}ing the leaves 

 in buntlles,) because, if it is manufactured in this 

 country, it takes much trouble to vmtie the six- 

 leaf bundles, and then the tie-leaf is worth but 

 very little. It seems strange to me that any one 

 should approve of these small bundles. 



I planted a sinall kind of speckled pea in the 

 same ])iece of land lor three or ibur years. Those 

 made the last year that I planted them, were coal 

 black, and as late as any other pea. To -what can 

 this remarkable change be ascribed? j. k. 



AGE OF SHEEP. 



From tlie Mountain Sliejiherd's Manual. 



The age of a sheep may be known by examin- 

 ing the front teeth. They are eight in number, 

 and ap))ear during the first yefu', all of a small 

 size. In the second year, the two middle ones 

 fiUl out, and their place is supplied by two new 

 teeth, wtiich are easily distinguished by being of 

 a larger size. In the third year, two other small 

 teeth, one from each side, drop out and arc re- 

 placed by two large ones; so that there are now 

 four large teeth in the middle, and two pointed 

 ones on each side. In the fourth j'ear the large 

 teeth are six in number, and only two small ones 

 remain, one at each end of the range. In the fifth 

 year the remaining small teeth are lost, and the 

 whole front teeth are large. In the sixth year the 

 whole begin to be worn; and in the seventh, some- 

 times sooner, some lull out or are broken. 



