FARSIERS' REGISTER— EXPERIMENTS ON FEEDING SWINE. 



305 



Paiis, and also the rye at the time of sowing the 

 clover seed (say in September.) The rye sufler- 

 cd to stand, ripen, and i'all upon the ground would 

 protect the young clover irom the withering iniiu- 

 ence of the sun, and benefit the land very much 

 by remaining upon its suiface — perliaps as much, 

 or more on such a soil, than it would do if plough- 

 ed under. Such an experiment up.on a tew acres 

 ■would not require nuich trouble or expense. Many 

 persons take it lor granted, that their lands will not 

 produce clover, or be benefiiedby plasier of Paris, 

 wiihout ever making any sufficient exjseriment to 

 ascerlain the iiict. Some sprinkle a little clover 

 seed carelessly and sparsely over a poor and nearly 

 naked surlace, without using any means to ensure 

 i!s growth; and a failure is taken as conclusive 

 evidence that their lands will not produce clover. 

 The wonder would be, if under such circum- 

 stances it did grow. Light sandy land re(iuires to be 

 well compacted by a heavy roller, (or other means) 

 to ensure the growth of clo\'er seed. I became 

 satisfied of this fact, by observing that wherever 

 the soil was lightest and loosest, my clover seed 

 always succeeded worst; and whenever a road had 

 been made through that part of the field, by the 

 wagons in hauling out the preceding crop, or a 

 spot trodtlenhardby the stock of cattle, &c., there 

 the young clover was invariably thiclily set. I 

 find that plaster of Paris has not only the efiect of 

 very greatly multiplying the pi'oduct of clover on 

 my light sandy land, but of very perceptively 

 stillening it. The year before the last, I measui'ed 

 two acres of wheat, growing upon an originally 

 jjoor, light, loose, sandy soil, the natural growth 

 on whicl\was pine and hickory and oak saplings, 

 with chinquepin and whortleberry thickly inter- 

 spersed. This land has been in cultivation for ten 

 or twelve years, in which time it has had its regu- 

 lar rotation of cultivation and rest, according to 

 the five field system, (three crops of grain and two 

 of clover m five years;) when in clover it has had 

 at four different times a dressing of a bushel of 

 ]jlaster of Paris to the acre; never has had a par- 

 ticle of manure hauled u]ion it. The product ol' 

 the t^vo acres was over fifiy-two and a half bush- 

 els of clean wheat. When first cleared, it was 

 an easy draft for two horses to plough it eight or 

 nine inches deep, and produced fi'om twenty-five 

 to thirty bushels of corn to the acre, and irom ten 

 to twelve of wheat. It is now a heavy draft for 

 three strong horses vvith a McCormick |)lough to 

 fallow to that depth. This increased stiffness of 

 the soil, is doubtless attributable in part to other 

 causes, than the action of plaster of Paris. The 

 two acres measured v/ere jjart of a field of between 

 eighty and ninety acres, only a small portion of 

 which was of tlie descrij;tion of soil above stated. 

 The average of that portion of the field in wheat 

 (a ])art of which, seven or eight acres, had been 

 manured with si able and bam yard manure) was 

 within a fraction of thirty busliels to the acre; a 

 part of the field was in rye — thirly-five acres in 

 wheat produced 1030 bushels. Ten years ago on 

 the same land, the average would not have ex- 

 ceeded twelve bushels to the acre. These thirty- 

 five acres, being inlerior to the residue of the field, 

 I had a division fence run across it when last in 

 clover, for the purpose of preventiiigthis part from 

 being too closely grazed — a good coat of clover 

 was in August ploughed down, and the ground 

 harrowed — the first of October it was cross plough- 



ed; (my usual practice is not to cross plough or 

 "stir the liillow'' as it is called) on the 10th of 

 October, one and a half bushels of wheat to the 

 acre were sown, and carefully liarrowed in. 



S. II. L. 



EXPKRIMENTS ON THE l^liEDING OF SW^IKE. 



Extract from a coniinunication to tlie AgiicullurKl Society of 

 Essex, (Mass.) troiu the Kev. Huury Coleuiiui. 



EXPERIMENT I. 



Two hogs about one year old; one of them a 

 barrow in very gootl condition; the oiher a barrow 

 recently gelded, and in onlinary condition, were 

 p'ut up to be fed exclusively ujion Indian hasty 

 pudding or Indian meal boiled with water. We 

 began feeding them the first of March 1831, and 

 weighed them again on the nineteenth of the same 

 month. In the 18 days they consumed six busli- 

 els of Indian meal. They were ofiiered cold \vater 

 to drink but did not incline to take any. 

 The result — 

 No. 1 weighed on 1st IMaich 233 lbs. 



do. do. 19th do. 269 



gain 



36 



No. 2 (recendv gelded) weighed on 1st 



March ' 190 lbs. 



do. do. 19th 247 



gam 



57 



The gain of the two was 93 lbs. in eighteen 

 days. Tlie quantity of meal consumed by them 

 was 10 quarts per day to the two. This allows 30 

 quarts to a bushel deducting two for grinding. 

 Tlie price of corn at the time v/as 70 cts. per bush- 

 el. The expense of the increased weight is 4,5 

 cts. per lb. 



March 21, 1831. Killed the hog mentioned first 

 in the foregoing experiment. Live-weight 273 

 lbs. W^eigiit when dressed 215 lbs. Loss in offal, 

 loose fat included, 59 lbs. or a little more than one 

 fifth. 



EXPERIIMENT II. 



No. 2, mentioned above, weighed on 23d 



M arch, 



do. on 30ih April, 

 In 38 days gain, 



253 lbs. 

 312 



59 lbs. 



No. 3. a shoat purchased from a drove, 



weighed on 2Slh March, 100 lbs. 



do. do. on 30th April, 151 lbs. 



gain in 33 days, 



51 lbs. 



This is a fraction over 1 lb. 8 oz. per day each, 

 nearly 1 lb. 9 oz. 



In this case their food was exclusively boiled 

 potatoes mashed with Indian meal. Exact amount 

 consumed not ascertained, but fed as freely as 

 they would bear. 



EXPERIMENT III. 



The two last named hogs were for the next 20 



