286 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. & 



nursery of trees, and a handsome profit, would 

 have been the resuh. 



How has the purchaser of mangel wuDze! 

 been disappointed in the (Termination of the geed, 

 and fancied that he had been imposed upon, per- 

 haps discouraged from any fu'lher attempt at 

 growing this valuable root, when, had he let the 

 seed soaked in water a little Vv^arm for twenty-four 

 hours, nearly every one would have grown. The 

 same remark will apply to the common beet, and 

 various other seeds that frequently i'ail of germi- 

 nating. 



A farmer buys a quantity of rut a baga seed 

 and sows it on stiff clay. The crop is of course a 

 failure, but instead of placing the blame where it 

 should be, to his inattention to the fact that such 

 soils are entirely unsuitable for turnips, or any tap 

 rooted plant, he condemns the seed as im|)ure or 

 imperfect, when, if sown on the proper soil, a deep 

 sandy loam, the produce would have been first 

 rate. 



We have given these instances to show that 

 when a man purchases seed, he should know how 

 to sow them, and where to sow them, if he would 

 be saved from disappointment. Scarcely any two 

 kinds of seeds will succeed equally well when 

 they receive the same treatment, are planted in 

 the same kinds of soil, or to the same depth. Ig- 

 norance, or inattention, here frequently end in dis- 

 appointment, and the vender of valuable seeds 

 frequently receives blame, when his efforts to ac- 

 commodate the public deserve the highest praise. 



From tlie Franklin Farmer. 

 CHARCOAL FOR DISEASED LUNGS IN HOGS. 



il/r. Editor — As the rearing and fattening of 

 hogs has become a business of great importance 

 to the west, and especially to our own corn-grow- 

 ing state; and as new and terrible diseases have 

 made their appearance within the last few years, 

 among that class of our domestic animals, I, as a 

 common sufferer with my brother farmers, have 

 been trying to ascertain the cause of, and remedy 

 for, the one which I have suflered the most by, 

 and which I shall call your attention more par- 

 ticularly to. It is admitted, I believe by patho- 

 logists, that diseases may, and do change their 

 type in the same latitude, and become more and 

 • more malignant as population becomes more dense 

 and the country becomes older; thus our own in- 

 termittent has degenerated into the more deadly 

 typhus fever ; thus that which we once called 

 quinsy or swelling of the throat in swine, has now 

 assumed a more malignant type, and requires 

 a different treatment; the cause is the same, but 

 the effect is not always instantaneous or accom- 

 panied by the same symtoms or results. I think 

 it may be safely assumed that most of the diseases, 

 if not all, that hogs are liable to, are produced by 

 sudden transitions from heat to cold; and as they 

 do not, like most other animals, perspire throuofh 

 the pores of the skin over the whole surface of 

 the body, but through small orifices on the legs 

 and throat, which are constantly liable to obstruc- 

 tion, especially in the winter season, when the 

 animals in large numbers bed together, producing 

 great heat and fi:ee perspiration lor a short time, 



but from the restiveness of their nature they 

 are often changing the position first assumed, all 

 tending to clot the mediums of respiration, and 

 thus lay the foundation of disease and death by 

 alternating between heat and cold through the 

 winter. Ordinarily the v/eak of the herd are the 

 first to die. This may be chargeable to their ina- 

 bility to change positions, subjecting them to the 

 crushing weight of the whole number in the bed; 

 or to their long subjection to the great heat engen- 

 dered by the common mass, until they are called 

 to partake of the morning food. This, as we 

 have stated, formerly produced enlargement of the 

 glands of the animal's neck, which olien ended in 

 inflammation and death. Now, the same cause 

 produces a very different cfliect, and although it ig 

 still strangulation, yet the inflammation falls with 

 its whole weight upon the lungs, and if both 

 tubes of that organ are affected, death instantly 

 ensues; if only one, the animal may live a long 

 time, but never recovers unless the remedy that f 

 shall presently suggest, or one equally potent, be 

 applied. The symptoms where the attack is vio- 

 lent, are a seeming sense of suffocation, great in- 

 disposition to move, a deep crimson color, ap- 

 proaching to purple, all over the body, and if 

 forced to move only a few paces, the animal will 

 pant as if worried by dogs in hot weather. If the 

 attack is less violent, they will take more exercise 

 with seemingly less pain, will throb in the flanks, 

 in much the same way that a horse will when ex- 

 hausted by fatigue and hard usage, are generally 

 inattentive to their company, are inclined to eat 

 earth rather than their accustomed food; such ge- 

 nerally live a long time, but never recover. I now 

 proceed to point out the way to prevent the dis- 

 ease and to cure it if taken in time : Do not suffer 

 your hogs to herd together in large lots in cold wea- 

 ther; never suffer them to sleep in hollow trees ; if 

 you have sheds for them to sleep under let them be 

 set so low that they cannot in great numbers heap 

 together; in dry hard freezing weather let them 

 have some succulent food, such as apples, potatoes, 

 or turnips, but especially let them have plenty of 

 salt and charcoal; this last is a cure for the disease 

 above described, if administered before they en- 

 tirely refuse to eat. It is known to almost every 

 one, that charcoal is a powerful antiseptic and ab- 

 sorbent, and that hogs will search ibr and eat it 

 with eagerness, and especially in banks of leach- 

 ed ashes, and so they will unassociated with 

 ashes, if at first you will break it up into small 

 lumps and pour a little salt and water over it. 1 

 have tried the various means in common use, 

 such as tar, antimon)^, sulpfiur, &c., and never 

 had one to recover its health until I tried the char- 

 coal, and I have every confidence that it will suc- 

 ceed with others as it has with me, and if it does, 

 I shall be well paid for this communication, feel- 

 ing as 1 do, that no man ought to live for himself 

 alone. VV. 



From the Pliiladelphia Fanners' Cabinet. 

 CITRON PUMPKIN. 



This most excellent and delicious article was in- 

 troduced into this country by Commodore Porter, 

 who gave a few of the seed to Lieut. Gamble, 

 then at the navy yard in this city, who cultivated 

 them successfully. Lieut. Gamble was transfer- 



