382 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6 



cattle are no longer led, the hogs are put on the 

 exuberant clover field, which was sown Ibr the 

 double purpose of enriching the land and supply- 

 ing rich food lor their cattle and hogs. Fn due 

 time, when the clover becomes hard, and unfit 

 for the hogs, it is given up to ihe earth, and they 

 are removed to the rye fields, there to fatten and 

 complete another system of manuring, so admira- 

 bly adapted to our lands and our wants. So soon 

 as the rye field is consumed, the corn field is rea- 

 dy to receive them,* and in due time they are 

 ready for market, leavmg the fields and pastures 

 richer than they were. 



Although this arraugement is good for feeding 

 and fattening, yet there are other important mat- 

 ters in relation to their raising and health, which 

 in no wise should be negleclcd. Experience has 

 taught me, that no matter how many pigs a sow 

 has over six, they should be reduced to that num- 

 ber, always retaining the large and healthy ones ; 

 ibr I can, and will demonstraie, that six pigs will 

 make more pork at 12 or 18 months old, than 

 eio-ht would of the same litter — and eight will 

 make more than ten. Give to the six the food 

 which you would give the eight or ten, and you 

 will find in the result the truth of my statement 

 proven. It is essential that pigs be kept flu while 

 sucking, and to have them so, six is a better num- 

 ber than eight or ten. At weaning time or when 

 sixty days old, the lime when the sows decline 

 in milk, particular attention should be paid to the 

 pigs, having them regularly led either with corn 

 or swill, lor at this juncture, they are unaccus- 

 tomed to root for themselves, and will rapidly lose 

 their flesh and their health, and their growth will 

 be retarded, if left to shift for themselves. If they 

 are kept fat during the fall, when provisions are 

 plenty and cheap, they will keep thrifiy and well 

 through the winter, on very moderate feeding; 

 but 1 prefer liberal feeding throughout. The Ibod 

 is by no means thrown away, as you will have 

 more pork and not any more corn consumed in 

 the end. 



Hogs should be kept free from diseases; parti- 

 cularly the disease of worms, which is very per- 

 nicious and a constant attendant, on poor hogs. 

 Liberal feeding atall times, is the best preventive, 

 but when it is not in the crib, brimstone, spirits oi 

 turpentine, or tar mixed with their food will reme- 

 dy the evil. All hogs are more or less subject to 

 worms; but some are so overcharged, that their 

 intestines are literally filled with them, and unless 

 they are extirpated, it is throwing away corn to 

 feed them, for in this condition it is almost im- 

 possible to fatten them; they will consume twice 

 as much as a hog will not troubled with them, 

 as the nutritious juices are taken up by the worms, 

 and their fetid excrement is all that is leit as a 

 miserable substitute for sustenance. 



The most fatal disease of hogs is the swelled 

 throat or quinsy. This too, is easily prevented. 



* We presume our writer docs not intend to be un- 

 derstood, that the hogs are turned into the corn field; 

 lor though this practice may be adopted by some, the 

 more general custom is to put them in a large pen ad- 

 joining, into which the corn is thrown. If the corn is 

 not sufficiently ripe when the rye is consumed, old 

 corn is fed to the hogs; and indeed, the feeders gene- 

 rally, we believe, prefer beginning to feed them on 

 old corn after they are put up — introducing the new 

 rather cautiously and gradually.-— £d. F, Farmer. 



I have long been of the opinion that it proceeds 

 from indigestion, caused by feeding on hard grass- 

 es or clover in their declining state; and my suc- 

 cessful practice as a preventive for the last eight 

 years is a strong confirmation. Yet it matters not 

 concerning the cause, provided there is a remedy. 

 The disease in the last stage, is highly inflammato- 

 ry, but at no time infectious. It is an accumula- 

 tion of matter formed between the glands of the 

 jowl, which continues to inflame till the hog dies 

 of suflTocation. The disease may be cured before 

 and after the matter begins to Ibrm; but as it may 

 be more satisfactory to state my experience and 

 knowledge on the subject, I will give an instance 

 as coming under my observation, and conclude 

 with my practice as a cure and preventive. In 

 1830, I discovered the disease among my hogs by 

 the death of one of my lattest. As soon as possi- 

 ble, I had them removed from the clover field, and 

 put in a spacious pen, where they were led with 

 as much corn as they would eat aller it vvas 

 glazed with tar and as much ashes put on as 

 would adhere to the grains. They still continued 

 to die till I lost to the number of fifteen. This 

 great number dying out of eighty, caused me to 

 doubt the efficacy of the remedy, or that the dis- 

 ease was too rapid fbr its efi'ect. Shortly alter, 

 they were put up to fatten, which they did very 

 readily, and I was left in doubts as to the efiTect of 

 the medicine, until the day I butchered, when I 

 Ibuiid lumps of coagulated matter in the jowls of 

 many, about the si^e of a hazelnut or larger, 

 without any signs of inflammation around them. 

 I then came to the conclusion that they would 

 have died had it not been for the remedy applied, 

 and that the disease of those that died had ad- 

 vanced too far to be cured by any remedy. Ob- 

 serving that hogs kept in sties never had the 

 quinsy, I attributed it to the wholesome quality of 

 food they ate, and on the contrary, the cause of 

 their having it out of sties, to the pernicious quali- 

 ties of hard dry grasses. Since 1830, I have in- 

 variably given my hogs, during the spring and 

 summer months when grazing, slop or swill once 

 a week or oftencr, consisting of kitchen slop with 

 cooked vegetables of various kinds, apples, &c.y 

 with bran or a little meal, mashed to a paste, salt- 

 ed and cooled off by adding a quantity of water, 

 and occasionally brimstone or saltpetre. Since 

 the above date, my attention has been directed to 

 the raising and liittening of hogs on the products 

 of a small firm, and I have never yet lost a hog' 

 by this disease, nor in my recollection by any other. 

 My opinion is still further supported as to the 

 cause of the swelled throat, by its being less fre- 

 quent since the practice lately adopted in putting 

 the hogs to graze when the clover is young and 

 tender, and taking them off when it is old and 

 tough. 



Every body knows that the young and old hogs 

 should be kept apart in Avinter; and yet how 

 shamefully this important matter is neglected by 

 many. Young and old, great and small are 

 crowded together, day and night, mashing and 

 smothering; and yet many will look on with 

 heedless regard at the great destruction ot their 

 young stock, without separating them. When 

 young and old are fed together, the old will al- 

 ways get more than their share, thereby the 

 young become poor and diseased, making little or 

 no progress in growth. 



