1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



387 



sow a lew oals is also a good idea. The farmer 

 need not plough iiis whole orchard at once but he 

 may plough a part every year, — by so doing he 

 may constantly improve the soil at a very light ex- 

 pense. 



If it be admitted that hogs should run in or- 

 chards, still I think that every farmer who would 

 raise a considerable number of swine, should set 

 apart at least one acre of land adjoining his or- 

 chard, for the purpose of cultivating clover for his 

 swine. 



This acre should be kept one half in tillage and 

 the other half in clover, alternately ; and as clover 

 is a biennial plant, is best to change from grass to 

 tillage, every second year ; thus affording a con- 

 stant supply of li-esh clover. By so doing hogs 

 will not be compelled to feed wholly upon grass 

 growing in orchards. And last, not least, by pas- 

 turing land with swine, and sowing clover seed 

 abundantly, the farmer may enrich his soil in an 

 eminent degree. 



The winter food for swine should be principally 

 roots, which should be boiled or steam-boiled. 

 This is winter work, and the farmer cannot be more 

 profitably employed. If potatoes are boiled, the 

 water should be immediately drained off. The 

 water in which potatoes are boiled, is of a poison- 

 ous nature, and injurious to swine or cattle. 



In this state I think it is bad economy to raise 

 much corn or grain for store swine. A warm tight 

 shelter is very necessary for tiie hog in this cold 

 climate, and this animal, so epicurean and gentle- 

 manly in his diet, must be well lodged, or he will 

 not thrive. An abundance of litter should be fur- 

 nished him, and this mode of consuming straw is 

 more profitable than when used as fodder for cattle, 

 even if mixed with rata ba^a. I would not have 

 it understood that farmers should consume all their 

 straw as litter for swine, hut merely that they 

 should not be too stingy in this matter. 



I will now say something in regard to the fatten- 

 ing of swine. He that makes the greatest amount 

 of pork at the least expense is the best fiarmer. 

 Mr. Young undertook a number of experiments to 

 ascertain the cheapest mode of fattening swine, 

 and it is said he gave the preference to boiled car- 

 rots. 



If good pork can be made by feeding swine with 

 carrots, I think it bad economy to consume much 

 corn or grain for this purpose — at least till we can 

 do away the necessity of " going to New York to 

 mill." But the hog is very fastidious in his diet ; 

 he must be gratified with a variety or not thrive, 

 therefore I think some kind of meal should be mix- 

 ed with his food. Meal made of buckwheat, 

 millet, oats, peas, and barley, are all good : let ex- 

 periments demonstrate which kinds are best. 

 Swine should be at all times supplied with salt, as 

 well as neat stock. Swine under the process of 

 fattening, should also be furnished with sauce, as 

 well as other epicures; such as boiled apples or 

 boiled pumpkins. O! pumpkins,— has any Yan- 

 kee learned how profitable are boiled pumpkins for 

 flUtening swine? To srive fattening swine occa- 

 sionally a quantity of boiled apples or pumpkins will 

 increase their appetites for their other food. One 

 cart-load of pumpkins when boiled is Avorth two 

 cart-loads of potatoes. How many cart-loads of 

 pumpkins can be raised upon an acre of land pro- 

 perly cultivated and manured 1 Will farmers try 

 the experiment? 



[four farmers are true to their best interests, we 

 can say to our soutiieni and western friends : 

 Whatever else we may want of you — whether it 

 be tobacco, rice or cotton, we will not take your pork. 



Rumford, July, 1838. R. 



From the Penny Magazine. 

 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING, (CLU- 

 PEA HARENGUS.) 



The herring is found in the third order in Cu- 

 vier's arrangement ; and with the pilchard, sprat, 

 shad, anchovy, and white-bait, belongs to the 

 Clupese genus. It weighs about five ounces and 

 a half The upper part of the body is blue and 

 green, and the lower parts of a silvery white. 

 Owing to the gill-lids being very loose and open- 

 ing wide, the herring dies almost the instant it ia 

 taken out of the water ; hence, perhaps, the say- 

 ing, " as dead aa a herring." In twentj'-lbur 

 hours the gill-covers present an extravasated ap- 

 pearance. The lower jaw is furnished with five or 

 six teeth •, the inferior edges of the upper jaw are 

 serrated ; and on the tongue there are also small 

 teeth. The food of the herring consists of minute 

 animals which are found in the depths of the 

 ocean ; but they will also feed upon the young of 

 their own species, and they may be taken with 

 limpets and also with an artificial fly. 



The herring is not found in warm regions, nor 

 farther south than the northern coasts of France. 

 The most interesting point connected with its na- 

 tural history is the annual movement which it 

 makes. Pennant, whose zoological labors entitle 

 him to much respect, about the middle of the last 

 century gave an account of their periodical migra- 

 tion, which has been implicitly copied by nearly 

 every succeeding writer. He represents them as 

 coming from their great winter rendezvous within 

 the Arctic Circle. " They begin (he says) to ap- 

 pear off the Shetland Isles in April and May. 

 These are only fiirerunners of the grand shoal 

 which comes in June ; and their appearance ia 

 marked by certain signs, by the numbers of birds, 

 such as gannets and others, which follow to prey 

 on them ; but when the main body approaches, 

 its breadth and depth are such as to alter the very 

 appearance of the ocean. It is divided into dis- 

 tinct columns of five or six miles in length and 

 three or four in breadth, and they drive the water 

 before them with a kind of rippling ; sometimes 

 they sink for the space of ten or fifteen minutes, 

 then rise again to the surface, and in bright wea- 

 ther reflect a variety of splendid colors. The first 

 check this army meets in its march southward is 

 from the Shetland Isles, which divide it into two 

 parts. One wing takes to the east, the other to 

 the western shores of Great Britian, and fill every 

 bay and creek with their numbers. Others 

 pass on towards Yarmouth, the great and an- 

 cient mart of herring ; they then pass through 

 the British Channel, and after that in a manner 

 disappear. Those which lake to the west, after of- 

 fering themselves to the Hebrides, were the great 

 stationary fishery is, proceed towards the north of 

 Ireland, where they meet with a second interrup- 

 tion, and are obliged to make a second division. 

 The one takes to the western side, and is scarce 

 perceived, being soon lost in the immensity of 

 the Atlantic; but the other, which passes into the 



