1888] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



603 



times" that corn soaked in a solution orsaltpetre,and 

 planted under equal circumstances, with this ex- 

 ception alone, produced 500 per cent, more than 

 corn not so prepared. 



A few years ago, lor protection against the worm 

 alone, I used this solution on my seed corn— alter- 

 nating throughout, a large space of the field with, 

 and without it, every twelve rows. The second 

 year I also tried it for the same purpose, and for 

 iw other— {he result was, in both, absolute iulility 

 in all respects. J. E. Muse. 



Dorchester, Md. 



[Our comments on tliis remarkable "fact, " were 

 given at p. 434 of the succeeding number, to which 

 the reader is referred. — Ed. Far. Reg.] 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 PIG TROUGH. 



A writer in the Genesee Farmer, a kw years 

 ago, described a method of making this article, 

 Avhich we copied into the Maine Farmer, and 

 which we have also practised, and find to be a 

 great improvement. 



It is simply this. Take two pieces of board or 

 plank of the length that you wish your trough ; 

 put two of their edges together at right angles, 

 thus V, and nail them strong. Then take two 

 pieces something longer than the trough is wide 

 and nail upon the endr. Then take some clay 

 mortar and fill up the chinks to prevent its leaking, 

 and it is done. The food settles down in the an- 

 gle at the bottom of the trough, and the pig will 

 fay his sharp under jaw into it completely, while 

 the long ends prevent its being upset so easily as 

 the old kind. Any body who can saw a board off, 

 and drive a nail, can make one. If you have no 

 trough for your pig, just try your hand at making 

 one on this plan. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR SPAYING. 



NESS. 



From the Cultivator. 

 ANOTHER WIT- 



Ivanhoe, Campbell Co. Aug. 18, 1838. 



Dear Sir — 1 have been for some time an atten- 

 tive reader of your valuable paper; from each page 

 information is to be gained. In your last number, 

 you instruct us how to perform the operation of ca- 

 poning cocks, before which I knew not. And it is 

 the above which prompts me to give you the fol- 

 lowing information : 



The old method of gelding sows is not only 

 very cruel, but quite disagreeable to the operator, 

 as well as dangerous to fat animals. Now, sir, 

 the modus operandi in this neighborhood as prac- 

 tised by myself lately, but much longer by others, 

 is simply this : For convenience use a common 

 goose quill as a tube, cutting off smoothly the 

 small end, the other shaped as for a tooth-pick, to 

 be used as a handle ; then pass the small end 

 down the vagina two inches or more, (according to 

 the size of the animal,) through which drop six 

 or seven shot, say No. 3, and your work is com- 

 plete. Nothing can be more simple, innocent, or 

 efficacious. 



Should you think the above worth making 

 known, you can publish it. 



Very res])ectliilly, your ob't. scrv't. 



Edward B. Withers. 



From the Tennessee Farmer. 

 LOIN DISTEMPER IN HOGS. 



By this I mean the loss of the strength of the 

 hinder parts. One of my l)est hogs was (bund 

 the other day unable to walk, iiom Jitlling behind; 

 and as I never saved one thus diseased, I gave 

 him up for lost. I, however, separated him from 

 the herd, and concluded I would nurse him until 

 he might die, as is my practice — being opposed to 

 killing any of my animals that may chance to 

 sicken or get wounded. 



Now, as the treatment, or something else, has 

 relieved him, I annex it. I poured warm tar upon 

 his loin; when this dried, 1 repeated it— pulling 

 out the hair adjacent. Simultaneously with this, 

 I mixed one tea-spoonful of arsenic in corn meal 

 dough, which he ale freely. He is now on his 

 feet and doing well. Whether my hog recovered 

 in consequence of the treatment, or in spite of it, 

 I cannot tell; but one thing I know— all that had 

 it before died, and this one lives. I do not wish 

 to get the people to poisoning their hogs with arse- 

 nic; but as it is a gone case any how, those who 

 may venture upon the practice, I hope may have 

 the same good luck. 



Parvus Agricola. 



July 28, 1838. 



From the Farmville Journal. 

 THE MORUS MULTICAULIS. 



As many persons in your vicinity are interested 

 in the culture of the mulberry I send you a few 

 remarks upon an article in the last Farmers' Re- 

 gister. Mr. RulHn there advises farmers who 

 have any idea of going into the raising of silk 

 "not to buy them (the Chinese mulberry) or at 

 least very few of them at the exorbitant prices, 

 which the always easily gulled public have here- 

 tofore paid, and which are now threatened to be 

 advanced." In a subsequent editorial, advising 

 present holders not to sell, he says, "and therefore 

 at half a cent or even a quarter cent the bud, the 

 stock of 1839 will yield a much greater sum, than 

 the present growing stock at two cents the bud or 

 2.5 or 30 cents the rooted plant." We will not 

 dwell on the slight inconsistency of advising pur- 

 chasers not buy and sellers not to sell, as our ob- 

 ject is simply to examine the question whether 

 it is for the interest ol" those who are intending 

 to engage in the silk business to purchase the mo- 

 rns multicaulis now at present prices, or to pur- 

 chase two years hence at greatly reduced prices. 

 Mr. Ruffin says, that buds are regularly and 

 readily sold at two dollars per hundred, and that 

 he is preparing to come into the market with trees 

 and cuttings as soon as he can lurnish them at 

 one-fourth the present price. We infer, therefore, 

 that he considers one-fourth the present price, or 

 ha'f a cent a bud, a fiiir |)rice. or the probable price 

 a year or two to come, when the mania has sub- 



