124 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



of all kinds lor the use o!' the farm, and lor the 

 profitable conversion of all the oHal into manure. 

 In the foiegoing part of this communication I 

 promised to say something of another farm, upon 

 which I had tieen following a diflerent rotaiion 

 from the one on which I live. I will now advert 

 to it. Coming into the po^isoesion some 8 or 9 

 years ago of a iarm higher up the river than where, 

 1 reside, the land being every way equal, naturally, 

 ivhere marl is abundanr, and timber scarce, and 

 Thinking, that |;eihaj}s the tliree-shilt system with' 

 marl had not been Itiirly tried, and anxious too to 

 test it with the five, 4 or 5 years ago I determined 

 to do away with all cross lifnces, and expel the 

 hoof entirely. The fields have now been marled 

 mostly a second lime, and the growth of weeds, 

 magothy bay bean, &.c. Sic. excessive; but the 

 clover does not take as well as it did some years 

 back, indeed the bean smothers and kills the 

 young clover. The corn cro[) h;is not improved 

 tor several years, and it lias nearly ceased to 

 bring wheat; and although under much more fa- 

 vorable circumstances, as to vegetable matter and 

 marling, than the place I reside on, (for a consi- 

 derable portion of it is still unmarled,) which, as 

 betbre stated, has been under the five-field rutaiion 

 lor eight years, fallowing lor wheat, and grazing 

 the field the year belbre it comes in corn ; the im- 

 provement of the soil, or crops, is not at all equal. 

 1 think the experiment conclusive as to the merits 

 of the two systems, I shall thereibre abandon the 

 one and adopt the other. Nor do I think it mat- 

 ters as to the sixe of the Iarm, whether or not we 

 adopt the summer fallow ; lor if it is correct upon 

 one scale, it must be upon another. Eut my re- 

 marks are not intended to apply to lands that are 

 BO light that they will not bring wheat under any 

 course of culture, or management; nor to particu- 

 lar climates or situations, where wheat will not 

 grow; but to the corn and wheat growing districts 

 to which 1 am accustomed. 



Should any be disposed to innovate upon their 



its full benefit, and when that is done, I will war- 

 rant that the increase in the two first crops will 

 more than repay any reasonable outlay ihat may 

 have been made in lime and clover seed, lo say 

 nothing ol' the permanent improvement of your 

 land ; and surely we can't lose by borrowing at 6 

 to receive 12 per cent, 



I am |)Ieased that my friend, Mr. Carter, has 

 varied his rotation from mine, that aciual expe- 

 rience may decide the relative merits of the two ; 

 whether it is best to brinij the three grain cropa 

 together, and to depasture the clover before lal- 

 lowing for wheat, or lo interpose the crop ol'clover 

 between the grain crops, and turning it in, in the 

 recent unpastured slate, and grazing belbre corn. 

 His rotation will have the advantage of mine, as 

 to the five-fields only, in having two years to lay 

 without being disturbed by the plough, that the 

 soil may be the more perliiclly relbrmed ; but 

 whether that will compensate lor the quick auc- 

 cession of ihe grain crops, and the loss of the 

 Sjreen clover lay, can only be known by actual ex- 

 periment ; as experience, after all, is the only cor- 

 rect teacher. In all other respects our views cor- 

 respond entirely, and 1 feel highly gratified aS 

 having fco able a coadjutor, as his experience is 

 greater than mine, and his authority much more 

 entitled lo respect. Respectfully, 



C. JBUAXTON. 



TUEATMEIVT ANJD FOOD OF GROWING STORES.* 



Store pigs, says Mowbray, may yenerally be 

 fed on almost any sort of food which they will 

 eat, and thus acquire growth ; and then lor six 

 weeks or two months belbre they are .-laugh- 

 lered they should be fed on grain and milU 

 which will harden and give fiavor to the |)ork. 

 Throuiih the winter their food will be the run 



of the barn yard, roots of all kinds (of which 

 eld three and four-field habits, but are deterred by 1 every larmer should have a plentiful supply) 

 the fear of losing their income for the first rota- 1 including ruta baga, and cabbage, with occa- 

 tion, I can assure them from experience they need I sional rations of grain of some kinds with wash, 

 not fear it; the increase of tlie wheat crop will j In autumn and in a plentiful season swine will 



more than compensate for the loss of the corn in 

 ihe first five years, and after that the one-fifth will 

 jjroduce more of CTirn than the one-third did. Pre- 

 suming always that clover is raised wherever ihe 

 find will produce it, and all converlible matter 

 turned into manure, and applied to the land ; and 

 marl or lime, if lo be had, to be also used. I 

 would here remark, from what experience I have 

 had in farming, that however valuable putrescent 

 manures may be, and indeed indispensable as they 

 are, that no hich grade of product can be expect- 

 ed, upon other ihan naturally rich, or at least, 

 neutral soils, (that is, when there is no excess ol' 

 vegetable aiid,) without the use of calcareous 

 manures in some shape or other, whether of marl 

 or lime. I do not think that the use of lime as a 

 manure upon our acid soils is sufficiently appre- 

 ciated, notwithstanding all that has been said and 

 v.riiten upon the subject. I think that we can af- 

 ford to give much more for it than is generally 

 supposed v.c should be warranted in doing. The 

 only way to test ilie real value of lime, is to com- 

 paie the product of land before and after its use 

 V. iL.i clover; for without ihe judicious use of clo- 

 ver, ^0 mail or lime, it is impossible to arrive at 



subsist on acorns ; and in summer on clover, 

 lucerne or tares. Swine turned to shift upon 

 forests or commons are apt to stray and hide them- 

 selves for a considerable lime; the ancient and 

 ready method to collect them is by the sound of 

 a horn with which they have been accustomed to 

 be led. Feeding pigs, says Low, are fed on green 

 Ibod of all kinds ; and hence clover, lucerne and 

 lares may be employed in feeding them in sum- 

 mer, though lo fatten them finally some farina- 

 ceous or other nourishing food will be required. 

 They will also graze like sheep and oxen, but 

 grass consumed in this way is not the natural 

 food of the animal, which consists of roots rather 

 than herbajxe. The feeding of pigs on herbage is 

 merely to carry them on for a time till more fatten- 

 ing ibod can be procured. When fed on herbage a 

 ring should be passed through the cartilage of the 

 nose to prevent their following their natural in- 

 stinct of ploughing up the ground, but the same 

 purpose may be more efleclually served by divid- 



* From tfie " American Swine Breeder, a practical 

 treatise on the selection, reering and fattening of swine. 

 By Heniy W. Ellsworth. Boston 1840." 



