J32! 



FARMERS' RliGlSTEk 



ere come to bargain lor siall ieeding beasts that 

 they are returnee! out of the stall, where they ap- 

 pear smaller than they really are. 



He also recommends stall- feeders to get from 

 Carey's, in the Strand, ihe sliding scale formed by 

 the late Dr. Woolaston, from my book, given lo 

 Lford Allhrop, lo compute by njcasurcment ihe 

 weight of the careas-s ol'tat cattle. 



PENS FOR bWINK. MAKURE. 



From the American Swine Breeder. 



The allotment of" suitable enclosures, and the 

 construction of convenient pens tor swine, are 

 matters of great importance to those who rear 

 these animals with a view to profit. The mise- 

 rable custom of permitting swine to roam at 

 large, unattended by a swineherd, and allowing 

 them to gather food throughout extensive dis- 

 tricts, cannot be too severely reprehe^ided. Jt is 

 desirable that every larmer who consults the 

 comfort of his animals should have both pens 

 and pastures — the latter well covered vviih clover, 

 of small dimensions, and, if possible, affording 

 the hogs ready access to water. To efi'ect this 

 object, the fences which enclose the pasture may 

 be extended so as to embrace a ponion of some 

 running stream, or if this is not practicable, some 

 ppring, from which water may be constantly 

 flowmg into an artificial reservoir. It is found 

 that hogs thrive belter, when ihey enjoy the 

 means of slaking thirst as nature prompts ihem, 

 than when they are restricted to water drawn 

 from wells and furnished at statetl intervals. 

 Even in the absence of a stream suitable lor the 

 purpose, or a spring, water should, if possible, 

 be conveyed to some artificial pool, or trough, 

 in sufficient quantities for their use at any moment. 

 The size of the pasture will of course depend, to 

 some extent, on the situation of the farm, and 

 number of hogs. In general, however, where the 

 herd is numerous, it is deemed advisable, to scat- 

 ter it in difi'erent enclosures, placing those hogs 

 that are nearly of the same age and strength 

 together. Small orchards, well set in clover, 

 atlbrd an excellent pasture lor hogs. Their ma- 

 nure greatly enriches the ground ; while the roots 

 of the trees, near which, in such enclosures, their 

 rooting propensities are mostly exercised, derive 

 great advantage from li'equenlly loosening of the 

 soil. 



It is a matter ofgreat importance to th-e fiirmer to 

 provide such enclosure, and adopt such treatment, 

 as will secure from his hogs the greatest quaniity 

 of manure. Hog manure is extremely valuable, 

 and large quantities maybe obtained with slight 

 attention. Where these animals are allowed the 

 range of small yards or pastures, the method pur- 

 sued by a correspondent ol'the i'i'armer's Cabinet, 

 will prove advantageous* : — •' I usually keep and 

 fatten, he remarks, four hogs in the year; these I 

 keep confined in a yard twenty feet square, with 

 a warm and convenient shed attached thereto, as 

 a shelter lor them during the night time, and in 

 cold and stormy weather." Into the yard he 

 placed the scrapings of ditches, the dirt that is con- 

 tinually in and about buildings, and this became 



* Vol. ii. p. 43. 



mixed with the straw with which they were lit- 

 tered. The whole was cleared out as often a* 

 was judged expedient. The quantity and quality 

 of the manure would be greatly incieased, if the 

 pen was supplied with weeds, (an excellent way 

 this of turning these noxious plants to a good ac- 

 count,) and in the absence of weeds, which by the 

 way is nut very common, even on our best cul- 

 tivated farms, resort may be had to the woods ; 

 here the farmer has an abundance of leaves and 

 other rubbish that may be uaed to great advan- 

 tage. "By ihe adoption of the above course, 

 more than twenty-five loads of manure was ob- 

 tained, as the product of (bur hogs, and this, too, 

 of a yuperior quality to that generally derived irony 

 the stable or yard.'' 



Another v/riter in the Yankee Farmer,* says : 

 — " My plan is this; yard the hogs through the 

 year. Give each hog, to work upon, ten loads of 

 manure from the swamp. Some men think to 

 avoid expense in keeping, by permitting their 

 liogs to 'run at Targe,' or in a Inrfje pasture. 

 This is a bad practice ; the hogs ' run away' sa 

 much of their flesh, that it requires nearly as much 

 to keep them in a thriving state as if they were 

 yarded. If it did not, the pasture would be much 

 more preferable for other stock. More than this, 

 the hogs will convert about lour loads more of 

 mud into good manure, which will more than 

 twice pay the extra cost of yarding.''' 



Another correspondent still, of the same paper, 

 remarks t: — "I keep my sty well littered with 

 straw, leaves, weeds, soil fr"om the woods, and 

 meadow earth, obtained fron) ditching, by carting, 

 together with that put into the yard, from two to 

 ten loads per week. I sometimes pat a few hand'- 

 fuls of rye in different places in the yard, and let irr 

 the hogs. Feeding them therelbra lew days, they 

 completely stir up and commute the contents of 

 the yard. I am confident that I make four times- 

 the quaniity of manure my liither did, and with 

 no increase in the number of slock, and of a little 

 better quality, too, comparatively none of its- 

 strength being washed away by the rains and 

 evaporateil by the sun." 



The sutrgestions of a correspondent to the 

 Northern Farmer, quoted in the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, contain much inlbrmaiion on this subject. 

 After stating the reasons which induced him to- 

 abandon the ordinary mode of suffering his pigs- 

 to run at large, for the better one of confining 

 them in pastures — and his subsequent exchange 

 of this lor a smaller enclosure, which he contract- 

 ed from time to lime, until satisfied that a yard of 

 twenty feet by fourteen, was sufficient lor six 

 hogs, if well supplied with materials to make 

 manure in to advantage, he thus continues : — 

 "My method of suppfyin<r these materials is the 

 following; after having cleared their yard al the 

 season of planting, 1 put into it such portions of 

 straw as I may have on hand after the season of 

 foddering is past ; and if I have not a sufficient 

 quantity of this to furnish the necessary supply till 

 vegetable substances attain a sufficient growth to 

 be profitably collected, 1 put in earth collected from 

 the low places by the side ofthe highway ; though 

 this [ more generally place in or near my barn 

 yard, in a situation lo receive and retain the wash 



*Vol.iii. p. 410. 

 t Vol. i.p.67. 



