FARMERS' REGISTER 



693 



1st, That Gen. P. H. Steenbergen, John Lewis 

 nnd the Hon. Lewis Summers, be appointed a 

 committee for and on behalf of the society, to pre- 

 pare and present a memorial to the next general 

 assembly, praying the establishment of an agri- 

 cultural board, with such suitable powers and du- 

 ties, as to the wisdom of the legislature may seem 

 proper. 



2d, That adequate aid and encouragement may 

 be given to all societies formed for the advance- 

 ment of agriculture in proportion to some just 

 standard to be fixed by law. And, 



3d, That the foregoing preamble and resolutions 

 be published in the Farmers' Register ; and our 

 agricultural brethren throughout the common- 

 wealth invited to co-operate with us. 



A. W. QuARRiER, Sec'ry. 



TO SMALL FARMERS. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



I frequently hear small farmers say, " Ah ! it is 

 well enough for Mr. So-and-so to read the 'Re- 

 gister,' and try experiments ; but it will not do for 

 me." Neighbor, if this is your case, let me tell 

 you that I am a small farmer, and I can testify 

 that the reading of agricultural works has been of 

 great advantage to me, and F am sure will be to 

 you, if you will read them. Perhaps you will say 

 that the correspondents of the ' Register' propose 

 plans of improvement on too large a scale ibr you. 

 This may be, generally speaking ; but then, when 

 we read, we must reflect how far this or that can 

 be applied with advantage on our own little farms. 

 And a^ain, I know many small farmers who are 

 fully competent to write for the ' Register,' and by 

 not doing so they neglect to discharge a duty 

 which they owe iheir brother farmers. The hand 

 which is now using this pen, a lew minutes ago 

 was using the hoe — and to much better effect too 

 — but, you see, Mr. Ruffin has not rejected this 

 piece because my ideas are not couched in elegant 

 or purely grammatical language. 



But to the point. Small farmers should attend 

 to small matters, and some big ones too ; and the 

 first of these is the improvement of their minds. 

 The reading of agricultural works, as well as all 

 other good books, has a powerful tendency to ef- 

 fect this desirable object. Next, the improvement 

 of our morals. Let us have our consciences 

 " void of" offence towards God and man," that 

 we may enjoy fully the bounties of Providence. 

 Tlien the improvement of our little farms, which we 

 should not only do as a matter of necessity, but as 

 a duty which we owe to our God and to our pos- 

 terity. This is to be done in a variety of ways. 

 We should be as careful to store up food for our 

 crops as we are for our families. No ashes, slops, 

 bones, sweepings of the yard or kitchen, or litter 

 of any kind should be lost, that can be converted 

 into manure, and cultivate no land without its 

 being manured well. Let a fruit tree be planted 

 on every little unoccupied spot of ground near the 

 homestead. Concentrate your labors on a small 

 spot. Keep no more stock than you can keep 

 well. Dispense with your useless dogs, and such 

 like. Subscribe to the ' Farmers' Register' (or 

 some other agricultural paper) and you will soon 

 have cause (as I now have) to be thankful to the 



editor and his correspondents for the great benefit 

 they have done you. Your fiirm will afford moro 

 profit and more pleasure ; it will insiiire a leeling 

 of manly independence and gratitude to a kind 

 Providence ; you will be a fitter subject for a re- 

 publican government ; in short, you will attain 

 the enviable title of A rich poor man. 



KIDNEY-WORM IN SWINE. 



From tlie Soutfiern Cultivator. 



We have taken some pains to make an exa- 

 mination in a case of this disease, which has 

 resulted in exhibiiing^/c<s, important in fixing its 

 character and which should be extensively known 

 to farmers. We had met with various prescrip- 

 tions for curing the disease, (which is known by 

 the animal breaking down in the /otns,) among 

 which were the internal administration of" arsenic, 

 calomel, &c., and the application of spirits of 

 turpentine to the back and loins— all of which 

 proved abortive on trial. 



This summer we had a fine barrow, in good 

 thriving condition, suddenly taken down with this 

 affection. There was a general paralysis through- 

 out his whole frame, even his jaws being so much 

 affected that he could with difficulty bite corn from 

 the cob; but in his hinder extremities all strength 

 was gone. We tried the above prescriptions, but 

 without any visible effect. Determining patiently 

 to await the result, we suffered him to linger out a 

 miserable existence till within a few days ago, 

 when he became so low and exhausted that we 

 had him knocked on the head to terminate his 

 sufferings. 



On taking out and examining his kidneys, we 

 found them perfectly sound, free from worms, or 

 all trace of worms of any kind ! We then extend- 

 ed our examination to the region about the kid- 

 neys, and found every thing in an apparently 

 healthf"ul condition, till we reached the spine bone 

 — when, as indeed we had suspected, we found 

 the seat of the disease. 



Immediately over the kidney, we discovered a 

 perforation in the spine bone, which ranged from 

 the direction of the right flank to the top of the 

 left shoulder, passing through and through the 

 bone and marrow, large enough to admit the pas- 

 sage of a musket ball, and looking as if it had 

 been bored by a worm as large as the common 

 while grub. But to our surprise, we found no 

 worm, nor any perforation in the adjacent parts 

 indicating its escape. We have since conjectured 

 that the worm was so much smaller than we had 

 expected to find, on discovering the hole in the 

 bone that we over-looked it, though present. — 

 There was no indication of general decay in the 

 bone — but all was apparently sound, with the 

 exception of the round perforation above men- 

 tioned. 



The investigation has satisfied us, that if the 

 kidney-worm (so called) does exist, it does not 

 perforate the kidneys — that the spme is the part 

 affected — tliat the prescriptions above alluded to, 

 and all similar prescriptions, are too impotent to 

 give relief, and that, in truth, when a hog breaks 

 down in the loins from this cause, there is but one 

 sensible course to be taken, and that is to knock it 

 on the head before it eats more corn. 



