J^ARMERS' REGISTER. 



745 



a great number of people from its use. And as 

 tins PLippositioii crinnt)t be udniiited, the evil ran 

 only t)esouiilit Ibr in iliis niode, where it will he 

 found in ihc disasters of the hogs, the inaltention 

 of their owners, the badness and insufficiency of 

 their lood, and ihe mean (luality of their meat. I 

 eiiall theielore adempt in the next number, to 

 point out a diflerent one, more profiialile to the 

 owner, more com'brlable to the animal, an 1 en- 

 tirely exempt (i-om the ruinous vice ol operating 

 as an exclusion of live fences. 



No domestic animal multiplies equally, grows 

 as rapidly, is as thrifty, makes as good salt meat, 

 is as hardy, as healthy, as docile, or eats as little in 

 proportion to size as the hog. A mode of raising 

 him which takes advantage of all these qualities, 

 designating him as the best resource Ibr meat, is a 

 subject worthy of particular attention, and would 

 be a great improvement. My experience is in- 

 considerable, and my knowledge limited in relation > 

 to it. But I shall give Ihe result of the former,! 

 without deviating into conjecture, or recurring to [ 

 books. Indeed, as neither distilleries nor dairies' 

 constitute any resource Ibr the country within my 1 

 view, little aid could be extracted from the latter. ' 



Indian corn, clover and pumpkins, are my only 

 resources Ibr raising hogs. They are raised within 

 the inclosure of a farm having no cross fences, 

 regularly confined in a pen of niglits, and suffered 

 to run at large in the day, in that portion of the 

 farm designed Ibr Indian corn the succeeding year. 

 The farm is divided into Ibur shifts, the greater 

 part of each being le(t in red clover after wheat, 

 so that a sliift during the last year of its rest is 

 well covered. The injury to clover by hogs from 

 grazing, is infinitely less than that from any other 

 animal. No number necessary for domestic con- 

 sumption will materially afiect the field expos- 

 ed to grazing in this mode. Twenty sheep would 

 injure it more than a hundred hogs. And to pre- 

 vent rooting, iron rings of the size and shape of a 

 large one for the finger, are constantly kept in the 

 cartilage of the nose. 



Until the pumpkins come in, the hogs subsist 

 by grazing, with an allowance of shattered Indian 

 cort), sufficing to keep the sows having pigs, in 

 tolerable heart ; other hogs will become very fat 

 upon the same allowance. As soon as the pump- 

 kins are ripe, the whole family are confined to the 

 pen, and led with as many as they will eat cut up 

 in troughs, besides a full meal of sound corn daily, 

 raw or boiled as iheir appetite fluctuates. And 

 those for slaughter are led with corn about ten 

 days after the pumpkins are expended; to harden 

 and flavor the meat. 



By removing the pen with regularity, and 

 ploughing it up, as in the case of cattle, hogs will 

 in my judgment manure land to the value of the 

 whole expense of raising them ; and instead of 

 contributing to the ruin of the country by eradicat- 

 ing herbage, and compelling farmers to reject live 

 fences, contribute to its renovation by their ma- 

 nure. 



The whole slock exceeding nine months old, 

 except a male and two or three females, is killed 

 annually. If a species is selected which breeds 

 young, and gains its growth quickly, the litters 

 between the first of June and the first of iN'larch 

 will furnish an abundance of progeny for the se- 

 cond killing time. Their mothers will make fat 

 and small, and the males fat and large meat for 



the first. These piga are accelerated in growth, 

 l)y being sufifered to share in all the luxuries of the 

 larije hogs, unless it may happen to be necessary 

 to wean a liner occasionally, to gain time for reco- 

 vering the flesh of its mother. And the annual 

 clearance of nearly all the old hogs, is a matter of 

 considerable economy, because the expense ia 

 thereby diminished to a great extent, lt)r above 

 half the year, by having young ones only to sus- 

 tain. 



The mischiefs from hogs allowed such license, 

 is tlie chief objection to be expected to this mode 

 of raising them. I know not of any agricultural, 

 mechanical or scientifica! object of much value, 

 attainable wiihout effort or skill. Some degree of' 

 both, and but a small one, is necessary to avoid 

 this objection. The hogs ought whilst young to 

 be made quite gentle. Pigs are as docile as pup- 

 pies. They will not be inclined to wander far 

 li-om their feeding pen in a field of red clover, if 

 care is taken to secure for them an access to wa- 

 ter ; and a small boy with a whip will find it an 

 easy task (o discipline them out of any such incli- 

 nation. No temptation solicits them at most sea- 

 sons of the year, and should they occasionally 

 light upon one so irresistible as to render them 

 troublesome, they must be confined in their pen, 

 until it is past, or they are weaned from it. 



Hogs are sufficiently hardy to bear the weather 

 without injury, for eight months of the year ; a 

 warm cover is necessary fbrthem during the other 

 four. This is easily made and removed by four 

 fiirkslettvvo feet into the earth, the two in front 

 eight feet, and the two in rear two feet above it, 

 having a secure roof of stalks and straw laid on 

 poles, and the rear and two sides made perfectly 

 close by two courses of rails, one pressing against 

 the forks, and the other against slakes two feet 

 from them all around, with the interval filled tight 

 with straw. The front is open to the south, and a 

 diameter of ten feet each way will form a com- 

 fortable cover for a large stock of hogs. 



Small warm huts of a similar construction for 

 the separate use of each]^sow about to pig, in cold 

 weather, is a precaution most useful, and much 

 neglected. Wiihout it, the greater part of the 

 litters will be lost. And such losses diminish con- 

 siderably the profit arising from a system, an 

 article of which is to compensate by number for 

 the size of hogs brought old to the knife. 



The reader will discern, that I consider agricul- 

 ture as a lelo de se. As leading herself to the 

 altar, and inflicting her own death, not with the 

 despatch dictated by humanity, even in killing a 

 hog, but by repeated strokes upon every part of 

 her body. By laws of her own making, she has 

 quartered upon herself tribes of factitious capital- 

 ists. By laws of her own making, she has 

 adopted the policy of mingling free blacks and 

 slaves, mutually exciting each other to rebellion, 

 teaching one class the trade of living upon herself 

 by theft vvilhout labor, and instilling into the other 

 a haired of her duties. She spontaneously hires 

 overseers, not to improve, but to exhaust her land, 

 with the wisdom of a saint who should expect 

 to advance true religion, by hiring a priesthood to 

 preach and practice idolatry. And she closes her 

 system by a mode of raising hogs, which burdens 

 her defective labor with the incumbrance of dead 

 and decaying fences ; which aids the overseers in 

 substituting a wrong for a right culture ; and 



