TO RAISE Oil BUY BACON. 3"? 



Whnn my sows arc pregnant they arc kept apart from otlier liogs ; at the birth of the yoong 

 pigs ihey are removed for a few hours from the dam. as ihey are in danger of being injured by 

 her motions. Siie is fed judiciously for ihe first five days, after v^liich she is allowed a full quan* 

 tnm of food three times each day, but never overfed. Her troughs are cleaned after each metl^ 

 and her pen daily, after which it is littered with Hne broken straw. 



The pigs are daily accustomed to feed on milk mixed with bran, and at the age of two months 

 weajicd. They are always kept in confinement, converting rubbish into manure. My secood 

 brood of pigs are sent to the New-York market, and are sold to the packets as roasters. 



The store hogs are wintered cliicHy on sugar-beets and carrots, occasi<mally boiled potatoesr 

 and frequently charcoal dust, which keeps them in pcrlVct health : their legs are often rubbed 

 with a corn cob, to open the issues and cau.so the blood to circulate freely, otherwise staggers may 

 ensue. 1 fatted two hogs year before last entirelj- on sweet and sour apples, fed alternately. For 

 three or four months they received no other food, e.vcept occasionally charcoal ; water even \va» 

 denied them. They weighed, when killed, two hundred and lifty pounds each : the whole hog was- 

 covered with a very thick layer of fat. perfectly while and firm ; the skin was thin, and the pork pro- 

 nounctid by connoij^seura exceedingly line and sweet; the ham.s were not inferior to Westphalia.. 

 This last year. 18i.), on the first of October, I confined .si.Ktcen hogs in an enclosure about sixty 

 feet square, in one corner of which I placed all my pumice, after having extracted the cider, and; 

 permitted the hogs three times each day to partake of it ot)e hour, in which time they completely 

 filled themselves to repletion. They were allowed no other food during October and November.. 

 The first week in December they were killed, and fatter animals I never saw. They were sold 

 in New-York for two cents per lb. above the market price. I am, &c. R. L. P. 



Editorial Frmar/rs. — \Vc deem the experiments of Mr. Pell of great importance, especially ia- 

 the older States. If farmers can culiivute fine fruit, st^nd the finest to market, feed the refuse to- 

 stock, and thu.s avoid fattening their hogs, in particular, on grain, a very considerable per centage 

 will bo added to the profit of farming. [New-York Farmer and Mechanic. 



The question between raising hogs and buying pork is one which admits of 

 and demands nice and cautious calculation. Here, for example, in this essay^ 

 the writer says their principal food is apples " during the season ;" but the ques- 

 tion arises, What proportion does the season of apples bear to the life-time of 

 the hog? What is the value of land thus appropriated " expressly" tothegrowtis 

 of " sweet apples " for hogs, and the cost or value of other things on which they 

 must live during at least three-fourths of their lifetime, and also of the labor 

 employed in attending them ? Then, again, the breeding-sows are to be fed alf 

 the year round. There is, in fact, no question of rural economy which, for its^ 

 solution, depends on so many and such various considerations, hefore we can de- 

 cide with confidence and certainty whether it be most economical to buy or rear 

 our own meat. 



Generally it is belter to breed, raise, and manufacture, as much as possible^ 

 within ourselves ; because then we are sure that, so far, there is no actual out- 

 lay of money ; and " a penny saved is two pence got," as Poor Richard says. 

 Yet there is such a thing, and that a very common one, as " saving at the spigot 

 and losing at the bung." In many parts of the country, hogs superinduce the 

 necessity of much additional outlay for fencing. They are, like some men and 

 nations, prone to mischief and depredation, with this exception in their favor^ 

 that they wait to be prompted by the stings of hunger, and do not wantonly 

 break through or over, and pass beyond their legitimate bounds. Then, ao-ain^. 

 as we know, in many parts of the United States, great allowance in the number 

 to be bred and reared to a certain age must be made for thieves, who steal a 

 large proportion ; so that out of a given number in the fields and woods, the 

 owner never knows how many he can count upon to kill, until they are " par 

 up " to be fattened, and sometimes not even then. May it not be assumed that 

 the hogs slaughtered in the United States average a consumption of a barrel 

 and a half, or seven bushels and a half, of corn, after they are penned, besides all 

 other expenses, which are numerous and hard to be defined ? 



There can, we should think, be little doubt, that on every estate there should 



itself He had a boar so fierce and venereous that to prevent mischief his tu.sks were broken off;. 



no sooner had. he suffered this insulting injury than his ^iQwcrs forsook him, leading him to tnn» 



tail on those females from which no fence could before restrain him. Ed. Farm. Lib\ 



(85) 



