THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



45 



He has had no general disease among them, | 

 though occasionally a case of the "blind staggers." 

 He considers this troublesome disease as proceed- 

 ing wholly from indigestion; and he finds no 

 difficulty in its cure, by procuring an immediate 

 evacuaiion. For this purpose he gives a dose 

 consisting of hall' a pint of lamp oil, and half a 

 pint of molasses, strongly charged with pounded 

 brimstone. This remedy is important to be known, 

 as the disease is not uncommon among swine, 

 and often proves fatal. This disease can hardly 

 be considered local, though the " blind staggers" 

 in years gone by, has been known to prevail in 

 some localities near at least one of these ponds 

 among a class of animals, who assume to be of 

 a higher rank, but who occasionally pollute these 

 beautiful regions by a resort to them for pur(,u)ses 

 of dissipation ; but a simple and perfect preven- 

 tive is at last found (or this disease, (so much 

 more humiliating and dreadl'ul in its eH'ecis on 

 ihem,) if they can be induced to take it, in " total 

 abstinence." 



Mr. Pierce's hogs are purchased ; he raises 

 none. He buys them at a weight of 100 to 150 

 lbs. Their average weight when killed, is from 

 250 to 300 lbs. He has a killing twice a year, 

 though many of his hogs are kept a year. The 

 Bupply ol refuse from the city, is sufficient, ex- 

 cepting at certain seasons of the year, when some 

 meal and corn are given. They fatten in the 

 yard without extra feed, excepting as above. At 

 killing, the sitins (that is the small entrails) are 

 sold at 10 cents a set; the harslet at 8 cents; 

 which pay fully the expenses of dressing. The 

 remainder is cooked for the swine, alter saving 

 and selling what can be used by the soapmaker. 

 The manure made in their beds where they are 

 Uttered, is sold readily at four dollars per cord and 

 in quick demand. The average sales of manure 

 are not less than one thousand dollars. 



In the enclosure there are extensive plank 

 platforms on which the garbage is spread when 

 brought from the city. The right of cleaning 

 the tables, after the hogs have filled themselves, 

 is purchased by several neighboring farmers at 

 ^2 50 per day. Much of the refuse thus obtained 

 is spread upon their grass lands, or ploughed in 

 on their cultivated grounds, or placed round their 

 apple trees, and in every case with the greatest 

 advantage. If not used immediately it is put 

 into a compost heap and covered with mould. 

 Some farmers who obtain it use much of it for 

 feeding their own swine. One farmer stated to 

 me that he had purchased the right of obtaining 

 it two days in a week. He kept the last year 

 fourteen hogs entirely upon these gleanings. The 

 gain upon these hoga in live weight from 1st Oc- 

 tober to 1st April, when he sold them on foot, 

 was 2800 lbs. Other farmers have been equally 

 successful in this economical process. 



The average gain of the hogs at this establish- 

 ment is rated at a pound per day, live weight. 

 A large amount of bones are brought out in the 

 carts, and these find a ready sale at the bone-mill 

 for manure. 



The question of profit in keeping and fattening 

 swine has been much discussed, and so much de- 

 pends on circumstances of age, breed, food, length 

 of time kept, and price in the market, that the 

 question must remain open. Mr. Phinney gives 

 it as his opinion that with Indian corn at one dol- 

 lar per bushel and potatoes at 33 cents, and the 



price of pork 12 cents, they may be fatted to a 

 profit. In his experience, he says, four quarts of 

 Indian or barley meal with an equal quantity of 

 apples, pumpkins, potatoes or roots cooked, will 

 give two pounds of pork. 



A small example of fatting swine in Medway, 

 Norfolk county, which came under my notice, 

 seems worth recording, because an exact account 

 of their cost was kept. The owner was a me- 

 chanic and bought every article of their leed, not 

 even keepinj^ a cow. llis two hogs when killed 

 weighed, one 420 Ibe— one 382 lbs., and pork 

 .was ilien worth 12 cents per lb. Value when 

 dressed $96 24 cts. They were killed at 14 

 months old. They were bought in November 

 and killed in the December of the next year. 

 They were kept in the sty the whole time ; were 

 fed three times a day with weeds, corn and pota- 

 toes. The potatoes were boiled and the Indian 

 meal mixed with them into a mash. They were 

 lied exclusively on corn one week belbre being 

 k lied, 'i'hey did as well in winter as in summer. 

 Salt was frequently given to them in their swill. 

 The price of corn bought for them was 117 cents 

 to 186 cenis, or an average of 130 cents per bush- 

 el. Potatoes were 30 cts. per bushel. The whole 

 cost of the hogs when fatted was ^62 including 

 the price of purchase, or 7.8 cts. per lb. 



1 shall here subjoin some careful experiments 

 made by myself a tew years since in relation to 

 this subject. They were given to some portion 

 of the public at the time, in another form ; but 

 they may here reach many by whom they have 

 not been seen, and to whom they may be inte- 

 resting. 



Experiment 1. Two hogs about one year old ; 

 one of them a barrow in very good condition ; the 

 other a barrow recently gelded and in ordinary 

 condition, were put up to be fed exclusively upon 

 Indian hasty pudding or Indian meal boiled with 

 water. We began feeding them the first of March, 

 1831, and weighed them again on the nineteenth 

 of the same month. In the eighteen days they 

 consumed six bushels of Indian meal. They 

 were oflered cold water to drink but did not in- 

 cline to take any. The result — 



No. 1 weighed on Isl March, - 233 lbs. 

 " " 19th " - - 269 



gain 36 

 No. 2 (recently gelded) weighed on 1st 



March 190 



- » « 16th " 247 



gain 57 

 The gain of the two was 93 lbs. in 18 days. 

 The quantity of meal consumed by them was 10 

 quarts per day to the two. We allow 30 quarts 

 to a bushel deducting two lor grinding. The 

 price of corn at the time was 70 cents per bushel. 

 The expense of the increased weight is 4.5 cents 

 per lb. 



March 21, 1831, Killed the hog mentioned 



first in the foregoing experiment. Live weight 



273 lbs. Weight when dressed 215 lbs. Loss 



in offal, loose fat included, 58 lbs. or a little more 



than one fifth. 



Experiment 2. No. 2 mentioned above weighed 



on 23d March, - 253 lbs. 



do. on 30th April, - 312 



In 38 days, gain, 59 lbs. 



