38 



FARMKRS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



place, and thus, by attending totheminutia? of the 

 business, prevented that (i-aud and deception, that 

 a fTentleman farmer cannot easily avoid. When 

 I first bought my estate, I set up a market cart, 

 got a stout horse, and a man well recommended; 

 but my daily receipts kept growing less and less ; 

 my man and horse were out late every evening, 

 and after a vexatious and mortifying experiment; 

 1 was convinced, that I must either find a market 

 for my vegetables upon the place, and under my 

 own eyes, or give it up as a losing concern; for 

 I could not bring my mind to the constant and 

 daily competition, for trifling sums, which a man 

 habituated to it from infancy, rather takes pleasure 

 in. 



Manure bought in Boston, costs them two dol- 

 lars per buck load, of 62 or 63 cubic feet, trod hard 

 and moderately heaped, in its unrotted state. The 

 expense of carting, put at the lowest rate, cannot 

 cost the farmer less than ^1 50 per load, and 

 when they bring it on hire, they charge ^2 50. 

 My whole stock annually furnishes three hundred 

 such loads, which after using all I want, find a 

 ready sale among the market gardeners in my 

 neighborhood at 3 dollars per load, they takmg it 

 away with their own teams. 



This manure is without any mixture of pond 

 mud, sods, &c. which, had I access to such mate- 

 rials, might be very profitably increased. 



As it respects steaming, instead of boiling ve- 

 getables, the only expense saved is fuel, for the 

 same labor is necessary in filling and discharging 

 them. Our laboring people require to have their 

 work simplified as much as possible, and their 

 judgment not ollen railed into exercise. Were I 

 to tell my man to steam 18 bushels of vegetables, 

 and to give one-third of them Slimes a day to 

 the stock, the consequence would be, that a much 

 greater quantity would be given at one time than 

 another, and though the whole would be consum- 

 ed in the course of the day, still the inequality of 

 feeding would be hurtful. 13esides in winter, par- 

 ticularly the Ewill must be very warm, which 

 could not be at night with vegetables steamed in 

 the morning. Upon the whole therefore, I prefer 

 to Bay to him, " fill the kettle witli vegetables, and 

 afler they are boiled away sufficiently to make 

 room, put in one bushel of cracked corn and oats, 

 and give the whole for breakfast," thus making 

 out the exact line of duty, and leaving nothing to 

 his discretion. 



I give the swill warm in summer, and almost 

 hot in winter, and always sweet and fresh. In 

 conversation with Dr. Derby, he argued upon the 



fropriety of feeding with sour food, and that cold. 

 have formerly tried it and satisfied myself it was 

 wrong. Pigs may be habiiuaied to eat it; but 

 place this cold stufli'in a trough, and a good snio- 

 liing hot breakfast of mine in another ber<iile it, and 

 I will venture to say, they will soon show a (ire- 

 ference. 



I never spay sows, because -we have no one who 

 knows the mode, which if= to be regretted. They 

 are sometimes admitted to the boar a few weeks 

 before killing. 



In yours received yesterday, throuffh Wells and 

 Lilly, you ask my opinion of the Byfield breed of 

 hotrs. As breeders thej'' are the worst I know. 

 The sows have small' litters and destroy them 

 oftentimes by laymg down without any care. 

 They are long coarse haired animnl* and very apt 



to be mangy; nevertheless to mix with almost any 

 other breed, a Byfield boar is valuable, being a 

 quiet race, and disposed to get fat at an early age. 



The Bedford is a hardier kind, and make good 

 nurses. But for our uses have too much lean 

 meat in proportion to their fat — their hams from 

 that circumstance are excellent; a cross between 

 a Byfield boar, and a Bedford sow furnishes a pro- 

 fitable and handsome stock. 



Inclosed is a sketch of my piggery. I thought 

 it might assist you in determining the mode of 

 building yours. I find mine convenient, and know 

 not, that I could alter it advantageously. 



I have thus, my dear sir, attempted to give a 

 comprehensive answer to your interrogatories; if 

 there ia yet anything not perfectly clear to you I 

 shall be happy to explain. 



EXPLANATION [OF PLAN ON NEXT PAGE.] 



1. Boilers. 



2. Swill Trough. 



3. Vegetable Bin. 



4. Boiling House and Vegetable Bin. 



5. Passage to feed. 



6. Small pens for sows to pig in, in cold wea- 



ther. 



7. Passage to feed. 



8. Grain Bin. 



9. Outside pens for sows — 4 feet by 7J. 



10. Inside pens lor sows — 7^ feet long by 5 wide 



11. Inside pens for store pigs — 6 feet square. 



12. Outside pens for store pigs — 4 feet by 6. 



a. Troughs. 



b. Door. 



c. Trough Door. 



I have found it necessary to have communica- 

 tion with all the i)ens, from the principal inside pas- 

 sages for the facility of moving the sows and store 

 pigs, because outside doors are apt to be fr-ozen 

 down in winter. The spaces at the ends of the 

 troughs, are therefore sliding doors, as all others 

 are. The four pens near the boiling house, are 

 made tight with covers, for sows to farrow, in very 

 severe weather. The hogs are all fed from the 

 common passage, under cover. They eat more 

 comlortable, and the troughs are never filled up 

 with rain or snow. The outside pens of the sows, 

 when they liave pigs, are cleared into a cart, and 

 the manure carted away, that the yard lor sucking 

 piijs may always be clean — and where they will 

 soon learn In eat whole corn, if" placed in shallow 

 troughs. They have holes sufficiently large lor 

 them to run out of. 



Since you were here, I have been obliged to 

 new lay the floor of my piggery, and have now 

 arranged the pens conformable to the above sketch. 

 I have also dug a well in the boiling house, and 

 have the nose of the pump placed high enough to 

 carrv water into the kettles. Should my spring 

 fiiil, I shall by spouts, conduct the water that falls 

 in rain upon the building, into the well. My fat- 



