158 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



eaten by cows and steers. The shattered corn, 

 together with the liquor in the bottom of the boil- 

 er, I have found excellent food for sows with 3'oung 

 pigs. I would recomnnend the use of steamed- 

 corn for horses as the most economical mode of 

 preparing it, I have tried it particularly for old 

 horses, and have no doubt from an experiment 

 1 have made in fattening a very poor horse, that it 

 is equal to any food for that purpose. The trou- 

 ble of shelling and sending to mill, as also the toll 

 lor grinding, is saved on this also,vvhile the quanti- 

 ty of food is increased by the cobs which are all 

 eaten by the horse. I believe a saving of one- 

 third or one-half may be made in feeding horses 

 on steamed-corn, as well as hogs. Some farmers 

 will say this steaming is too troublesome ; but I 

 can assure all such, they will be amply paid lor all 

 trouble and the small expense attending it. The 

 consumption of wood is very inconsiderable ; and 

 w'ah the attention ol" a stnall boy, I am enabled to 

 save one-third of my provender, increase my milk 

 and butter, and keep my horses, oxen and hogs, 

 in good order. We use the boiler or steamer also 

 to heat water to kill hogs, and other purposes; 

 mine holds about 35 gallons. 



After seeing your remarks upon the Chinese 

 corn humbug, 1 took the trouble to count the 

 grains upon one stalk of my Maryland twin-corn. 

 The product was 3500 grains from one; 1400 more 

 than the Chinese, if 1 recollect it aright. I would 

 be glad if I had an opportunity to send the stalk to 

 Mr. Thorburn, of New York. I am still pleased 

 ■with this variety of corn, and shall plant no other 

 this year. 



My present method of cultivating corn, is the 

 following: The 11 feet old wheat beds are broken 

 up in the fall by reversing them with a double 

 plough, well harrowed, and sometimes re-plough- 

 ed in the spring. With a small plough we run 

 one furrow on each side of this bed, say two and 

 a half feet from the centre, so as to have the two 

 rows upon the double bed five feet apart, and al- 

 low six leet in which to have the water lijrrow. 

 In these furrows the corn is dropped, say 18 

 inches on rich or manured land, and two leet on 

 the poorest parts, and cover with a double-horse 

 harrow. The cultivators are immediately started 

 and continued until the corn is large enough to 

 thin, when we run the same double-horse harrow 

 with the front and hind tooth taken out imme- 

 diately upon the corn. I believe this to be more 

 beneficial than any other working given the crop, 

 it breaking and pulverizing the hard ridge of land 

 between the hills effectually, which no other im- 

 plement could do by horse-power. The hands fol- 

 low immediately and thin, which is very easily 

 done, and set up the stalks which may be mashed 

 down. Then cultivators again until just before 

 harvest, when the dirt is thrown to the corn with 

 email ploughs. Some of the advantages of this 

 system are these: It is easier to reverse eleven 

 feet beds than to list upon them, as you always 

 have a furrow ready to receive the land. The 

 corn-rows are unilormly high, whereas, when list- 

 ed, you have a high and a low bed alternately 

 through the field. The harrow works much bet- 

 ter on 11 feet than on a 5| feet bed. We save all 

 hoe-work, I did not hand-hoe a single row last 

 year, and made something like 60 barrels to the 

 hand, on land of medium quality. The harrow 

 we use is very simple, consisting of four pieces 



framed together in a square, braced in the corners, 

 and has teeth only on the circumference; they run 

 deeper, and consequently pulverize the land better 

 than those iiaving teeth in the middle, or in every 

 cross bar. Edward Hill. 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 BREED OF SWINE. 



3Iessrs. Editors : — I have been for many years 

 engaged in raising hogs and making pork, and 

 am fully convinced that much of the profit of that 

 business depends on the breed. "The old fash- 

 ioned, thin, long legged, long nosed, gaunt bo- 

 died" kind; are hardly worth keeping. They are 

 continually uneasy and squealing, feed them as 

 much as you will. This kind, however, is fast dis- 

 appearing and their place being supplied by those 

 that are better; among which the Bedlbrd will 

 take the first rank. This breed v/as introduced 

 into Massachusetts, several years ago, and Oli- 

 ver Fiske, of Worcester, who has much experi- 

 ence in the business of raising pork, says "expe- 

 rience has proved to my satisfaction that the Bed- 

 ford breed is far the best that has been introduced 

 into our country. They are quiet in their nature, 

 fat easily, and with little expense or trouble. I 

 have had them at 12 months old weigh 340 lbs. 

 and a considerable number at 18 months old 400 

 lbs." 



Levi Lincoln, late Governor of Massachusetts 

 and President of Worcester Co. Ag. Society, 

 has given his opinion of this breed of hogs, in the 

 following language : 



"I have great pleasure in voluntarily offering 

 myself as your compurgator in the representations 

 with which you have recently liivored the public, 

 of the Bedford breed of swine. The care and 

 perseverence which have marked your attention 

 to the prospects and value of these animals, and 

 the success which has followed your exertions to 

 introduce them to the favor of practical farmers, 

 require, at least, an acknowledgement of obliga- 

 tion from all those who have been particularly 

 benefited by your liberality, and from no one more 

 than from myself This breed of swine has taken 

 the place of a long legged, long nosed, flat sided, 

 thriftless race, called by some the Irish breed, by 

 others the Russian, which would barely pay by 

 their weight for ordinary keeping, and never for 

 one half the expense of fattening, if^ indeed, 

 grain would make them fiit. 



"I had three pigs butchered from the same lit- 

 ter, precisely seven and a half months old. Their 

 weights, when dressed, were 230, 235, and 238^ 

 lbs. One sold in Boston for 6^ cts. per lb.; the 

 otheis were put up here for the fttmily use. The 

 expense of keeping and fattening these pigs, I am 

 satisfied, was less than with any other breed I 

 ever raised, and the proportion of bone and offal 

 to the valuable parts, was surprisingly small. I 

 have fifteen more on my farm, part designed for 

 the market in the spring, and part to be kept over 

 as store swine, and their appearance will furnish 

 ocular satisfaction of the propriety of all which 

 has been said in favor of the breed." 



A pair of these pigs was first sent to this county 

 by the duke of Bedford as a present to General 

 Washington, by a farmer by the name of Park- 

 inson, who resided near Baltimore. Instead of 



