1^39] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



52y 



out much paines] had prevailed with his uneasy 

 cousin, to deliver ihe (ore-mentioned wrillcn re- 

 cantation al tlie bar, liaving compiled it ready to liis 

 hand, and Ity whose meanes 'twas supposed that 

 timely inlimalion was convey'd to the 3'oung gcn- 

 Sieman (o (Ice for his hfe," which passage imme- 

 diately succeeds the onequotcil above, "Ibrasmuch 

 as the taking Mv. JJacon again into the councill, 

 was first to Iceej) liim out ofilie assembly, &c." 

 If it is to be inlerred from its not appearing in 

 Hening, that Eacon the younger was not of the 

 council, we must on the same ground infer that 

 Berkley issued no proclamation against him, for 1 

 think nonesuch is !o be Ibund therein ; but your 

 Williamsburg correspondent admits there was 

 such a proclainaiion issued. There is an hiatus 

 in the records of that period ; the name of Jiacon 

 the younger would no doubt be expunged by tlie 

 vindictive Uerkley, from the list of councillors, 

 even if that list escaped the conflagration oi 

 James Town, 



There is no impossibility in their being two 

 councillors of the same name at the same time. 

 Benjamin Harrison of Berkley and Benjamin 

 Harrison of Brandon, were both members of the 

 council at the same time, early in the revolutionary 

 period. 



The following authorities agree in asserting that 

 Bacon the rebel was of the council. Keiths llis- 

 torv of Virgmia, p. 15(3, JJeverley's Hist, of V^a. 

 p. 68, Marshall's Washington, vol. 1. p. 198, En- 

 cycleptedia Americana, Biographical Dictionaries 

 of Lempriere, and Blake, Article Bacon, Robert- 

 son's History of America, p. 421. 



I am ashamed to liave occupied so inuch space, 

 on a point of mere curiosity, and in a discussion 

 which I am aware is a little out of the line of your 

 work ; the more so, as the article in the Intelli- 

 gencer consisted of notes scratched oil some years 

 since from Beverley's' Hist, of Virginia, at a James 

 river seat, where I met with it (or the first time, 

 and the misstatement (if one) might safely have 

 been left at his door. But although that writer is 

 often loose and inaccurate, in this particular in- 

 stance, he seems well sustained, as ! trust will ap- 

 pear to the candid reader. 



Your most obedient servant, 



CiiAKLKs Campbell. 



Petersburg, /lagusl 9t/t, 1S39. 



ON FATTENIJfG HOGS, BY COLD-SOAKED AND 

 FEIIIM HATED FOOD. 



To llic Editor of llic Fanners' RL>gi.>tcr. 



jJvgust Sis/, 1839. 

 You complain very justly, 1 think, that many of 

 your first contributors have grown weary in well 

 doing; in other worils, that their communications 

 have greatly lidlen od' in point of numbci's. Al- 

 though 1 myself am unconscious of being one of 

 the culprits, I delermiiied immediately upon read- 

 ing your remarks, to act as if I really was one, and 

 felt anxious to evince my repentance by I'oriliwiih 

 inditing to you an ei)istle of some kind or other ; 

 but could think of nothing, at first, (hut appeared 

 worth communicating ; luckily, liowevcr, in the 

 midst of this (]uandary, I picked up at second 

 hand, (iom a li-iend, someiiiing in regard to the 

 mode of fattening hogs, which seems to be well 

 worthy of notice. 

 Vol. VH-67 



First, however, I must tell you, that having, for 

 a year or two past, enrolled myself in the frater- 

 nity of root-steamers (or stock, (horses and sheep 

 excepted,) my own experience is not yet sufficient 

 to report to you any result of trials made by my- 

 self. I must liirther confess (hat, as a novice in the 

 steaming business, I still retain somewhat of that 

 incredulity which I always feel relative to the ben- 

 efits of any practice, when they appear to me so 

 exaggerated as those do that are generally ascribed 

 to the steaming process. But being open to con- 

 viction, and utterly condemning the old and com- 

 mon wasteful method of fattening our liogs, 1 was 

 much gratified to hear the account which I will 

 now give you of the mode [iraclised by some gen- 

 tleman, whose name I forget, in King & Queen 

 or King VVilliair,. 



One or more casks or tubs are nearly filled with 

 alternate layers of chopped cabbages or roots, and 

 broken ears of corn. Enough boiling water is 

 then poured into the vei^se!s, to cover the Ibod. 

 This is suflered to stand about 24 hours before it 

 is given to the hogs, fiy which time some lermen- 

 tation takes place, if the fattening process is com- 

 menced as early in the season as he commences it, 

 which I understand he does long before (i-ost. A 

 constant supjily of this food is given until a very- 

 short time previous to the hogs being killed, du- 

 ring which they have corn alone, which is gene- 

 rally deemed necessary to harden their fat. 



By this method we may save the expense of 

 steaming apparaius of every kind, such as liave 

 been herelolbre recommended in our agricultural 

 papers. It is true that some of these cost very 

 little compared to the advantages derived li-om 

 them ; but this little, even in the cheapest, that I 

 have seen mentioned, is worth saving, i( it can be 

 dune by some contrivance still cheaper, and pre 

 ferable on other accounts, as the one which 1 have 

 just described, ajipears to be. 



I am gratified that I have it in power to give 

 you the foregoing information at this particular 

 lime ; for I have long been convinced that we 

 should probably save, at least half the expense of 

 fattening our pork, if we would commence (loinfT 

 it by the first of September, or even sooner, and 

 give much less corn than we generally do. To 

 postpone putting up our hogs (or the sake of the 

 acorns and chinkapins that \hcy may be able to 

 find by incessant travelling about in search of 

 them, is as comjilete an illustration as I have ever 

 known of the old proverb, — ^'penny luise and 

 pound foolish ;" since to say nothing of the noto- 

 rious fact that hogs especially, {'alien much fasUr 

 in warm weather than in cold, and when they can 

 fill their bellies without having to travel miles (br 

 the wherewithal, (being the laziest animals ii|)oii 

 earth, except the gluttonous man, and his proio 

 type, the ([uadrujictl called the sloth,) more oi 

 them are lost by theft, if suffered to run at large, 

 during the nut and acorn season, than would pa}-, 

 twice over, the whole expense of' (i^eding tiiem in 

 pens with food that cost us little or nothing, except 

 die labor of colleciing and preparing it. Even 

 that portion of this stock vvliich we call "onthogs''^ 

 could probably be kept much more economicad}^, 

 if not suflered to run alrao^i wild for half the year; 

 and were supplied with fbod by their owners, in- 

 stead of being left to su{)ply themselves. As they 

 are commonly managed, we may truly estimate 

 the annual lois, in most cases, at nearly or (juiio 



