1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



743 



A LARGE HOG. 



From the Haverhill (N. H.) Republican. 

 We notice in several ofour excliange papers an 

 account of a very extraordinnry hog raised in 

 Wallinsford, Vt., and sold lor two hundred dollars 

 to a gentleman who designs to transport him over 

 the country as a show. He weighs, it is said, 

 sixteen hundred pounds, and is three or four years 

 old .' He is a monster indeed. We several years 

 since saw a hog that weighed 1350 lbs. and was 

 thought to exceed pvery thing in the hog line. 

 There are, at this time in this town, several very 

 large hogs, one owned by Mr. Timothy Kix, 

 which is estimated to weigh eight or nine hun- 

 dred pounds, and is not yet, we believe, eighteen 

 months old. Should the creature be kept until he 

 reaches the age oC" three or four years," we doubt 

 very much whether the Wallingfbrd hog would 

 have much to brag oCwhen compared with the hog 

 of Mr, K. Mr. S. Bliss also has a very large hog, 

 which in the course of a year or two, could be 

 made to go ahead of either of the others alluded to. 

 He has a frame to build upon, and should be kept 

 lor the purpose of showing that some things can 

 be done in this section as well as in other parts. 



HOG MANURE. 



From the Genesee Farmei. 



For aiding the growth of many plants, and 

 particularly corn, we have never found any manure 

 the application of which produced such effects as 

 that fi-om the hog pen. Last year we had a field 

 of corn dunged in the hill, part of it with alternaie 

 loads of hog-pen manure, and common good stable 

 manure. Each load planted about five or six rows. 

 x'"'rom the commencement of their growth, till the 

 ripening of the corn, the rows manured from the 

 pig-pen had the advantage, and at harvesting they 

 yielded a much large quantity of corn than the 

 others, though all was excellent. A neighbor, the 

 last spring, in planting his corn, used good stable 

 manure, except for some few rows, for which the 

 stable manure falling short, he substituted a load 

 or two from his hog-pen. The difl'erence in the 

 size of the corn from the first, was such as to ar- 

 rest the attention of every passer by, and though 

 the year has been unfavorable for corn, it has 

 given a handsome product compared with the other. 

 Oiher instances have this year fallen under our 

 notice, the results of which were precisely similar, 

 and have established, in our opinion at least, the 

 superiority of this manure over every other. Its 

 greatest efi'ect, however, so far as our experience 

 or observation has extended, is produced on soils 

 of a loamy or sandy texture, and on vegetables 

 that require active manures to brins ihem forward 

 rapidly. 



It appears to us, then, an object of considerable 

 consequpnce to the farmer, that he should avail 

 himselfof this resource for fertilizing his soil, as 

 as far as possible, and that methods should be adopt- 

 ed by him to preserve and increase the amount at 

 his command, as far as may be, and not allow the 

 avails of his pig-pen to be lost to the farm, as is 

 not uufrequently done. Where pigs are allowed 

 a small yard to run in froip. ike pen, they may be 



made to produce a large quantity of good manure, 

 by frequent additions to the material in the yard, 

 of' straw, weeds, turfs, muck, or even good common 

 earth, to absorb the fluid part of the manure, and 

 preserve iis salts from escaping. In this frequent- 

 ly renewed mass, the pigs will lovejo work ; and 

 if any disinclination is manifested in them to stir 

 this compost heap, a lew handfuis of corn scattered 

 over the surface, will speedily overcome it, and set 

 them busily at work. lithe pigs cannot leave the 

 pens, the stye should be frequently cleaned, and 

 care should be taken that the dung so thrown out 

 is not lost to the premises. A load of muck, or veg- 

 etable mould, occasionally mixed with, or thrown 

 upon the heap, will, when the time for usinsit in 

 the spring of the year arrives, be found, fi-om this 

 absorption of salts, and combination with the ma- 

 nure, an application of much greater value than 

 common stable manures, for most of the crops cul- 

 tivated by the farmer. Fresh manure of any kind 

 should not be applied directly to crops of grain ; 

 as they are apt to produce too much straw and 

 endanger the formation of a good berry. Manure 

 should be first applied to roots, or to corn, and 

 grain follow; by vvhich the danger of a too rapid 

 growih is avoided. 



"DISTEMPER. OR MURRAIN AMONG CATTLE. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register, 



Lincolnion, N. C, JVov. 25, 1839. 

 I have noticed in your September No. of the 

 Register the letter of VV. I. Dupuy respecting the 

 disiemper in catile, commonly called the "mur- 

 rain," asking for the experience of those acquainted 

 with the disorder, and facts connected with it frora 

 any person who may think proper to communi- 

 cate. It has been my lot to have some experience 

 with the disorder in two places in the state of 

 North Carolina more than one hundred and fifty 

 miles apart; and believe I understand the origin 

 of the disorder, but am not as certain of the cause 

 of its continuance when once introduced in any 

 section of country, or of its ceasing. It is generally 

 believed that the disorder is caused and spread by 

 driving cattle in hot weather from the lower coun- 

 try, li-om the long leaf pine to the upper country ; 

 why it is so 1 cannot say, but will relate how it 

 was introduced in both places. My first acquain- 

 tance with the disorder was on the waters oC the 

 Roanoke, near the Virginia line, about the middle 

 of the slate of North Carolina. The disorder was 

 introduced by a large drove of cattle driven fi-om 

 the southern part of the state, and lower country, 

 in August as well as I recollect. The drove was 

 owned by a man of the name of Martin, and 

 passed through Granville, intended for the Peters- 

 burg market. The disorder was left along the 

 road where I then resided, and extended as far as 

 I heard from the drove, and spread out on each 

 side of the road. This I think was in the year 

 1794 or 95, when I was a boy. Afier setiling to 

 myself, the disorder got into my stock, and killed 

 nearly half of them ; but where it originated I 

 cannot tell ; it seemed to approach gradually from 

 the lower country. It was introduced into the sec- 

 tion of country where ( now am by a gentleman 

 moving from one of the lower counties, using oxen, 

 eight yoke, for his teams. The number was not 

 sufficient to spread the disorder along the road, 



