jTarmers j!tpntl)lj) 3Bftsit0x. 



^ ^CONDUCTED BY ISAAC HILL. 



" Tho.. who L..OK ..V TH. .,«TH .H. TH^ CHOS,. P.OP.^ Q. Gqq, WHOSE aH.>»S H. HAS M.DE H.S P.CUM.„ nr.P,»7 



VOLUME V. 



TE FOR BUB3T»NTIAI. AND GENUINE V IRTUE."— JfJ^lTSOn. 



CONCORD, N. H. FEBRUARY 28, 1843. 



NUMBER 2. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR, 



PlIBLISHEU BY 



ISAAC HILL, & SONS, 



ISSUE!) ON THE LAST DAY OF EVERY MONTH, 



At No. 3, Hill's Brick Block. 



{^General AOENTS.—B. Cook, Kcene, N H. ; Thojius 

 R. Hampton, Washington City, D. C. ; John Marsh, Waill 

 iiiglon &I. Boston, Mass.; Charles Warren-, Rrinley Row 

 Worcester, Mass. .►*"»*, 



TERBIS.— To single subscribers. Fifty Cmu. Ten per 

 cent, vy.ll be allovved to the person who shall ..end more than 

 one subscriber. Twelve co.iies will be sent for the advance 

 pnymenl o( Fior Dollars ; tweMty-(iv<t copies for Ten Dollars- 



ben'tuTMral,'''::'' ''''"""■• ''"'' '"'^■"'"" '" "'"y '»- '" 



KJ-Moticy and snbscriptions, by a regulatiim of the Past Mister 



Unirral, maij in all cajies be remitted by tlic Post Master free of 



postUiTc. ' •' .' 



{Kj-AII gentlemen who have heretofore acted as Agents are 

 requested to continue their Agency. Old subscribers who 



^S7o1r;.nriSs'"'"'' ""' "'^•"^^ ""'"'y "^ °f '"« -'"- 



m)c inontI)li) bisitor. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Good Pork. 

 We have many specimens of hogs that are 

 equal to any wherever Ibiitul. Tlie noted breeds 

 111 England liave been obtained by judicious se- 

 lections, and by constantly preserving the best as 

 stock suine: in the course of a few years the 

 wliole become excellent. Willi this animal, as 

 with almost every other, it is important tliat'the 

 female should be perlect in the good points. It 

 is also important for fir.el rate pigs that the sow 

 should have age. One winter is sufficient for 

 hogs intended for pork, as within twelve or 

 eighteen months they cease to grow fast, and the 

 meat is better, than that which is older. But a 

 breeding sow does not begin to be good until 

 three or four years of age; and they will con- 

 tinue to improve for a number of years, and do 

 not fail until sixteen or seventeen vears of ao-e. 



In this State where our swine are mostly rear- 

 ed in pens, or are what the Southrons call jocks 

 it is found e,xpensive to keep our breeders until 

 of sufficient age, but would it not pay well for 

 one fanner in a town or neighborhood to keep 

 one or more of first rate bleeders and supply liis 

 neighbors with pigs as stores.' 



As a general truth the thrifty animal eats no 

 more than the unthrifty, and like a good coat, we 

 are apt to take better care of them. A nuiiiber 

 of farmers might unite in obtaining a superior 

 animal, or rather in selecting, and each mi<iht be 

 eiuitled to a share in the increa.se. All tl"e En- 

 glish breeds, as has been already mentioned 

 have been obtained by selections and preserving 

 the best, and by never breeding in and in as they 

 term it, but cross to improve the points. 



In the Southern and Western States where 

 large niiinbers of hogs are aniiiially reared the 

 breeding sows are kept until they tail to feed 

 well, but as a general rule, they are not carefully 

 attended to, and selections h:!ve been great- 

 ly neglected. Our northern breeds are generally 

 better and although not too large, are much lar'r- 

 er, and we prefer fatter pork than at the south 

 There the pigs range their woods, and .sometimes 

 devour potatoes during the summer; in the au- 

 tumn they feed upon the mast, (acrons, chinko- 

 pins and nuts) when they are for the first time 

 put in pens, fed on corn in the ear and water for 

 about four weeks, and are then slaiiehtered. 



This makes the .southern hams, and the whole 

 IS salted and smoked ; it is all called bacon. 



In the West it is somewhat difl'erent, as accord- 

 ing to the section of country, and the improve- 

 ment of the lands, the practice varies. Where the 

 ranges are large and few enclosures, hogs are 

 reareil as at the south, except they turn them in- 

 to their corn fields to fatten ; when imi.rovement 

 has advanced, they pen them up as with us 



The very large hogs will do to talk about, and 

 carry off prizes at agricultural exhibitions; but I 

 have known men of judgment speak in prefer- 

 ence of the smaller races. The large animals 

 are generally coarser, and do not either make as 

 good meat, nor does it suit family purposes as 

 well. It is often too large for the pot in most of 

 our families, and too thick to take salt as readily 

 as the smaller meat. 1 have thought it an error 

 extending to all our domestic animals to aim at 

 the largest size. Good points; in other words 

 well formed animals of the proper size, are pre- 

 ferred for family use, or for the market. 



There is no animal perhaps that reaches matu- 

 rity for use in so short a time as the hog, and is 

 it not worth our attention, to obtain and keep the 

 kind that produces the most and best meat, in this 

 short period .= A FARMER. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 My mother's Butter. 



It was as good as ever was made, and so were 

 the pies and symbalh. Who is there brought up 

 in the country that has not the same feeliu".' 

 Who but reverts to his youthful taste, and as his 

 memory furnishes forth the seasons and limes 

 when he enjoyed what he still thinks the best of 

 butter, and of every thing else, prepared by a 

 mother's hand, and supplied with an unequalled 

 mother's kindness .' 



All kinds of modes of making and preserving 

 butter have been presented again and aaain. To 

 make it good is now so common that we have al- 

 most forgotten that it can be otherwise ; and 

 nothing speaks more favorably of the admitted 

 neatness and excelling carefiiliiess of our uniiar- 

 alleled women. 



That man of self esteem, Dickens, who was in 

 our country, admitted the surpassing excellence 

 of our females in literature, and liad'he been ca- 

 pable would no doubt have pa.ssed a hii'her 

 encomium upon them as wives and mothers," for 

 their qualifications every where. 



But I aiTi leaving my starting point, and what I 

 thought I should have said ere tbi.^, which was 

 not about the tnode of making, hut rather of 

 keeping it for a length of time as" good as new. 



My mother's mode was to have" a barrel about 

 half full of brine, made fVom Turks' Island (not 

 English) salt, which is the purest as well as 

 strongest. The butter, wlien made, was dividerl 

 into lumps or rolls of about four pounds each, 

 and put into the brine, and kept below ihe sur- 

 face of it by a clean hoard cut to fit with holes in 

 it. 



The butter, if well worked at first, never be- 

 came rancid in the least, and was better twelve 

 months after it was made than at first. The bar- 

 rel of course should be always in a cool cellar, 

 cool in summer, and warm in winter. 



The main object in rendering butter proof 

 against spoiling is to keep it from the air, and 

 when put away, there should be no buttermilk or 

 water in it. I am now spetiking of firkin butter. 

 The Arabs melt their butter over a slow fire, 

 which expels all the watery particles ; it will then 

 keep without salt; and the Irish have ailopted 

 with success a similar mode for exportation to 

 the East Indie.^, \tith the desired success. The 

 mode of keeping it in a convenient state for daily 

 use is what I thought might be new to some of 

 your readers, and which you can, if you think 

 pro|ier, make them acquainted with. 



A FARMER. 



For the Farmer's Monthly Visitor. 

 Fencing—Time for cutting Timber— Preserva- 

 tion from decay. 



On the time fiir cutting timber with a view to 

 its duration for fencing, and for resisting the el- 

 enients above gronnd,"inticli has been written. 

 It is a subject of considerable importance to the 

 farmer when post and rail fence is extensively 



used, and for bis buildings of wood as they fre- 

 quently are in Ihe country. 



Some kinds of timber resist decay much bet- 

 ter than others. The locust, cedar, mulberry 

 &c. endure a great while, and the chestnut also' 

 IS very good; but the different species of the oak 

 IS extensively used when other more preservable 

 cannot readily be obtained. 



On a visit during the last summer to a friend 

 he informed me that all his fences of a farm' 

 of about four hundred acres were of wood • no 

 stone could be procured, and as he had been 

 many years upon the place, his attention had 

 been particularly directed to the subject. He 

 had, be said, for many years cut his timber, rived 

 his rails, and prepared his posts in the winter 

 months, as at that period he generally had the 

 most leisure ; but some fifteen years aeo it liap- 

 peued that he cut and prepared a quantity of 

 fencing in the month of August. The rails of 

 oak were still sound even the sap portions, while 

 those from the same wood lot cut and prepared 

 the previous winter have entirely decayed. For 

 some years past, since time and observation had 

 convinced bim of the superiority of summer cut 

 timber, he said he had all his fencing pi eiiared 

 from the middle of June to the middle of Aucrust. 

 And he would not be satisfied with his relation of 

 the superiority, hut took me to his field to test 

 the greater weight and soundness of some winter 

 and summer rails. He also assured me that for 

 the purposes of carriages, and indeed for all pur- 

 poses, the preference was decisive. 



These facts brought to the recollection of the 

 writer an article written by Timothy Pickering 

 formerly of Massachusetts, which appeared in 

 Skinner's American Farmer some years ago. It 

 shew a similar result in some fencing I think in 

 New Jersey, part of which had been made from 

 timber cut by the British troops, in the month of 

 June during the revolutionary war, and ahruptlv 

 left by them. They had cut it for fuel ; and on 

 their leaving it the owner converted it to fences 

 Mr. Pickering noticed the superior durability of 

 Ihe summer cut fence many years after, and gave 

 the result of his observation to the public through 

 the medium I have mentioned. It applies equal- 

 ly to chestnut as to the oak timber, ami is worthy 

 of trial. ■' 



Another mode of rendering roofs, weather 

 boarding and pine fences durable, is the applica- 

 tion of lime. This is already perhaps pretty gen- 

 erally known ; but it can do no harm to repeat 

 the fact. Lime fresh slacked is a caustic, alike 

 destructive for a very short time, to vegetable and 

 animal matter; but as soon as the caustic opera- 

 tion terminates it becomes an anti-sceptic, and 

 retards decomposition. Experiments havo' de- 

 monstrated that limed roofs linve remained en- 

 tirely sound, while those not limed constructed 

 at the same time have greatly decayed. 



In the process of preparation it is not necessa- 

 ry for whitewash ; in fact, unless for appearance, 

 that had better be omitted. 



Let II bushel of good lime be slacked in n suita- 

 ble vessel, and pour to it almost any quantity of 

 water which will reailily take as iiiiich of tl„. 

 hme m solution as it is capable of receiviir.- and 

 let the shingles or weather boards be soaire<l in 

 Ibis water, and apply it plentifiilly with a mop or 

 brush. It apphcil in the latter mode it should ho 

 on both si.les, and plentifully. Wood prepared 

 III this manner endures heller than when i.ain- 

 led, and that without a repetition. 



All of us must have observed ihe durability of 

 white washed fences; yet the water readily pen- 

 etrates the lime and reaches the wood. Lime in 

 fact atlracls moisture, but yet the wood under it 

 endures. 



1 am convinced of these facts, and have .ivailed 

 myselt of them in my fences and buildiiios 

 Indeed a pie|.aiation of lime, colored to taste 

 with ochre, or some other, with tlie uddilioirof- 



