No. 85.] 445 



when dug it -was either wholly decayed, from an excess having been 

 abstracted — or if apparently sound, so much had been taken, as to 

 produce decay by degrees — thus, after having been stored, a sort of 

 fungus appeared upon the potatoe, and the decay is then rapid. From 

 the above investigation, I believe, as I before stated in a conversation 

 with Mr. A. B. Allen — as mentioned in page 354 of the December 

 number of the Agriculturist, that the universal decay throughout the 

 country, is caused mainly if not wholly by insects — and that lime, 

 or any substance obnoxious to them, will, if used in sufficient quan- 

 tity, preserve the plants until they come to maturity. 



The Hog. — I have on my farm an orchard containing many choice 

 grafted sweet apple trees, planted expressly for hogs — this is the 

 principal food on which they are fed during the season ; sometimes, 

 by way of change, they receive sour apples — always given raw — at 

 regular hours — the food is occasionally varied once a day, by adding 

 garden refuse, such as cabbage leaves, cauliflower, &c., together with 

 the slop from the house. Unless so fed, a more expensive animal 

 can scarcely be kept — especially in a part of the country where corn 

 can be sold from 62 i to 75 cents per bushel, and other grain in pro- 

 portion. This is a luxury my hogs never partake of — and fatter ani- 

 mals, or more beautiful pork cannot be produced. It may lose a lit- 

 tle in boiling; if it does, however, I have never noticed it; the loss, 

 at all events would not equal by one-half, the difference of cost fed 

 on corn, if the crop is raised expressly for their food. They are very 

 prolific, producing at a birth numbers varying from six to twelve twice 

 in each year, if found desirable by the owner. Vanlau made a cal- 

 culation, showing that in eleven years, a single sow — averaging each 

 litter at six pigs, formed ten generations, or 6,434,838 pigs, lie further 

 observes that were the calculations extended to the twelfth genera- 

 tion, the result would be as great a number as all Europe could sup- 

 port — and extended to the sixteenth generation would people the globe. 

 When my sows are pregnant, they are kept apart from other hogs — 

 at the birth of the young pigs, they are removed for a few hours from 

 the dam, as they are in danger of being injured by her motions. She 

 is fed judiciously for the first five days — after which she is allowed a 

 full quantum of food three times each day — and never overfed. 

 Her troughs are cleaned after every meal, her pen cleansed daily — 

 and kept constantly littered with fine broken straw. The pigs are 

 early accustomed to feed on milk mixed with bran, and at the age of 

 two months weaned. They are always kept in confinement — their 

 daily occupation is to convert rubbish into manure, a supply of which 

 is constantly thrown into their apartments. My second brood of 

 pigs are sent alive to the New-York market, where they usually bring 

 a high price, and are sold to the packets as roasters. The store hogs 

 are wintered chiefly on sugar beets and carrots, occasionally boiled 

 potatoes — and once a week charcoal dust, which keeps them in per- 

 fect health. Their legs should occasionally be rubbed with a corn 

 cob, to open the pores, and cause the blood to circulate freely — other- 

 wise staggers may ensue. 



I fatted two hogs, the year before last, entirely on sweet and sour 



