AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



37 



ed Mount Etna, was attended by her principal no- j 

 bility, when a heavy shower obliged them to tafe , 

 relMge under this tree ; the immense branches d'| 

 which sheltered the whole party. According t) j 

 the account given of it by Mr. Howel, thi.s chesnvt 

 tree is one hundred and sixty feet in circumfer- , 

 ence— and although quite hollow WMthin, the vei- ', 

 dure of tlie branches is not atiected ; for this spt- 

 I'ies of tree, (like the willow and some others,) df- 

 Ijend.s upon its bark for subsistence. The cavity 

 of this enormous tree is so extensive, that a hou» 

 has been built in it ; and the inhabitants have an 

 oven ther-nn, wiicre they dry nuts, chesnuts, a- 

 tnonds, &;c. of vvhicli they make conserves ; but 

 as these thoughtless people often get fuel from the 

 trco that shelters them, it is feared that this natu"- 

 al curiosity will be destroyed by those whom it 

 protects. 



FATTENING SWINE. 



" According to the opinion of the Rev. Mr El- 

 iot, the best time in the year to shut up hogs to 

 liuten them, is the month of AugUist. I rather 

 prefer the month of September, when it may be 

 de])cniieil on, that they will not suffer at all by 

 the heat in their confinement ; and there will he 

 time enough to make them fat, before tlie weath- 

 .'V becomes to be extremely cold. 



He that attempts to fatten his hogs in winter 

 will he a loser ; for it has been foimd by long ex- 

 perience, that they do not gain in their flesh near 

 so fast in a frosty, as in a temperate season. I 

 therefore take care to get them fit for the knife 

 bv the beginning or middle of December, and I 

 shoidd choose to kill them still earlier, were it not 

 for the advantage of keeping the lean part of the 

 pork for some time without salting ; as it most 

 commonly may be done by exposing it to frost, in 

 the coolest part of a house. i 



But a very important question is, what food and '■ 

 msnagement is best in fattening swine ? Peas 

 answer well, wMen the price of them is low. But i 

 I am constrained to give the preference to Indian 

 corn. Let them be fed in September with green 

 ears from the field. There is nothing they will 

 devour more greedily than this corn, and even the 

 cob;! witli it. 



In Indian harvest, the unripe ears should be 

 yiicked out, and given to the hogs that are fatting, 

 without delay ; or as fast as they can eat them ; 

 for it will do them four times as much gooil in this 

 state, as it will after il is dried, it being diflicult to 

 dry it without its turning mouldy or rotten ; so 

 that they will scarcely eat any of it in this state, 

 unless they be kept shorter of food than fatting 

 hogs should be. 



After the unripe corn is used, that which is ri- 

 pened must be given them. 



If it lie thought most convenient to feed them 

 with corn of the preceding year, it should not bs 

 given them without soaking, or boihiig, or grind- 

 ing it into meal. For they will not perfectly di- 

 gest umch of the hard kernels ; it being often too 

 hard for their teeth. It has been thought by good 

 judges, that the corn will be at least a sixth part 

 more advantage to the swine for soaking it in 

 water. But there is if I mistake not, still more 

 advantage in gruiding it. What new corn is giv- 

 en them, may be in ears, es it is not hardened 

 enough for grinding. I know of nothing that will 

 fatten hogs faster than a dough of meal and wa- 

 ter. But as this is expensive food, the dough may 

 be mixed with boiled potatos, or boiled carrots. — 



They eat these mixtures as well as dough by it- 

 self; and it appears to make no material differ- 

 ence in their fattening. In this mixture, barley 

 meal will answer instead of Indian ; which should 

 be attended to in our more northern jjarts, where 

 two husheLs of barley may be as easily raised, as 

 one of Indian corn. Both kinds of meal I have 

 found to be a good mixture with boiled (jotatos ; 

 but it should by all means be n little salted to give 

 it a good relish. 



VVhile hogs are fatting, little or none of the 

 wasii from the kitchen should be given them. — 

 Their drink shouhl be fair water, which they rel- 

 isli better than any other drink, and of which they 

 will drink a good deal, when they are fed only on 

 corn, or stiff dough. 



To prevent measles and other disorders in hogs, 

 while they are fatting, and to increase their health 

 and appetite, a dose or two of brimstone, or anti- 

 mony, given them in their dough, is useful, and 

 should not be neglected. 



SiHiie change of food may be advisable, in ev- | 

 ery stage of their existence, as it always seems to [ 

 increase their appetite. But while they are fatting, 

 laxative food in general should be avoided, as 

 these animals are seldom known to suffer by cos- 

 tiveness, especially when they are full fed, but 

 often from the contrary disorder. If they chance 

 to be costive, a little rye will help them. 



In feeding, steady care should be taken that not 

 one meal should be missed, nor mistimed, and 

 their water should never be forgotten. They 

 should always have as much food as they will eat 

 up clean ; but never more than that quantity, lest 

 they defile it and it be wasted. A httle at a time 

 ami often, is a good rule. 



If their skins be scurfy, or inclining to mangi- 

 gess, a little oil poured upon their backs, will 

 cause it to come off. And some say a small mess 

 of rye now and then, as a change in their food, is 

 good against these and other disorders. 



If the issues in the fore legs should chance to 

 get stopped, every attempt to fatten them wilj hi 

 in vain. These, therefore, should be watched ; 

 and if found to be stopped, they should be rubbed 

 open with a corn cob. 



Rubhhig and currying their hides very frequent- 

 ly, is of advantage to keep up perspiration. It is 

 grateful to the animals, as well as conducive to 

 their health and growth. A proper scrubbing 

 post in the middle of their pen will not be amiss. 

 And during the whole time of their fatting, they 

 should have plenty of litter. Tlicy will He the 

 more dry and warm, and it will be more than paid 

 for, by the increase of good maaurc. 



When hogs are killed, a single one should not 

 be left to live alone in a pen. Ho will be apt to 

 pine too much at\er his former companions. Antl 

 in colrl weather he will suffer for want of lodging 

 so warm as he has been accustomed to do. 



The fat of pork should he plentifully salted wth 

 the best and strongest clean salt. It will take 

 three pecks for a barrel. The pork shotdd be kept 

 continually under pickle ; for if it be exposed ever 

 so httle to the air, it will become rusty and unpal- 

 atable. 



Boded or steamed clover hay will serve to keep 

 hogs during winter, but the addition of potatos or 

 carrots, boiled or steamed with the hay will be an 

 improvement. 



Mr. Young directs soiling swine in a yard in 

 preference to feeding them on clover in the field 

 during summer. But Judge Peters, cd" Pennsyl- 



vania, saysj "In summer my hogs chiefly run on 

 clover. Swine feeding on clover in the fields will 

 thrive wonderfully ; when those (confined or not) 

 fed on cut clover will fall away." The same gen- 

 tleman asserts that hogs, while fatting, should eon- 

 stanth' have some dry rotten wood, kept in the 

 pen, which they will eat occasionally, and it proves 

 very beneficial to them. It is also declared, as 

 well by that gentleman as other writers, that food 

 when soured by a jiroper degree of fermentation 

 if) much the best for fattening swine, and that one 

 gallon of sour wash will go as far as two of sweet 

 for that purpose. Mr. Yoimg says, that the best 

 method of feeding all kinds of grain to hogs is to 

 grind it to meal, and mix it with water in cisterns 

 for that purpose, at the rate of five bushels of meal 

 to a hundred gallons of water. — Deane. 



BATHING. 



It is a common notion that bathing is of impor- 

 tance to the health only in sununer. But this is a 

 oreat mistake. It may, indeed be of more impor- 

 tance for the single purpose of cleaidiness, for dust 

 aitd perspiration, to require more fi-eiptent ablu- 

 tions, in hot weather than in cold. But this is far 

 from being the most important use of bathing. — 

 To clear the pores of the skin, to soften the con- 

 tractions produced by cold, to op«;n the small ves- 

 sel and tulics that arc designed to carry the cir- 

 culation to the very surface, are the great and sal- 

 utary effects of bathing. In producing these ef- 

 fects, we perceive at once how bathing promotes 

 health, especially at the season of the year, when 

 we are exposed lo autumnal fevers, and how il 

 [irepares the body for the rigours of winter. It is, 

 al;^o, obvious that the bath shordd he hot ; not 

 merely tepid cr lukc-warm, but considerably 

 warmer than the body. Heat is a very subtle flu- 

 id and like all other fluids seeks a level, or an c- 

 qnilibrium. If you go into .1 bath soinewhat cold- 

 er than your body, youi- body loses heat ; it hn- 

 parts its warmth to the water till both are at the 

 same temperature. The chill which is felt on 

 coming from sncii a bath is evidence of this fact, 

 and shows that the system has been injured rath- 

 er than benefitted. But if the bath be warmer 

 than the body, the balance of heat is produced by 

 the water's imparting heal to the body, and the 

 operation of it is to give a grateful impulse to the 

 action of the system, and send the blood briskly 

 to tho surface and the extremities, opening the 

 channels, clearing away ohstniclions, and diffus- 

 ing a glow over the body, and a quiet joy over 

 the mind, which are the unimpeachable witnesses 

 of health, and the perception of which is luxury 

 Ti-ot; (M Y.) Regisler. 



Acorns. — These are sometimes given to poultry 

 and would be found an advantageous food for 

 fowls, were they dried and ground into meal. — 

 Acorns can be preserved in a state fit for vegeta- 

 tion for a whole year by enveloping them in beeg 

 wax. Oflter seeds may be conveyed from dis- 

 tant countries by the same means. Miller advis- 

 es to plant acorns as soon as they are ripe in Oc- 

 tober, which will come up iii the following April ; 

 because, if they are attempted to be kept, they 

 will sprout, though spread thin. 



Mr. Benjamin Peacock, of Bristol, killed a calf 

 on the 22d of July, of five weeks and four days 

 old, which weighed 162 lbs. — and yielded 17^ lbs. 

 of rough tallow. 



