50 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Ae to the breedinnr of horses, I profess to know 

 very little about it ; therefore, will dismiss the sub- 

 ject with a single remark, that a small horse is 

 very nearly worthless on a larm. Tlie only dreaded 

 maladies amongst our horses arc grubs and cholio ; 

 both of which, I have never failed to cure, by 

 drenching with a decoction of white walnut bark. 

 As to the proper food lor a horse, 1 believe there 

 is noiliing equal to the old Virginia plan of corn 

 and fodder. 



Although I am a breeder of cattle on a small 

 scale, and have some blooded animals, yet I shall 

 hazard no remarks on the subject; only this I say, 

 a small cow is almost as worthless as a small 

 horse. I dread no disease of my cattle but hol- 

 low-belly and hollow-horn ; the first of which I 

 cure by feeding, and the second, by simply boring 

 into the horn, underneath. So soon as a cow's 

 eyes begin to appear dr}' and sunken, he or she 

 should be caught, and the horn bored— if pure 

 blood appear, stop boring that horn, for no disease 

 is there — next bore the other horn. But one who 

 is experienced can judge of the hollow-horn, either 

 by striking or feeling. It may be well, in this dis- 

 ease, to apply a very small portion of spirits of 

 turpentine, or a larger portion of any kind of oil 

 to the exterior; but nothing should be applied to 

 the interior of the horn. To rid cattle of lice, I 

 cast salt profusely on their bodies during the whole 

 time of their yarding, remembering to avoid the 

 practice on a cold day. The salt not only destroys 

 the vermin, but causes the cattle to be kindly 

 affected. As to the food of cattle, I know from 

 experience that the old Virginia fashion is mur- 

 derous. Straw cannot be depended on; corn 

 shucks (husks) are very good, but they are not in 

 sufficient abundance ; hay is badly wanting, and 

 cabbage and roots would be extra. 



Hogs are next in order, and I profess to know 

 Bomething about them. The first hogs I ever 

 owned were the old English, and as they cost 

 more than they came to, I got rid of them. I next 

 Bought after, and obtained the most chumpy wood 

 hog to be had ; for in those days there were no 

 blooded hogs amongst us, except the China, and 

 they were considered too email. 'I'hese I conti- 

 nued, with some improvement, to propagate for 

 more than twenty years, and finding that th.ey, as 

 well as they old English, cost more than they were 

 worth, [ should long since have abandoned breed- 

 ing the hoa, had not native pride forbade it. I next 

 crossed these from a Barniiz boar, by which im- 

 provement! was enabled to balance thehog account 

 at the end of the year, I next obtained a Mackey 

 BOW, the progeny of which was no improvement. 

 I finally tried a cross of Berkshire and Bedford, 

 Berkshire and Barnitz, and Berkshire and Mackey, 

 all of which are good; but the stride in improve- 

 ment is in the order in which their names stand. 

 Being satisfied that there is no profit in breeding 

 the best woods' hog in our country, I have killed 

 and sold all such, nor could 1 be induced to accept 

 of one as a present. When our country was full 

 of weeds and wild roots, the woods' hog answered 

 our purpose ; but now, when our reliance is wholly 

 on our fields, away with the long leg, long nose, 

 equealing woods' hog, and give me the short leg, 

 chort nose, lazy, grunting hog ; then I have no 

 creeping through llences, no running away, no lice, 

 no measles, no worms. 



jV!y hoga are good, not fine ; but in one more 



year I hope to compete with any honest Yankee. 

 I have a lot of pigs, now six and a half months old, 

 which would weigh on an average, about 90 

 pounds net, which are intended for poikers about 

 the first day of next March, when ihev will be 

 nine months old, and will weigh about 140 pounds. 

 They were injured by weaning when very young, 

 for the purpose of bringing my sows to breeding 

 at a specified lime, otherwise they would be 

 larcer. My sows have |)i^s now about three 

 weeks old, which are intended (or pork when about 

 twelve months old, and are then expected to weigh 

 about 250 pounds. 



The first pigs ai)ove mentioned, were fed from 

 the 20[h day of May fill November, on cabbage, 

 and a small portion of inferior rye meal, and could 

 not have been called [I'at] till lately, nor would a 

 judce now call them so. 



The young pigs, with their mothers, are fed 

 with rye meal, with a email portion of corn occa- 

 sionally. My fattening hoiis, to be killed in the 

 winter, are led first with corn, cut up at the roots, 

 so soon as the hog may be enabled from the ma- 

 turity of the grain to gather it. The vvhole plant 

 is cast into the pen, and after (he grain, nearly all 

 the plant is eaten. In addition to this, they have 

 a daily, though moderate allowance, of either cim- 

 blins, pum[)kins, cabbages or beets, and a goodly 

 supply of weeds and grass. The lousy and 

 wormy cabbage and beets are first, and, perhaps, 

 only used in this way, and the weeds and grass 

 are both food and manure. When I begin to cut 

 up my corn, for the purpose of sowing small grain, 

 my rule is to first pick, and stack only such ae 

 have ears; after which, the barren stalks are 

 gathered for the hogs and horses. From this pe- 

 riod I discominue casting the whole plant to the 

 hog. When the barren stalks are examined, they 

 will be found to contain a much greater portion of 

 saccharine matter than those which have yielded 

 grain — hence, my preference in their use. As to 

 the relative value of the secondary vegetables for 

 feeding of hogs, with my present experience, I 

 would prefiir the cabbage ; though it may be pro- 

 per for me to remark, that my feeding with car- 

 rots and parsnips are very limited, and that per- 

 haps I should have excepted the artichoke. But 

 in some localities the cabbage cannot be raised to 

 advantage ; whereas, the beet and artichoke seem 

 to be adapted to every climate, and nearly every 

 soil. Cimblins and pumpkins are a general failure 

 with me. This year I raised a small lot of Jeru- 

 salem artichokes, which my pigs are fond of root- 

 ing after ; but as to their value I cannot speak, 

 though not doubting it, I have secured a sufficiency 

 to plant an acre next spring. 



To rid my hogs of lice, I cast ashes on them 

 when they (the hogs) are wet. For manse, I 

 use oil, or any kind of grease. For worms, I give 

 ashes and charcoal; without which precaution, 

 my hogs of the old stock have sometimes been 

 disgustingly wormy, but with their use not a worm 

 is to be seen. Of late years I have no measles 

 on my hogs, and I attribute its disappearance also 

 to the use of ashes, of which the hog at intervals 

 will freely eat, without compulsion. It is but very 

 seldom that we have any malady amongst the 

 hogs of this region, except those above mentioned. 

 In concluding this subject, I would remark that 

 there are a good many blooded hogs in this sec- 

 tion of country, but as they have been run down 



