70 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



turned under. Should it be green or dry when 

 turned in 7 The field of one man who tried it in 

 both Btateg, indicates that the dry is best : 4 to 6 

 lbs. of seed to the acre. There is one objection 

 to it as pasturage ; horses are salivated or made 

 to plaver by its use. 



Red-top is as frood as any grass; ^ood for 

 milch cows and horses; requires ii soil that is 

 not wet ; 3 to 4 pecks of seed to the acre. 

 Orchard grass grows quick ; can le cut frequent- 

 Jy ; is sweet ; the cattle relish it. Lucerne is good 

 tor soiling; may be cut 4, 5 or 6 limes a year. 

 Must be tilled the first year or the weeds will kill 

 it ; lasts 8 or 10 years. A small plot may be cul- 

 tivated to advantage; will not do on wet soil; 

 from 16 to 18 lbs. of seed to the acre. 



Gypsum, as a top-dre?sing, 1 bushel or 1-2 

 busiiel to the acre, once in two or three years, is 

 in many places very serviceable. Is not fully 

 satisfied as to the utility of lime. Saltpeire has 

 been used to great advantage. Wood ashes are 

 good, but in great quantities will cause moss to 

 grow, particularly in moist or wet lands ; peat 

 ashes will do the same. Eel grass, kelp, rock- 

 weed and salt hay are good top-dressings. 



Mr. Buckminster, Editor of the Cultivator, 

 agreed with Mr. C. in most respects, yet diii'ered 

 /roni him in a few points. Thought clover, pound 

 for pound, as good as herds grass ; recommended 

 eowiniT them together ; and cutting so early that 

 the clover stalks (the principal part) should be 

 good (odder. Clover, no doubt, is a good crop to 

 plough in, but the difficulty is to oei crop enough 

 to be worth ploughing in. Buckwheat will 

 answer better for this purpose on poor lands; he 

 doubted whether it is well lo let the crop dry be- 

 fore it is turned under. Was in lavor of cutting 

 English grasses young, but thought that our wet 

 meadow grasses wpre worth niore if not cut until 

 they were ripe. Had sometimes sown hey seed 

 among corn at hUUngtime (no hill made) and 

 Ibund it to do well. 



The Editor of this paper hnd never heard be- 

 fore that clover would salivate the horse. On one 

 pide of his lather's liirm the hordes lound nothing 

 that [iroduced this effect, though clover was often 

 eaten by them there: on the other side lobelia 

 grows, and there the slobbers or slavers are pro- 

 duced. He stated one or two facts ,'rnm which 

 he was inclined to infir that clover hay was bet- 

 ter than red-top for producing milk. Also, he 

 gave an account of the sowing of hay seed 

 among com ; the substance of which may be 

 found in No. xxviii. of the present volume of the 

 N. E. Farmer. 



Mr. Collainore, of Pcnihroke, stated that by 

 the application of compost lop-dressiiiirs in the 

 spring, he had sometimes (in dry spasons) done 

 more harm than good ; has Ibund it best to apply 

 them in the autumn. Sea weed he thinks not 

 valuable; but kelp and rock weed are. Ashes 

 should be spread on sandy loam. Lime is some- 

 times serviceable ; if should bp used in compost. 



Mr. Cole, of the Yankee Farmer, expressed 

 the opinion that the salivation of the Imrse miiihi 

 be produced liy soniethmir else than eiiher clover 

 or lobelia. The remainder of his remarks we do 

 not retain ; but as the meeting adjourned while he 

 had the floor and as the same sutject will come 

 lip at the next irieeting, we hope then to preserve 

 what he may ofler. 



BERKSHIRGS KO LOPTGER BERKSHIRES, 



From the Farmri's Cabinet. 



3Ir. Editor — 1 am an old hog- breeder, and 

 have, alvvajs supposed that I knew a thing or two, 

 but 1 conless that I am now all at sea on that 

 subjpct. The time was vvhen a good hog was 

 not measured by the number of white leet which 

 he possessed, or the quan'ity of white hair that 

 he spotted in his tail, but by something of much 

 more importance: I find, however, we were all 

 wrong — no Berkshire can be a Berkshire vviih less 

 than three white lljet and a white top to his tail — 

 " so says the book, and therefore it is true." 



Now. I have observed, through a long life, the 

 truth of an old a|ihorism, which I used to write, 

 as a copy, when a boy at school — " what is 

 violent is seldom permanent" — and the Merino, 

 the morus, and now the Berkshire mania, all are 

 proofs of the truth of the old adage ; thpy have 

 all been loo violent to be permanent, and shoulij 

 be held in remembrance, as a warning against 

 future speculations. 



Well, then, Bt-rkshire? are no longer BeiU- 

 shires, but improved Beikshires! So they can 

 now be black, red, tawny, white, spotted mu\ 

 speckled, and yet be quiie pure and perfect blood 

 — in short, improved Berkshires — leaving the olt5 

 breed quiie out of the question — then I would say 

 that Benjamin Cooper, of Camden, N. J., baa 

 about the best hogs in this country, and they 

 tieserve the character which J. G. has given them 

 in paue 382, vol. 4, o!' tlie Cabinet, the persual of 

 which account induced me to go and view them 

 for myself. 



[l is a pity the gime is likely so soon to be 

 brouglit to a close, lor 1 have iialf-a-dozen young 

 friends, who were just ready lo dash into the spe- 

 culation, each pre|)ared with his Hcmeni or Los- 

 sing, and a pedigree as lonir as my arm, and all 

 of the right color too, to a hair; but Mr. Samuel 

 D. Martin's letter, in the Franklin Farmer, has, 

 or I am much mistaken, blown up the Berko- 

 mania, ami will quite spoil the trade. He admits 

 that theirenuiue Berkj^hires were red, vviili black 

 spots — indeed, that is undeniable — but he con- 

 tends — which is as deniable — that they were a 

 coarse hog, with large ears and curly hair, a great 

 consumer, but that would attain a larce size, (now 

 what on earth was there in such a bos desirable 

 to breed from 7) and, therel(:ire, he would make it 

 appear, that every good quality of the present 

 improved breed was obtained from the Eastern 

 or Chinese Uon, of which there were two varieties 

 of colors, the while and the black. Professor 

 Low, however, contends that the color of the 

 modern Berkshire is still a reddish brown, with 

 dark spots; many of them, he says, are nearly 

 black, mariilesting their near approach to the 

 Siamese character, and sometimes they are black, 

 broken with white, but not a word does he say 

 of their being quite white ; although he admits 

 that from this intermixture it becomes, in many 

 cases, difficult to recognise, in the present race, 

 the characters of the true Berkshire — and yet Mr. 

 Martin has a white imported boar, of the improv- 

 ed Berkshire breed, although he does not claim (or 

 him that he is an oriirinal Berkshire, but that he 

 is an improvement upon that breed, by the eastern 

 crosses. But all this while INlessrs. Los^ing and 

 Wail attach great importance lo their piga' coming 



