642 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



those materials, we think it would not be difficult 

 to produce hogs of any form, size or liabits we 

 may desire. 



Having procured a suitable breed, the next 

 object will be, to produce and keep up a eutficient 

 number (or our purpose. To this end, six or 

 eight good breeding sows will be sufficient tor a 

 Slock of 100 hogs. They should be separate 

 Irom the other hogs, particularly about (arrowing 

 time, and not too many ol iliem together, for 

 Tear of over-laying or smothering the pigs ; and 

 care should be taken to exclude them li'om lying 

 under houses or shelves, wiiere there is dust, 

 which being inhaled by the young pigs, is very 

 destructive oi' them, producing irritation and in- 

 flammation ol' the lungs. 



Now, having a sufficient number of hogs, of 

 the right siock, the next object will be, raise them 

 in such a manner as to make them cost us less 

 than to buy them. The plan which part ol your 

 committee have pursued, and which we beg 

 leave to recommend, though far from perfect, we 

 believe will fully accomplish that purpose. It is 

 as follows : commencing at the first of the year, 

 we are under the necessity of feeding our hogs, 

 through January and February, either on raw 

 corn, or on boiled corn meal, which is far prefera- 

 ble, particularly for the sows and pigs ; and if the 

 sweet potatoes could be preserved until that sea- 

 son of the year, and ted to them boiled, with a 

 small addition of corn meal, it would cheapen 

 the cost of the first two months' feeding, very 

 materially. The next two months, iVlarch and 

 April, which is much the most difKcult season 

 of the year for hogs ; they should be fed on fer- 

 mented slops, m?de either of corn meal, or the 

 refuse parts of flour, alias shorts. We think 

 fermentation superior to boiling, because it assi- 

 milates and prepares the 'food more completely 

 fiir digestion, and also, because it is less trouble 

 which witli us, is an important consideration; the 

 only trouble necessary is to prepare a vat or tub, 

 of the required size, then put in it one third of meal 

 or shorts, and two thirds of water, and let it stand 

 until fermentation takes place, which, after the 

 first time, it will do very soon, provided a small 

 quantity is left in the vat as a leaven. 



Now, by the first of the next months. May 

 and June, the oats will be large enough to graze 

 on, which, with a small addition ol lermented or 

 boiled slops, will keep your hogs in growing order, 

 until your stubble fields are opened, about the 1st 

 of July. And to assist and cheapen the feeding 

 of May and June, we recommend the cultivation 

 of the different kinds of squashes, and also the 

 sugar beet. They may either be led raw, or 

 boiled, which is preferable. 



Now, having brought your hogs to the 1st of 

 July, the difficulty is passed. If you can keep 

 them in growing order until this time, they will 

 fatten to the end of the year, provided you bow 

 as much small grain as every planter in his coun- 

 try should do ; that is, at least one-third of the 

 land which he has in cultivation, leaving the 

 other two-thirds for corn and cotton. This amount 

 of stubble land, by the grain and grazing which 

 it affords, will keep your hogs growing and thriv- 

 ing until the pea fields can be opened, from 

 which time until Christmas, they can be kept 

 (at on a succession of pea fields. We are aware 

 that there is a prejudice with some, against feed- 



ing stock hogs on peas, but we are convinced, 

 from experience, that it is entirely unfounded, and 

 that with plenty of salt, and plenty of water, 

 there is nothing better or cheaper lor feeding hogs ; 

 and we earnestly recommended to every planter, 

 to plant at leat^t a hill of peas for every one of 

 corn ; they will not only keep his stock hogs in 

 good order, lor near three months, but will al- 

 most entirely supersede the use of corn, in fat- 

 tening his pork. 



Let us now compare the cost of pork, raised 

 upon the plan which we have proposed, with the 

 price we are compelled to pay the Kentuckians, 

 and we think it will not appear strange that those 

 planters, who raise their own supplies of pork, 

 are more prosperous, and get rich faster, than 

 those who buy it. 



We have proposed that the hogs should be fed 

 on corn or its equivalent in value, for the first 

 lour months of the year, and that some corn 

 should be given for the next two months ; but 

 allowing for bad management, we will suppose 

 that they are led for the first six months. We 

 have found, on trial, that two bushels of corn in 

 the ear per diem, will be sufficient to keep a stock 

 of 100 hogs in growing condition for the first six 

 months in the year, (together with the adjuncts 

 before mentioned,) which is the only portion of 

 the year in which the expense of feeding is 

 felt; the two bushels of corn in the ear will 

 be equal to one when shelled, and allowing 100 

 ears to the bushel, which is nearly correct, it 

 would be giving one ear per diem to each hog ; 

 It would thus require 300 ears, or little more than 

 three and a half bushels to bring the hog to two 

 years old, which we think is the proper age for 

 liiitening, because then they fatten kinder than 

 when younger, and beyond that age, they do 

 not improve sufficiently in weight to warrant the 

 expense of keeping. In addition to which, we 

 think that after a good run on a pea field, one 

 and half bushels of corn will be sufficient to 

 complete the process of fattening. A part of 

 this committee have found, that with the ma- 

 nagement herein recommended, a hog of the 

 right stock, may be made to weigh at two years 

 old, 200 lbs, neat. The stock alluded to is a cross 

 of the Cobbett and Calcutta, though we have no 

 doubt but that any of the crosses before men- 

 tioned would do as well ; so that 200 lbs. neat 

 pork, instead of costing ^12 to be paid in cash 

 to the Kentuckians, costs you five bushels of corn 

 and the run of your stubble fields, which would 

 be lost, if you had no hogs ; and the run of your 

 pea fields, which only cost you the trouble of 

 planting ; for they require no gathering, and of 

 very little injury to your corn crop, and of great 

 service to your land. 13ut to insure success in 

 raising hogs, it will be necessary that their health 

 should be attended to. The diseases, to which 

 they are most liable are inflammation of the lungs 

 and throat, poisoning by mushrooms, kidney 

 worms, and mange and lice. The first is gene- 

 rally produced by lying in dusty situations, though 

 very often it exists as an epidemic, affecting the 

 hogs of a whole neighborhood at once. The 

 symptoms are wheezing, and a drooping, sluggish 

 appearance. We consider tar given in the feed, 

 or by drenching, as the best remedy to prevent 

 or cure this aflection, by its stimulating action on 

 the exhalents of the parts afiected. The poi- 



