THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



563 



The most fatal disease of hogs is the swelled 

 throat orquinsy. This too, is easily prevented. 

 1 have long been o( the o|)inion iluii it proceeds 

 from indigostion, caused by leeding on hard grass- 

 es or clover in their declining state ; and my suc- 

 cesslbl practice as a preventive lor the last eight 

 years is a strong confirniation. Yet it maliera 

 not concerning the cause, (trovidcd there is a re- 

 medy. The disease in the last stage is highly 

 inflammatory, but at no time in ectioue. It is an 

 accumulation of matter tbrmed between the glands 

 of the jowl, which continues to inflame till the 

 hoa dies by suflocation. The disease may be 

 cured before and after the matter begins to Jurm ; 

 but as it may be more satisfactory to state my 

 experience and knowledge on the subject, I will 

 give an instance as coming under my observation 

 and conclude wiih my practice as a cure and pre- 

 ventive, in 1830, 1 discovered the disease among 

 my hogs by llie death of one of my liittest. As 

 soon as possible, 1 had them removed from the 

 clover field, and put in a spacious pen, where 

 they were fed with as much corn as they would 

 eat alter it was glazed with tar and as much 

 ashes put on as would adhere to the grains. They 

 still continued to die, till I lost to the number o! 

 fifteen. 'I'his great number dying out of eighty, 

 caused me to doubt the efficacy of the remedy or 

 that the disease was too rapid lor its effect. 

 Shortly after, they were put up to fatten, which 

 they did very readily, and I was left in doubts as 

 to the effect of the medicine, until the day I 

 butchered, when 1 found lumps of coagululed 

 matter in the jowls of many, about the size ot a 

 hazelnut or larger, without any signs of inflam- 

 mation around them. I then came to the conclu- 

 sion that they would have died had it not been lor 

 the remedy applied, and that the disease of those 

 that died had advanced too far to be cured by any 

 remedy. Observing that hogs kept in sties ne- 

 ver had the quinsy, 1 attributed it to the whole- 

 some quality of Ibod they ate, and on the contra- 

 ry, the cause of their having it out of sties, to the 

 pernicious qualities of hard dry grasses. Since 

 1830, I have invariably given my hogs during the 

 spring and summer months, when grazing, slop or 

 swill once a week or oftener, consisting of kitchen 

 slop with cooked vegetables of various kinds, 

 apples, &c., with bran or a little meal, mashed to 

 a paste, salted and cooled off by adding a quan- 

 tity of water, and occasionally brimstone or salt- 

 petre. Since the above date, my attention has 

 been directed to the raising and fattening of hogs 

 on the products of a small larm, and I have never 

 yet lost a hog by this disease nor in my recollec- 

 tion by any other. My opinion is still further 

 supported as to the cause of the swelled throat, by 

 its being less frequent since the practice lately 

 adopted in putting the hogs to graze when the 

 clover is young and tender, and taking them off 

 when it is old and tough. 



Every body knows that the young and old hogs 

 should be kept apart in winter ; and yet how 

 shamefully this important matter is neglected by 

 many. Young and old, great and small are crowd- 

 ed together, day and night, mashing and smo- 

 thering ; and yet many will look on with heed- 

 less regard at the great destruction of the young 

 stock, without separating them. When young 

 and old are fed together, the old will always get 

 more than their share, thereby the young become 



poor and diseaeed, making little or no progress ia 

 growth. 



The breed of hogs best calculated for our gene- 

 ral purposes is yet to be ascertained. Within a 

 few years, great exertions have been made, at 

 considerable expense, to procure the best breeds, 

 but whether any of them answer our expectations, 

 I think very doubtful. The breeds imported here, 

 were impiovemems made to suit the purposes of 

 others under different circumstances, different soil 

 and climate, different food and management and 

 under a different method of disposing of the pork ; 

 and according to our present mode of farming, 

 thus differing from the methods abroad, whence 

 these hogs have been brought; and our surplus 

 pork being chiefly driven to the south, I think 

 ultimately they will not do except in the event of 

 the successlul comfletion of the rail-road from 

 Lexington to Charleston. Then the smaller and 

 earlier matured hogs, the Byfields, the Berkshire, 

 the Bedlords, &c., will be more profitable than 

 the larger breeds. But should this all-important 

 improvement to the west prove abortive, the hog 

 thai will be best calculated for our interests is yet 

 to be improved by some judicious cross from our 

 present great variety of breeds. The fat varie- 

 ties, as the Bedlbrd, Berkshire, &c., from their 

 early propensity to fatten, are best lor family use 

 and home consumption ; but owing to their inca- 

 pability to travel, they must measurably give way 

 to the longer legged hog, until the rail-road 

 Irom Lexington to Charleston is complete. 



Bird Smith, 

 Member Ky. State Jg. Society. 



RKIUARKS ON THE SOILS OP PART OF SURRY 

 COVNTY. 



By the Editor. 



A large proportion of the lands of the lower 

 part of the county of Surry (or that part east of 

 the Court-House,) have some peculiar features, 

 which are but little known to strangers, and seem 

 to be but little appreciated by the residents; and 

 which ought to render these lands interesting and 

 profitable subjects for agricultural improvement. 



The eastern half of the county, to which these 

 remarks will be mostly confined, is bounded by 

 James river or the north, and by Blackwater 

 river, or swamp, on the south. The general sur- 

 face is remarkal)ly level ; but in the northern part, 

 from which the water flows towards James river, 

 the streams generally pass through pretty deep 

 ravines or valleys, the sides of which form short 

 and sleep hill-sides, which intersect the table land, 

 and form exceptions, and in strong contrast, to 

 its general level surface. 



The level of the much obstructed Blackwater 

 river is much higher than that of James river, 

 and therefore the descent to it much less from 

 the intervening ridge, or highest table land. Hence 

 the tributary streams are more sluggish, and run 

 through shallower depressions ; and the water 

 therein forme swamps, or " siashi' land," more 

 often than Irc'ly running streams. The heads 

 of the small streams which are discharged to- 

 ward these opposite directions leave in the mid- 

 dle a dividing strip of higher land, which will be 



