Viir.. XI .'. v). 35. 



AND HORTICULTTIRAL REGISTER. 



197 



ON MAKir.'C PORK AND COOKING FOOD 

 FOR STOCK. 



Tliore is no point in tlie inana^reiiiont of asputli- 

 ern ripriciiiturist, in regard tn uliich there is less 

 of nianafrfincnt <ir economy, tiuiii in tlie syisteni iif 

 hog-mindin;r, from its Ijerjiniiin^j to its enil. To 

 speak now only ofsncli as oiio "put up" to lie fat- 

 tened, what can lie more ill jiidi;ed and wastoful 

 than the bnililinir:< or pons ttonstmctcd for fatten- 

 ing', and the careless, wholesale manner in which 

 their nncoolcid corn is gacn tn llioni. From the 

 following on making pork, from the Alhaiiy Culti- 

 vator, the reader may derive some hints tjiat rii;'.y 

 be serviceable, liow very few there are in Mary 

 land, who make for themselves their own pork, as 

 it is called in New England, yet what can surpass 

 a nice piece of family pork occasionally ? As con- 

 iiected in some sort with this subject, we select 

 from the same paper some remarks on cooking food 

 for animals. On the economy of this, writers do 

 not entirely agree. Southern farmers almost en- 

 tirely overlook the pnicticabiliLy of am^issiiig an 

 immense heap of manure from the hog pen. Some 

 eastern farmers contend, that if well managed in 

 that respect, they may be made to pay for the e.^;- 

 pense of fattenmg ^Jlmericuii Fannir. 



"Making pork is one of the most essential inte- 

 rests of the farmer, and may be made one of the 

 most profitable. We question, however, whether, 

 as generally conducted, much money is made by 

 feeding swine, and the reasons are sufficiently 

 plain. In the first place, but little attention, if 

 any, is paid to the kind of hog used for feeding. It 

 is enough, if the animal, caught and caged in the 

 pen, is a hog ; the fact that a given quantity of 

 food fed to some breeds will make nearly or quite 

 as much again pork as when fed to some other 

 breeds, is overlooked ; and an astonishing quantity 

 of roots and grain is thus annually wasted. In the 

 second place, the mode of feeding is very defec- 

 tive. The food may be good, but if given to the 

 hog unprepared, or uncooked, much of its efficiency 

 is lost. To keep hogs profitably, they should from 

 the first, be kept in a thriving state. Not half fat- 

 tened at one time, and then allowed to fall away 

 until they are miserably poor; but kept constantly 

 improving from the time they leave the sow until 

 they are ready for slaughtering. It takes a much 

 larger amount of food to raise an animal of any 

 kind allowed to become poor, than to keep one con- 

 stantly thriving. Again, the tune allotted to feed- 

 ing, is u.sually too limited ; good, firm, heavy pork 

 cannot be made, no matter what may be the feed 

 used, short (jf three or four months. Hogs may be 

 puffed out, and made to look pretty fair, but Iheir 

 meat will no', be hard and firm, and will be affect- 

 ed with the complaint called shrinking in the pot. 

 Hogs fatten much faster in moderate weather, than 

 in severe ccld weather; and hence the process of 

 fattening should commence as early as the food to 

 be used can be had. After the process of feeding 

 begins, see that the hogs have enough: to suppose 

 a squeeling, ravening hog will fat, is a mistake, 

 but unfortunately a common one. 



Farmers in general miss a large part of the pro- 

 fits that might be made from feeding pork, by not 

 paying attention to the making of manure from 

 swine. For corn, a variety of e.xperiments has 

 convinced us there is no manure that can be com- 

 pared with that of the pig ; and the farmer who 

 permits any of this to be wasted, or does not give 

 the animal an opportunity of converting as much 



mould, vegetable matter, &c. into manueas can 

 be done, is a great loser in the end. Some able 

 f'an;iers have estimated that the manure made by a 

 lot of pigs, where the proper materials are provided, 

 will fully pay the expense of feeding; but there is 

 no doubt if they do not do this, they will, by fer- 

 menting the most enriching co.npo.-st for crops, add 

 essentially to the ultimate profits of the fanner. 

 To make good pork, a hog should not be less than 

 fifteen months old, kept constantly thriving, not 

 have a yard as large as the farm or the highway, 

 and be fed on good food not less than three months 



Cooking Food for Jlnimnls. 

 All are aware that grain of almost every kind 

 greatly increases in bulk by tteaming or boiling, 

 and this bulk is greatest at the moment the grain is 

 swelled so as lo crack or burst its skin, it is also 

 known that cooked food is far more nutritious to 

 animals than that which is uncooked; and many 

 have gone on the supposition that its increase in 

 value for food was etiual to its increase in bulk in 

 cooking. This is doubtless a mistake, as the nu- 

 tritive power of articles is larely in proportion to 

 their size, and never perhaps exactly in proportion 

 to their increase of bulk in cooking. 



Reaumur instituted a series of experiments to 

 determine the rate of increase in different articles 

 of food most commonly used for animals, and found 

 the result of some of thein as follows : 



4 pints of oats after boiling, filled 7 pints. 

 4 " barley " "10 " 



4 " buckwheat," " 14 " 



4 " Indian corn" " 15 " 



4 " wheat " " 10 " 



4 " rye " " 15 " 



In the continuation of his experiments to ascer- 

 tain the effect of such food on animals, he found 

 that with some of these articles, though the bulk 

 was much increased, the total of food required to 

 satisfy the animal, was the same as if no cooking 

 had taken place ; or that an animal that would eat 

 half a bushel of oats dry, would eat a bushel cook- 

 ed with the same ease. The nutritive power was, 

 however, apparently increased, or the whole of it 

 contained in the grain made available ; which, 

 when grain is fed whole or raw is rarely the case. 

 On the whole, he came to the conclusion th.it 

 when wheat, barley, or Indian corn is used for 

 feeding, it is far more economical to boil or cook 

 these grains, than to feed them in a raw state ; 

 but that little is gained on the score of economy, 

 when time, fuel, &c. are taken into consideration, 

 in cooking oats, rye and buckwheat. 



In determining the question of economy, much 

 we think is depending on the manner in which the 

 cooking of the grain is performed, whetiier alone 

 or with other siibstar.ces, such as roots. Alone, 

 corn is the most improved by conking of any of the 

 grains, and the value of corn meal for making pork, 

 it has been shown by experiment, is almost double 

 when made into pudding. We have long been in 

 the habit of boiling and steaming potatoes for feed- 

 ing pigs or making pork. With them, in the early 

 part of the feeding, we incorporate apples, squashes, 

 pumpkins, indeed almost any vegetables of which 

 swine are fond. The grain we use, is ground, and 

 either steamed with the roots or mixed with the 

 hot mass in the vats as it is taken from the steamer. 

 As the feeding progresses, the quantity of meal is 

 increased, until towards the last, that material alone. 

 Corn is decidedly the best grain for making pork ; 

 peas and barley are next." 



From llie Farmer's Cabinet. 



PROTECTION OF CATTLE. 



Cattle whose bellies are kept well filled, have an 

 active, vigorous circulation of the blood, which 

 keeps them warm during the inclement winter sea- 

 son, provided they have access to an open shed to 

 protect them from wet. It is much to be regretted 

 that so many barn-yards are destitute of openshede 

 to furnish protection to cattle. Those animals that 

 are furnished with w:,rm stabling during the night, 

 suflTer much more for want of protection from wet 

 during the day-time, than if they were exposed 

 night and day to the elements. An advantage of 

 no irifiing amount, also, arises from open sheds in 

 a barn-yird, protecting the manure under them 

 from being bleached by rains, which depreciates 

 its value one half An accurate experiment has 

 been made by an intelligent fanner on this subject, 

 which resulted in proving, thai one load of manure' 

 which was protected in this manner, goes as far as 

 two loads which had lain exposed to all the rains 

 of the season. A rough shed costs but a sniall 

 sum, and it matters not hosv rough and cheap it is 

 made, so that stock can be kept dry under it. 



Try it : go to work and erect one yet, though it 

 be already winter; it can be done in a day or two, 

 at a very inconsiderable outlay, and it will pay for 

 itself, with a hundred per cent, profit, before this 

 time twelvemonth. 



Have you water near your barn for your stock, 

 or do you permit your cattle to wander abroad for 

 several hours every day in pursuit of it elsewhere ? 

 Farmers who permit their stock to get drink where 

 they can find it, and drop their manure where it 

 will be a nuisance rather than a benefit, cannot be 

 called good managers, and such are uniformly re- 

 warded according to their works. 



AGRICOLA. 



Bkach Grass. — We have before referred to 



this grass and its peculiar properties as stock for 

 the manufacture of paper. From repeated experi- 

 ments, paste-board, bandbox, hanging, and wrap, 

 ping papers, of a superior quality, have been made 

 from It, which is preferable to the same paper made 

 from common coarse stock, that costs at least double 

 whit this grass can be produced for. It is esti- 

 mated that from (iOO to 800 tons of this grows an- 

 nually on Cape Cod. No use whatever was made 

 of it, till it was discovered by Mr Sanderson that 

 it was of a fibrous nature, and peculiarly fitted for 

 the mamifacture of the articles above named. Mr 

 S. has received three premiums from different asso- 

 ciations, for the discovery, and holds a patent, and, 

 from want of means, wishes to connect himself with 

 some one who can furnish a part of a capital to 

 commence its manufacture on an extensive scale. 

 — Boston Transcript. 



A potato diet is found greatly to improve the 

 quality of the blood. Hence roasted or baked po- 

 tatoes are successfully employed as a specific 

 against the sea scurvy, when other remedies have 

 failed. This discovery was made in France. It 

 is singular that boiled potatoes do not seem to 

 have the same good effects. 



Expense of IVar. — The expenditures of the Brit- 

 ish government for the expenses of wars for six 

 successive years, ending with the battle of Water- 

 loo, which gave peace to Europe, amounted to the 

 enormous sum of £636,016,988. 



