1856. 



NEW ExVGLAND FARMER. 



315 



the 10th, and written on the 11th February and 

 sent you. On the 12th, the same night friend 

 Varney was so unfortunate as to be an hour late, 

 we had a slight blow. Still, friend Varney should 

 not have growled at one hour's detention, as had 

 he, the same day, taken the southern route via Bel- 

 lows Falls, he would have stopped at a farm-house 

 on the mountain, and been, instead of one, thirty- 

 six hours behind time, notwithstanding the roads 

 in our vallty were all in running order. 



A statement of the weather from Feb. 11 to this 

 time would surprise him quite as much as the last, 

 (which I assure him was strictly true,) and con- 

 vince even so great a traveller as he is, that the 

 valley of Lake Champlain has "presented an excep- 

 tion" to the generally severe past winter. I may 

 soon make compararive tables, and send you. 



If friend Varney had seen a fat, yellow-haired 

 woman smoking at St. Albans, and had made the 

 same statement of the women of Vermont that the 

 German Duke did, he would not have been more 

 unfortunate in his conclusions than he has been in 

 the ])resent case. C. GOODRICH. 



Burlington, Ft., May 26, 1856. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE PROFIT OF FATTENING SWINE. 



BY F. nOLBROOK. 

 In an article in the Monthly Farmer for April, 



1854, I endeavored to show that swine may be 

 profitably fattened in New England ; and in the 

 Farmer for May, 1854, and again in that for July, 



1855, I gave the results of experiments in feeding 

 pigs, instituted for the purpose of te-ting the 

 soundness of the views advanced in my first article. 

 Since writing those papers, I have made yet anoth- 

 er trial of the cost and profit of feeding, and will 

 now give the details. 



On the 2d of January, 1856, 1 commenced feed- 

 ing five lean shoats, weighing respectively, 80, 77, 

 70, 66 and 61 lbs., or, in all, 354 lbs., gross weight. 

 They were placed in apartments consisting of a 

 compost pen, about 10 feet wide, by 14 feet long, 

 and an eating-room connected therewith. The 

 litter made by two horses was daily thrown into 

 the pen ; scrapings from the woods, consisting of 

 leaves, decayed sticks and rich mould, were occa- 

 sionally added, say two loads or a cord once a fort- 

 night ; and clean straw was frequently given to the 

 pigs, which they arranged in the pen, for bedding, 

 to suit themselves. It was quite an advantage to 

 have the pigs make their bed in the compost heap, 

 as the pen not being very large, the whole heap 

 was influenced by the heat generated by the pigs 

 while Ijing in their bed, so that it did not freeze 

 deeply, even in the coldest weather. The litter 

 from the horses also contributed to keep out frost. 



As in the experiments heretofore made, so also 

 in this, the pigs were fed on corn and cob meal, — 

 the rule being to give them all they would eat with 

 a good appetite, and keep the troiigh clean. Im- 

 mediately after feeding them at a given time, the 



meal for the next feeding was placed in the bucket, 

 hot water poured on to scald it, and the wash of 

 the kitchen afterwards added, the mess standing in 

 a warm place the while, to soak and swell. Each 

 grist of ears of corn, when put up to be ground 

 for the pigs, was carefully measured, and at 

 once charged to them, so that all shrinkage from 

 toll taken out or otherwise, was placed to their de- 

 bit. Entire accuracy was aimed at in keeping the 

 account. 



The pigs were thus treated till the 8th of April 

 last, when they were sold to the butcher at 9 cents 

 the pound, dressed, — he charging for the slaughter- 

 ing. The five weighed, dressed, 785 lbs. They 

 consumed eighty-four bushels of corn and cob, or 

 forty-two bushels of clear corn. During the tim'> 

 of feeding, they were supplied with twelve loads of 

 raw material from the woods, which they pulverized 

 and enriched, and mixed with the litter from the 

 horses and the straw for bedding, making up a com- 

 post of the best quality, both as regards material 

 and mode of manufacture. 



Corn was worth in January last, in this market, 

 about one dollar and ten cents per bushel ; but has 

 been gradually falling in price, till now it is about 

 eighty cents, by the quantity. 



The five pigs may be accounted with as follows : 



78") lbs. of pork, net, at 9 cents per lb $70,65 



Deduct 84 bushels corn and cob, or 42 bushels 



clear corn, at an average price of $1 per bu. .$42,00 



riediict paid for slaufihterinf; the five 3,75 



Deduct paid for the lean shoats $4 each 20,00 65,75 



Balance, above the mariiet value of corn consumed... $4,90 



And the pigs have converted 12 loads of raw ma- 

 terial into good comnost, worth a bushel of 

 corn, or $1 per load $12,00 



From which, if you please, deduct the cost of 

 furni^liii.g material, say 50 cents per load, 

 which is pretty high 6,C0 6,00 



Profit on the five pigs $10,90 



This is the sixth experiment I have made, to as- 

 certain the cost and profit of fattening swine, and 

 it shows less profit than any other one of the six ; 

 and I attribute the smaller return mainly to the 

 extreme and long-continued cold weather of the 

 past winter. Probably, if I had fed these pigs a 

 month longer, so as to have given them the advan- 

 tages of warmer weather, to lay on fat, the gain in 

 proportion to the corn consumed would have been 

 materially greater than now appears. However, ex- 

 tremely unfavorable as the season was, yet the pigs 

 paid more for the corn consumed, than it could 

 have been sold for in market, by the quantity, and 

 supplied a pile of compost worth more than they 

 get credit for in the account. 



Here, in New England, we must use all resources 

 available at a reasonable cost, if we would keep our 

 best lands up to the desirable pitch of fertility, and 

 much more, if we would improve those that have been 

 worn by long and severe cropping, or that neve)-, 

 by nature, had more than a thin hungry soil. The 

 means for the most part employed must bo those 



