414 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



ble to a generous and comfortable mode of liv- 

 ing, they would not deserve censure. But if I 

 were to measure the hospitality of a stranger by 

 the style of his house, I should declare in favor 

 of the owner of one that is homely and moderate- 

 ly spacious ; and should suspect the liberalily of 

 one who lived in an ostentatious house, as I 

 should doubt the piety of those who occupied 

 the most expensive pews in a fashionable church. 

 As this man's palace loomed before my sight, I 

 should feel some misgivings, and say to myself 

 — "These poor people w'no live on ])retence, can- 

 not spend much for generosity." 



"WHY SOW^S DESTROY THEIR YOUNG. 



A writer in the Homestead gives an article on 

 this subject, in which he argues very conclusive- 

 ly that "costiveness and its accompanying evils 

 are the main causes of sows destroying their 

 young — and proper food is the preventive and 

 cure." He says, and the fact is patent to thous- 

 ands of pig-raisers, that sows never eat their pigs 

 when running at large, with plenty of green food 

 as in autumn, but with hardly any exception, 

 sows littering early in the spring are troubled 

 with costiveness, often very severely. This causes 

 extreme restlessness, often almost frenzy, and 

 the pains of labor increase it until they destroy 

 their young or any other living thing within their 

 power. 



"Green food is the cure." If sows are con- 

 fined in pens at any season, and especially in ear- 

 ly spring, they should have a daily supply of 

 green food for some weeks before littering. Po- 

 tatoes, sugar beets, carrots, parsnips, and such 

 like, are excellent — and half a peck per day is 

 amply sufficient. If no roots are to be had, sul- 

 phur — a tablespoonful two or three times a week 

 — may be given in their usual food, and charcoal 

 is also beneficial. Sows should not be moved 

 about from pen to pen at this time, as it disturbs 

 and irritates them — they should be put by them- 

 selves at least a month before littering, and used 

 at all times with kindness and due attention to 

 their comfort. 



Corn and cob meal, or corn unground, is bad 

 food alone for sows heavy with young. Sour 

 milk, kitchen slop and vegetable food should be 

 given with it, and for all swine it is to be pre- 

 ferred. In summer, with good clover pasture, 

 pigs will do well without grain, and every farmer 

 should provide a proper pasture for his swine. 



We have before stated that sows could be pre- 

 vented from destroying their young, by giving 

 them rum sufficient to make them tipsy after lit- 

 lering. The preventive of green food would be 

 far better for the animal, as well as of permanent 

 benefit. Sometimes sows refuse to own their 

 young, acting perfectly indiff'erent to their wel- 

 fare. We have found this readily overcome by 

 holding the sow, and allowing the pigs to suck 

 once — after which she gave no further trouble. 



Country Gentleman. 



DELEGATES TO COUNTY SOCIETIES. 



We have been obligingly furnished by the 

 Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture with 

 the following names of the Delegates who are 

 to visit the county agricultural societies at their 

 annual meetings next autumn. 



DELEGATES TO THE SOCIETIES. 



Essex, at Danvers, Sept. 28, 29 Rev. Mr. Sewall. 



Mi<l<ilepex. at Concord, Sept. 28 E. G. Gardner. 



Middlesex, S., at Framinxham, Sept. 20. 21 Wm. Sutton. 



Middlesex, N , at Lowell, Sept. 21 S. H. Buthnell. 



Worcester, at Worcester, S.>pt. 28, 29 G. M. Atwater. 



Worcester, W., at Barre, Sept. 27 Nathan Durfee. 



Worcester, N., at Fitchburg, Sept. 29, 30 John C. Bartlett. 



Worcester, S., Sturbridge, Sept. 28 Cyrus Knox. 



Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden, at Norihampton, 



Sept. 28, 29 .Josiah White. 



Hampshire, at Amherst, Oct. 13.14 Chas. K. Tracy. 



Hampden, at Springfield, Sept 21 22 M. P. Wilder 



Bampden, E., at Palmer, Oct. 4, f> W. G. Lewis 



Franklin, at Greenfield, Sept. 27, 28 .Tabez Fisher 



Berkshire, at Pittslield, Oct. 5, 6, 7 Paoli Lathrop. 



nniisatonic, at Great Barrinuton, Sept. 2S, 29... Geo. Marstoo. 



Norfolk, at Oedham, Stpt. 27, 28 Chas. G. Davis. 



Bristol, at Taunton, Sept. 14, 15 O. C Felton. 



Plymouth, at Bridgewater, Oct. 5, 6 Levi Stockbridge. 



Barnstable, at Barnstable, Oct. .5, 6 Wm S. Clark. 



Mantucket at Nantuck'H, Oct. 12, 13 James S. Grennell. 



JIarth. Vineyard, at West Tisbury, Oct. 11, 12. ..Simon Brown. 



Beautiful Bugs. — We have no knowledge of 

 the beautiful bugs sent us by our Berlin corres- 

 pondent. They exceed in beauty of form and 

 brilliancy of color anything of the beetle kind we 

 have ever seen. 



For the Nsw England Farmer. 

 LETTERS FROM MAINE — No. 4. 



Effects of Deep Planting — ?eason for Pruning — A Mistiku 

 Corrected. 



In my last, I gave some reasons why tree.? 

 which have never been transplanted, seem to be 

 hardier and longer lived than those which are 

 started in nurseries, and removed from thence to 

 the orchard. I have now one additional reason to 

 give. Examination will show that trees which 

 grow in the spot where the seed germinated, have 

 a set of roots on which the tree mainly depends, 

 running very near the surface. In transplanting 

 trees, the roots are generally buried deeper than 

 they naturally grow ; and in such cases the tree 

 never gets over the deleterious consequences, 

 unless another set of roots springs out near the 

 surface. 



Fruit trees winter-kill in consequence of the 

 imperfect ripening or maturing of the sap. The 

 well matured sap has an essential oil so largely 

 incorporated with its substance as to prevent the 

 fatal "effects of severe freezing. An abundance of 

 lea\es and a supply of roots near the surface of 

 the soil are the essential prerequisites to the ripen- 

 ing of the sap. Hence deep planting and exces- 

 sive pruning generally prove fatal to the apple 

 tree in Maine, when the winter happens to be 

 more severe than usual. 



The correspondents of the Farmer have had 

 much to say about the time of pruning trees; 

 and the fact that the sap sometimes runs from 

 the wound made by pimning — blackening and ap- 

 parently poisoning the bark — has been attributed 

 to pruning at an unfavorable season. This con- 

 clusion is based on error. The living healthy 

 wood of an apple tree will not bleed or discharge 

 sap, when cut at any season of the year. It is 

 not sap which seems to run from the wound, but 

 acidulated water from the dead winter-killed wood 

 under the bark. The sap in the bark is better 

 ripened than that in the wood, and hence the 

 wood is often winter-killed when the bark, and 



