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NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



SEPTEMBER 11, 1833. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON. WEDNESDAY EVENING. SEPT. 11, 1833. 



TO SUBSCRIBERS. 



We would inform our Subscribers that in con- 

 sequence of the transfer of the Proprietorship of 

 the N. E. Farmer, some months since, it becomes 

 desirable and necessary to settle all accounts pre- 

 vious to the commencement of the present volume. 



The Farmer being much more expensive than 

 most Paper.*, and not receiving support by adver- 

 tisements, unless we arc favored with early remit- 

 tances we sutler. Those who wish to pay for vol. 

 12 in advance can pay our agents or remit any 

 time during the present month. 



Those who remit S3, shall have the 50 cents 

 carried to new account. Those Subscribers at a 

 distance who are indebted for years back are very 

 respectfully requested lo remit by mail or other- 

 wise. 



To the many friends we have who have promot- 

 ed the good cause, we return our sincere thanks, 

 — we hold them all in grateful recollection. 



SWINE. 



The following observations respecting this ugly, 

 uncouth, but useful animal, are mostly condensed 

 from a number of authors on both sides the Atlan- 

 tic. 



It is best to begin to fatten hogs the latter part 

 of August or beginning of September, so that they 

 may be fit for the butcher before the weather be- 

 comes very cold, as it is very difficult to put flesh 

 on them in cold weather. 



When you commence fattening swine care 

 should be used not to give them more than they 

 will eat with appetite. If they become cloyed their 

 thriving is retarded, and there is danger from stag- 

 gers and other diseases. Their troughs should be 

 often replenished with a small quantity of food at 

 a time, and kept always clean and well seasoned 

 with salt. 



An English farmer fattened 8 pigs in the fol- 

 lowing manner, which may be recommended in 

 cases where a constant ami regular attention can- 

 not be given to feeding the animals. He placed 

 two troughs in the stye : one he filled with raw 

 potatoes, the other with peas, and gave no water. 

 When the pigs were thirsty they ate the potatoes. 

 In this way, it is probable that the animals would 

 not only thrive without water, but needed no anti- 

 mony, brimstone, nor other medical substances ; 

 for raw potatoes, being cooling and loosening, might 

 serve at once for food and for physic. Instead of 

 peas, perhaps dry Indian corn, or what would be 

 better Indian meal, might be substituted. This 

 mode of management with swine was first recom,- 

 mended in the N. E. Farmer of Aug. 6, 1824, ami 

 we are glad to find that it has been adopted by a 

 writer for the Northern Farmer, [see our No. 7, 

 p. 51.] 



Cunningham, in his Two Years in JVew South 

 Wales relates — " 1 had often heard it said among 

 sailors that pigs would fatten on coals, and although 

 I had observed them very fond of munching up the 

 coals and cinders that came in their way, still 1 

 conceived they might relish them more as a con- 

 diment or medicine than as food, till I was assured 

 by a worthy friend of mine, long in command of 

 a ship, that he once knew of a pig's being lost for 

 several weeks in a vessel he commanded, and it 

 was at last found to have tumbled into the coal- 



hole, and there lived all that period without a sin- 

 gle morsel of any thing to feed on but coals : on 

 being dragged out it was found as plump and fat 

 as if it had been feasting on the most nutritious 

 food. Another friend told me of a similar case, 

 which came under his observation ; and although 

 these may be solitary instances, yet they serve at 

 least to show the wonderful facility which the 

 stomachs of certain animals possess of adapting 

 their digestive powers to such an extraordinary 

 species of food, and extracting wholesome nourish- 

 ment therefrom. When we consider coal, how- 

 ever, to be a vegetable production, containing the 

 constituent principles of fat, carbon, hydrogen and 

 oxygen, our surprise ceases. 



I always cause as many peas as I want for 

 feeding my hogs, which are not a few in a year, 

 to be regularly malted in the same manner, nearly, 

 as my barley : this management has succeeded 

 very well with me. 



I have frequently given them to my horses, 

 with which they agree very well, and are a heart- 

 ening food. — Museum Rusticum, v. p. 110. 



Young pigs require warm meat to make them 

 grow. Corn and cold water will make them sleek 

 and healthy ; but warm beverage is considered re- 

 quisite to a qurck growth. — Marshal's Inland 

 Comities. 



Every stye should have a rubbing post. Having 

 occasion to shift two hogs out of a stye without 

 one, into another with a post, accidentally put up 

 to support the roof, I had a full opportunity of ob- 

 serving its use. The animals when they went in 

 were dirty, with broken ragged coats, and with 

 dull heavy countenances. In a few days they 

 cleared away their coats, cleaned their skins, and 

 became sleeky haired ; the enjoyment of the post 

 was discernible eveu in their looks ; in their live- 

 liness and apparent contentment. — Ibid. 



From experience I have found that swine prefer 

 lucerne to clover. I have experienced that nei- 

 ther lucerne or clover of themselves are sufficient 

 support for swine. A small quantity of com, 

 peas or beans, is certainly necessary to be given 

 them. 



I have applied potatoes in different modes for 

 feeding swine ; giving them whole or mashed in 

 the water wherein they were boiled ; or in the last 

 mode, with barley meal scalded and mixed in the 

 trough. But from various and repeated experi- 

 ments I have found the following the most profit- 

 able method of applying potatoes, not only to the 

 rearing, but likewise to the fattening of hogs ; va- 

 rying the quantity given according to the circum- 

 stances of rearing and fattening. 



When rearing, a small quantity of food given 

 once or twice a day, with lucerne, clover, grass 

 and offals, is sufficient. 



When fattening, a constant supply is essentially 

 necessary, so as not to leave the troughs encum- 

 bered with stale food, which should be cleared 

 out, and given to store swine. 



An iron kettle is the most salutary for boiling 

 potatoes. Should time or convenience not permit 

 to have it emptied for several days, no bad conse- 

 quence can ensue. Copper, or copper and lead, 

 are extremely dangerous, as they generate poison ; 

 therefore they should be immediately emptied and 

 cleaned. 



The method I have always adopted and always 

 shall pursue until a better is pointed out, is, to fill 

 about three parts of a large kettle with potatoes: 

 I scatter over them about a peck and a half of bar- 



ley meal [or Indian meal], then fill the kettle with 

 potatoes, adding just as much water as will cover 

 them. Then the meal does not sink to the bottom 

 of tint kettle where it will encrust and burn nor 

 will it he liable to be wasted by boiling over. The 

 nourishment of the meal is in a great degree ex- 

 tracted by the water. After the potatoes are well 

 boiled, let the whole be mixed and bruised in tubs 

 with a clean spade, so as to form a pulp. By this 

 method, all the nutritive powers of the meal and 

 potatoes are incorporated, and thereby much easier 

 digested, and the hogs require no water. 



In cold weather it should be given blood warm. 

 The swine while fattening should be kept as clean 

 as possible, and well supplied with dry litter. 

 Twice or thrice a week add about three table 

 spoonfuls of salt to each half bushel of their food, 

 which assists digestion and promotes appetite. 

 When too much salt is given it acts as a purgative 

 which prevents the deriving of due nourishment 

 from food. 



About once a week I have mixed two table 

 spoonfuls of madder, which prevents obstructions, 

 acting as a diuretic and astringent. On some other 

 day in the week, I give a spoonful or two of an 

 equal quantity of flour of sulphur and saltpetre, 

 well pounded and mixed, which purifies and cools 

 the blood. These articles added to the food and 

 given on separate days, entirely prevent measles, 

 keep swine healthy, and cause them to fatten ex- 

 peditiously. 



Hogs from the age of twelve to eighteen months 

 are the most advantageously fed for fattening, as 

 they have then attained their full growth, will re- 

 quire less food, and fatten much more expeditious- 

 ly than hogs which are younger. 



F'ood which has been rendered acid by fermen- 

 tation has been frequently recommended in prefer- 

 ence to that which is sweet for feeding swine, and 

 we have been told by farmers who have practised 

 the method that it is very beneficial. In order to 

 effect the desirable degree of fermentation the fol- 

 lowing process may be adopted. 



Steam or boil potatoes, mash them, and mix 

 with the liquor, while scalding hot, oats, Indian 

 meal, pea meal, or the meal of any other kind of 

 grain. Have ready several tubs or other vessels 

 to receive this wash, and when it is fermented to 

 the proper degree give it to the animals. It should 

 not stand till it has become very sonr ; and if the 

 putrid fermentation has commenced it is nearly 

 ruined. 



The following mode of procuring acididated 

 food for swine is pointed out by the celebrated 

 Arthur Young. " Grind the grain to meal, and 

 mix it with water in cisterns made for that pur- 

 1 ii ise, in the proportion of five bushels of meal in 

 a hundred gallons of water ; the mass to be well 

 stirred several times each day, till it has fermented 

 and become slightly acid, when it will be ready 

 for use. In this way two or three cisterns must 

 be kept for fermentation in succession ; and the 

 profit will more than pay the expense." 



ITEMS OP HVTEIXIGESfCE. 



The Harrcst. — The New York Journal of Commerce 

 says : "A gentleman who has returned from a tour 

 through the western part of this State and Ohio, repre- 

 sents the crops as most abundant, and says that absolute- 

 ly one canal is not sufficient to convey the overplus to 

 market." 



In Maine a very heavy crop of hay has been general- 

 ly secured in excellent order ; wheat and oata are un- 



