482 



NEW ENGLAKD FARMER. 



Oct. 



never have sick hogs, and they will give you as 

 pure and wholesome flesh as that from any other 

 animal whose flesh is used for food. 



In the erection of pens, study convenience and 

 cheapness. The pig will grow as well in a stye of 

 hemlock boards as though it was panelled and 

 gilded. He, too, wants space, convenience, air, 

 sunshine, a place to rub against, and a dry bed 

 Give him these, but give the pen such form and 

 place as will best suit your conT«nience. 



Mr. Kilburn's address is Lunenburg, Mass., 

 where he cultivates a premium farm. 



A SICK AND DEAD HOG. 



I had a valuable hog taken sick a few days ago, 

 and to-day it died. The first I noticed was that it 

 refused to eat, and black or purple spots came out 

 all over it. The nexc day I gave it half a pound 

 of salts, and the day following it died. 



One of my neighbors had two hogs taken sick 

 the same way a few weoks ago, and he gave them 

 salts and turned thtm out where they could get on 

 to the mud, and in a few days they got well. 

 Mine was turned out where there were weeds and 

 dry sand. In both of the abuve cases the hogs 

 were kept in cellars under stables, where there 

 was plenty of light and air. I should like to in- 

 quire of jou or tome of your coi respondents wtiat 

 it was that ailed my hog, and also to ask for a 

 remedy. Is a cellar an unheaUhy place to keep 

 hogs in ? H. M. Brewstbr. 



Curtis Corner, Me., July 23, 1869. 



Remarks. — We have never seen a hog with the 

 symptoms described, nor can we find any ded^ip- 

 tion of a disease in the books which corresponds 

 wiih the symptoms. given above. Perhaps some 

 of our readers may be familiar with the disease 

 described and can recommend a remedy. 



We do not comrider cellars that are dry, light, 

 and well ventilated, unhealthy places for swine. 

 In all the region about us, swine are usually kept 

 in such places, and they are healthy and grow fast. 



AN OLD HOP YARD. 



S. R. Locke of this town has the oldest hop yard 

 in this vicinity, — having raised Imps on the same 

 two acres fitteeu yiars, — and no^v they are very 

 thrifty, with no tigns of running ont. The crops 

 for the last four \ ears have been s^ld fir $3,400, 

 and the expense of raising and marketing has wit 

 exceeded $800; leaving a profit of #2600. In 

 1S66 the crop was 21 cwt. at 30 eents per pound ; 

 in 1867, 24 cwt. at 44 cents ; in 1868, 29 ewt. at 15 

 cents. The thrifty vines witn their long arms give 

 promise of a large crop this year. 



Mr. L. makes very large hills and buries the 

 surplus vines in the hills which are novv one and a 

 half feet high and five feet in diameter. He does 

 not allow many runners to be taken from his yard 

 to start new plantations, as he believes it weakens 

 the vines. 



HOME-MADE TURNIP SEED SOWER. 



Here I saw a home-made turnip seed sower. A 

 wheel eighteen inches in diameter is cut from a 

 board. A wooden handle five foi t long is attached 

 by a bolt or axle to one side of this lioard wheel. 

 On the other side of the wheel an old tin milk pan 

 is naikd bottom side up, (or out), and all cracks 

 careiuliy s-tupped by putiy. H .les are made in 

 the sides of the pan close to the wire edge, wiiich 

 s fastened to ihe wheel, about one-eigiith of an 

 inch in diameter and six inches apart. This pan is 



the seed box, into which it is put through a hole 

 madeforthatpurposein the wheel. By pushing this 

 wheel along the ground the seed is scattered very 

 rapidly and evenly, but it must be covered with a 

 hoe afterwards. 



CUE DAIRIES. 



Some of the dairymen began to make cheese 

 about July l-itb, but before this date T. Baker of 

 Barton, h^d niade over 1400 pounds of butter, and 

 Geo. B. Brewster about the same amount, — twenty- 

 seven tubs. This tends to show that dairying is 

 more profitable than wool growing, when butter 

 and wool brings the same price per pound. 



Haying will be mostly done in July this year. 

 The cri)p will be a tnfle less than usual on some 

 lands, but about an average generally, z. e. j. 



Irasburo, Vt., July 25, 1869. 



A NOTION ABOUT "lYHITEWASHING. 



I have made considerable use from time to tinae 

 of whitewash for buildm s, fences, hen houses, 

 &c. The result of my experience is the convic- 

 tion that no improvement has ever been made on 

 the old-tashioned way of making it, — viz., a good 

 clean lump of lime, slacked by pouring boiling 

 w.^iter over it; cover tiglit whilst slacking; put in 

 the-salt afterwards. All the lu^s about "sifting," 

 "strdiiiitig," "skimming," &c., is all bosh. Hogs' 

 lard, rice flour, linseed oil, glue, &c , &c., lose all 

 their essential properties when diluted in the cor- 

 rosive liquid. 



We know a lady who had made very successful 

 use of whitewash atjout her house, who finally 

 picked up a rtceipe something like the one given 

 in the Fakmkr, out of somebody's "Domestic 

 Economy Receipt Cook Book." The wash was 

 for a "beautiful bufi' color," or something else. 

 The vitriol, &c., was got at the "Poiticanes" and 

 the other fixings of the painter who was employed 

 to put it on. QuiteaJaige surface was "painted"' 

 in June. The result was, it remained till there 

 came some heavy showers and rain storms, when 

 the whole thing scakd otf. The shingles or clap- 

 boards of a builoing kept well whitewashed with 

 common whitewasn will, apparently, last forever. 



Chestnut Rills, Mass., Aug. 10, 1869. i. o. B. 



SWINE IN CELLARS. — AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. 



Hogs. — Never keep them in a barn cellar, nor 

 under a slaughter house. Reason — The effluvia 

 and vitiiited air causes disea.se. One-half of the 

 pork that is sold, is only tit tor manure. Let them 

 have a house, and good open yard, with plemy of 

 sods, loam aiid water; then health and good pork 

 will be the result. 



Agricultural Colleges. — The best are at home on 

 thi: tarm ! What a puny race of faimeis are as- 

 ctmiing the stage. Nineteen-tweniietlis who go to 

 college will never make agriculture their occupa- 

 tion. More farmers by practice, and a less num- 

 ber fur t;iving advice. L. S. BANCKOiT. 



Pepperell, Mass., Aug. 11, 1869. 



BRINING WHEAT. — CULTIVATION AND VARIETIES. 



It gives me great pleasure to know the "John's" 

 — a good old apostolic name — are not all asleep. 

 Now, my good "John," for the wheat piekle, use 

 half a ptck of salt to six buckets of water; stir 

 in the seed wheat; skim oif foul seed; let it stand 

 ten to twelve hours; rake it in wood ashes or 

 slaked lime, and sow when damp. 



These alkalies are excellent fertilizers. They 

 kill the weevil that must exist in the grain, the 

 same as in the rice and the pea. Be sure to get it 

 in two to three inches deep. Root and stand are 



