126 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



October 31, 1832. 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, October 31, 1832. 



FARMER'S WORK FOR NOVEMBER. 



It now is, or soon will be a proper time to col- 

 lect fallen leaves lor littering caltle, hogs, &c. 

 Our able correspondent, J. M. G. of Weston, Mass. 

 in a communication published in our paper some 

 years since, observed, " I have fixed my styes in 

 such a manner as to have a small loft over them 

 for leaves, with openings at the sides to draw out 

 the leaves with a rake, and supply the hogs occa- 

 sionally with fresh litter. I h:ive also inclosed 

 part of a shed in the barn-yard to store up a suf- 

 ficient quantity of leaves to litter my cattle through 

 the winter. The advantage is not confined to the 

 mere addition of the leaves to the dunghill; it 

 furnishes the means of preventing the waste of 

 the urine of the cattle. When the floor is cleared 

 in the morning, the leaves with which the cattle 

 have been littered, the dung and the urine, should 

 be well worked together with the shovel before 

 they are thrown out ; and being so compounded. 



exhibitions of Swine equal to former years, but 

 after a careful examination of the several anitaals 

 exhibited they have awarded the following prAni- 

 ums : I 



To Blessrs Heywood and Rice of Worceaer, 

 for the best Boar, (Bedford breed) the first pre ni- 

 uni of .S5. 



To Sanmel Banister of Worcester, for n xt 

 best, the second do., $3. 



To Newell Rice of Worcester, for the I;st 

 breeding Sow, (Bedford breed) the first premini, 

 S5. 



To Samuel Banister of Worcester, for next b 

 S3. 



the Bedford breed. The excellences of this breed 

 are, that they are not gormandizers, nor yet fas- 

 tidious in their food ; and while they eat but lit- 

 tle, and that too, perhaps, of ordinary quality, they 

 still fatten fast and yield pork of the first quality, 

 and at a small expense. The fattening of swine, 

 if judiciously managed, is one of llie most profita- 

 ble branches of agriculture. The farmer who sup- 

 plies the market with his beef, his butter and 

 cheese, or his wool, must possess his hundred, or 

 bis thousand acres ; while the man with his sin- 

 gle acre, with competent skill and economy, may 

 5t, ' profitably furnish his own pork, and often a sur- 

 j'lus for the market: and even the poor man who 



bitiononly. Capt. Lewis Bigelow of WorcesI r, 

 exhibited a boar, 18 months old, but the Coma t- 

 tee understood this animal drew the second pi 

 mium last year, and as it was not entitled to 



To Jones Estabrook of Worcester, for the b st only occupies land sufficient whereon to build a 

 weaned Pigs, being 4 in number, the first proi li- stye, may keep his own pig, who will live and 

 um, .$3. thrive on the crumbs that Ml from his master's ta- 



To Newell Rice of Worcester, for the next b st, | ble. No other animal can be kept at so small ex- 

 being 5 in number, second do. $i. \ pense with the same ])rofits, for he will grow and 



The whole number of Swine in the Pens, i js i '"'"«" on the oflTal or mere rubbish of the more 

 fortythree, twentyone of which were for ex i- i ^"''«""'"='' iwodncts d the farm, and thus turn to 



any. Benjamin N. Childs of Worcester, also e 

 hibited a Boar, 4 months old, for which he claii 



the decomposition of the leaves will take place j^^.g^ premium, we were precluded from awardi 

 much sooner, and their addition to the dung be- 

 come more valuable. 



" It is customary to prefer green dung to any 

 other for planting potatoes, and it answers very 

 well for that crop ; yet it is often too cloggy, and 

 will remain sometimes in a lump in the hills, 

 whereby the potato is less benefitted. The addi- 

 tion of the leaves, if well worked together as above 

 described, makes that kind of manure much better 

 adapted and truly excellent for raising that crop, 

 more particularly so, if on meadow ground, where 

 cattle dung is apt to increase the wetness of the 

 soil, whilst the leaves, rendering it better divided 

 and lighter, give to the potato hill a greater apti- 

 tude to be penetrated and fertilized bj the warmth 

 of the sun." 



Leaves, used as manure are very valuable for 

 the purposes of gardening and for fruit trees. For- 

 syth says, " collect annually as many loads of 

 leaves as you conveniently can, which make into 

 hot beds, for late melons and cucumbers, and for 



early potatoes, &c. 



It has long been a complaint of agriculturists 



that potatoes of the best quality can hardly be 



raised, excepting on what is called, new land, or 



land lately cleared from the woods, which cover- 

 ed it in a state of nature. Such ISnd we know 



has been manured with leaves andlprobably for 



centuries. It is then a very likely supposition that 



leaves applied as manure to old lan(i may supply 



the kind of food most congenial td, the potato ; 



and give to fields, which have beat long under 



cultivation, the power of producing as fine pota- 

 toes as those lands which have lately^been cleared 



from the ' wood with which they jfere covered, 



whilst in their natural state. 



ed no premium. Joseph Hinds, Esq. of W ;t '" ""« "'1^ '^^ soon loses his roving propenshies, 



a profitable account, what would otherwise be 



; thrown away, or become a nuisance to the family. 



I Some slovenly farmers are in the habit of permit- 

 ting their swine to roam at large through their 



' pastures or perhaps in the highway. This ought 

 not to be. The hog should he restrained entirely 



■ to his pen, with only a small inclosure attached. 



r 



WORCESTER CATTLE SHOW. 



REPORT ON SWINE. 



Committee : — James Draper of Spencer, Chair- 

 man. Lewis Barnard of Worcester, Luther 

 Spring of Uxbridge, Nathaniel Lakin of Pax- 

 ton, Jotham Bartlett of Northborough. 

 The Committee on Swine having attended the 



service assigned them, report : 



They regret to say, that they do not find the 

 V 



Boylston, exhibited a Sow, which came in stro 

 competition for the second premium, but as t e 

 Committee thought that the Sow of Mr Banist ■, 

 with the same keeping, would produce the mo t 

 pork, they finally decided in favor of his anim I 

 Benjamin F. lleywood of Worcester, also had 

 fine looking Sow, but not such as to claim a prcl 

 mium. The Committee noticed two fine looking 

 Sows belonging to Stephen Salisbury, F.s(|., of 

 Worcester, and one belonging to Mr Wm. Eaton of 

 Worcester, which were deserving of commenda- 

 tion. We also noticed six fine looking Pigs ho- 

 longing to Mr Eaton, but as their age was not 

 mentioned to us, we did not feel at liberty to 

 award a premium had they otherwise merited It. 

 Mr Benjamin F. Heywood exhibited 7, and Samu- 

 el Banister 10 Pigs, for exhibition only. 



Upon the whole, although the exhibition of 

 Swine this year falls short of some of the last pre- 

 ceding years, yet it is such as to show much im- 

 provement since the establishment of this Society 

 The breeding and fattening of Swine is a hi 

 of great importance to the farmer. The flisli of 

 this animal is not only an indispensable article for 

 the supply of his own table, but furnishes one of 

 the staple commodities for his market. Since the 

 establishment of Agricultural Societies, there has 

 been an entire revolution in this branch of agii- 

 cure. Formerly New England was overrun with 

 a raw-boned, lank-sided race of animals, which 

 devoured the substance of the farmer, and like 

 Pharioh's lean kine, " were still ill-favored and 

 lean as before," and whose chief return to the 

 owner, was skin, bone, and bristles. But we 

 think we may now congratulate the Society on 

 the almost entire extinction of this race, whose 

 very existence was a waste, and whose disgustful 

 and uncouth appearance was a mere nuisance 



grows contented and will fatten faster, with much 

 less food ; besides, with judicious management, he 

 will furnish manure of the first quality sulBcient 

 to raise as much Indian corn or other grain, as he 

 consumes in fatting. It is a well attested fact, that 

 nany who own no farm, and consequently buy all! 

 t leir grain and almost every material for fattening 

 pork, have, nevertheless, furnished large quanti- 

 ties for the market and realized a good profit. If 

 pork can be profitably made in this way, the far- 

 |mr who carefully selects the best breed, who 

 raises every aliment necessary for fattening,' on 

 his own farm; who adds thereto the wash of hip 

 dairy and his kitchen, and who replenishes and 

 enriches his soil with the fertilizing products from 

 the stye, may make the raising and fattening ol 

 pork, the most lucrative branch of husbandry. 

 Per order, JAMES DRAPER, Chairman. 



WHEAT. 



Important Discovery. — Last spring, we publish- 

 ness ^'1 some suggestions on the late sowing of spring 

 wheat, as a means of saving it from the ravages of 

 the little yellow worm, which some incorreclly, 

 call the weevil. A number of our subscribers tried 

 the experiment, and, so far as we have heard, with 

 entire success. A farmer in Orange County told 

 us that he sowed one acre of spring wheat, ten 

 days later than the rest in the same field. The 

 first sowed was seriously injured ; the last not at 

 all. Several, in several towns, made similar state- 

 ments. 



It has been observed, from the first appearance 

 of this insect, that the earliest winter wheat wag 

 less injured by its attacks than any other. It is 

 evident, therefore, that the time of laying the eggs 

 is short. It is, probably, soon after the heads 



make their appearance. Before they are defend- 

 We now generally find a small boned, well ]iro- j ed by the leaf which incloses them ; and when 

 portioned breed of Swine, whose handsome ap- they appear, most probably, the husk soon be- 

 pearance and good qualities, abundantly compen- comes so hard that the insect cannot pierce it, to 

 sate for the exchange. This has been effected by deposit her eggs upon the kernel. We have, then, 

 the selection of our best native, with a crossing of I only to ascertain the time, as e.xactly as we can, in 



