NEW ENGI^AND FAR 



i^ 





PUBLISHED BY GEO.- C. 15ARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL.. XI. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 29, 1833. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the Nao England Farvier. 

 SIVINE. 



Mr. FessendeN, — I have read much in your pa- 

 jicr rc'spet-ting swine ; and on this subject liavc 

 some facts to state of recent occurrence, whicli 

 are certainly extraordinary and probaijly worth re- 

 cording. 



Tiie last autumn I purchased fourteen shoats, 

 wlioso average age was about si.x months. Three 

 of tiiciii were sows of a good form and stock ; 

 iiud tliese I put by themselves with a boar 

 of the same age for breeders. — The other eleven 

 were put in another stye, and for the purpose of 

 being fitted. — They were at first fed with corn 

 meal ground with the cob, and mixed with boiled 

 potatoes ; but did not appear to gain much though 

 there was at no time any failing of appetite. Fear- 

 ing that tlieir poor thrift might be attributed to the 

 cob meal, I changed their food by substituting 

 corn meal, ground without the cob and boiled 

 potatoes. This however seemed to do no better ; 

 while the store pigs above mentioned, v.hich were 

 fed upon boiled potatoes only, were very thrifty 

 and appeared much more like fat hogs than those 

 in the fatting stye. I then changed the food of 

 the fatting hogs and gave them nothing but boiled 

 Indian meal or hasty pudding. This availed no 

 more tljan the other food ; and finding that their 

 thrift was very little, and a very inadequate return 

 for the food consumed b\' them, I deternjiaed tu. 

 kill the eight for market; and this was accordingj)' 

 clone. They were small, and by no means so fat us 

 we had a right to expect they would have been. 

 The store hogs on boiled potatoes only continued 

 very thrifty and fat. The fatting hogs vcre at- 

 tended in tlie most exact and faithful nianier ; and 

 had repeated doses of sulphur to encounge their 

 appetite and promote their thrift. 



This bad result was a matter of serious disceur- 

 agementto ine and wholly inexplicable; is it does 

 not remain to be established that Indiai meal in 

 any form is among the most nutritious aid fatten- 

 ing substances that can be'given to stalledanimals. 

 When the hogs were killed, however, themystery 

 was in a degree solved. Innumerable wains, re- 

 sembling in some measure those voided fom the 

 human body, were found in knots and iranches 

 in the entrails. These kept up their apptite and 

 prevented their thrift. But where did thes^ worms 

 come from is the next question.' and wly were 

 not the store hogs, some of whom were of he same 

 litter with the others, affected with then. I do 

 not pretend to determine the causes : bit I will 

 state the circumstances of difference inthe tvvo 

 cases. 



The store Hogs were confined in a st;e with a 

 wooden floor and had no access to lh{ grounl. 

 The fatting hogs were at liberty to range n a capi- 

 cioBS yard attached to the sty, into whici the nii- 

 nure and litter of five horses were tirown, in 

 which the swine were almost eontinuall/ rootiig 

 and champing. Now we know that licgs fed in 

 stable yards and cellars often become fat; the sc- 

 ess therefore to this manure heap in wlich they 

 were constantly burrowing would not iavc ba;n 



the impediment to their thrift; but is it unfeasible 

 to conjecture that some one of these horses may 

 have been diseased .' and in the manure of such 

 horse they may have found the maggot or germ of 

 those /vorms which after being received into their 

 stomachs, there fixed themselves and grew to the 

 size ii which they were found. This however is 

 merely conjectural; but I should be glad to know 

 if an; other of your correspondents is acquain- 

 ted wth any facts analagous to the above. II. C. 

 Mo) 14, 1833. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 Chmiehown, X. H. May 19, 1833. 

 Jr. Editor. Sir, — In my communication 

 pubished in your last, there is an error of care- 

 lessiess on my part, which ought to be corrected. 

 It {onsists in giving to the fruit of the Craidjeny 

 Vilurnum, two seeds in each berry, when, in fact, 

 thee is but one. The error is of some conse- 

 quence, as the number of seeds forms part of the 

 di;tinctive character of the genus, and might lead 

 toan impression of some mistake as to the real 

 claracter of the shrub. I notice also, one or two 

 tpographical errors, as " Guelda" for Gue?rfer,and 

 'or" for as after the words " astringent fruits." 



The effects of the dift'usible stimulant brandy, in 

 he preparation described by the correspondent of 

 he Portland paper, may cause more virtue to be 

 attributed to the plant than is fairly its due, 

 tliough at any late not more than may justly be 

 given to very many native plants. I thought 

 however that the question was as to the medicinal 

 qualities of the fruit. Concerning the flavor of 

 this, there seems to be a diversity of opinion, 

 wlrtch I fancy can hardly be reconciled except by 

 the old adage of " De gustibus, &c." 



With much regard, Samuel Webber. 



The following is frotn a venerable Farmer, 

 "nearly eighty two years old," who, we regret to 

 say, |u-ohibits our attaching his name to his com- 

 munication. 



For the iVejii England Farmer. 

 POTATOES AKD ISDIAJV CORN. 



Mr. Editor. Sir, — I here send you the result 

 of several experiments, which I have made. Sev- 

 eral years ago I planted blue potatoes, late in the 

 season, and as all of those which I considered large 

 enough for seed had been culled out, I planted 

 small ones not more than an inch and a quarter in 

 diameter. When I dug them, they were as large 

 as any I raised. Last spring I planted two rows, 

 side by side, of the red potatoes, one row of the 

 largest size, the other the smallest, which I 

 think proper to plant, perhaps not one-third of the 

 weight of the large ones. When I dug them I 

 could not tell which were the largest. So I con- 

 clude the reason why small potatoes yield small 

 ones, is owing to putting too much seed in the hills ; 

 as a small potato has as many sprouts as a large 

 one. But this I have proved that the same results 

 do not always arise from the same experiments in 

 different kinds of potatoes. For several years 

 past we have planted early whites and early red 

 eyes side by side. If the whites were hilled after 

 the blow, they uniformly produced a large number 



of sijiall potatoes, and but few of a good size ; while 

 hilling had no eftect on the red eyes.* 



I made an experiment in planting Indian corn a 

 few years ago for my own satisfaction. J planted 

 the hills 3i feet apart on one end of a piece of land, 

 and lour feet on the other, with the same kind and 

 quantity of manure: about half the length of the 

 rows was on a stiff" heavy soil ; the other half a 

 light loamy soil ; without weighing I could not> 

 tell which gave the best product. 



The followhig article is part of the proceedings of the 

 New York State Agricultural Society. 

 Letter from Dr. Wm. Darlington, of Pennsylvania, 

 on the Use of Lime in Jigricidtiire. 



Sib, — Your letter, containing a number of que- 

 ries relative to the operation and utility oi Lime, in 

 the processes of agriculture, was received in the 

 early part of .luue last : but as I have been much 

 engaged during the past summer, with duties 

 which required all my attention, and as your let- 

 ter intimated that answers furnished " any time 

 during the present year " would be in season for 

 your purposes, I have taken the liberty to postpone 

 my reply until now. 



I proceed then, with great pleasure, to furnish 

 you with such facts and remarks as mj' opportuni- 

 ties for observation have enabled me to offer. 

 With a view to render the answers more explicit 

 and satisfactory, I will annex them, seriatim, to 

 your several inquiries. 



Qiien/ 1. — "Upon what lands does lime operate 

 most bencliciaily : — 



1. In regard to geological formation, — as primi- 

 tive, transitory, secondary, and alluvial? 



2. In reference to the soil, — as sand, clay, lime, 

 and vegetable matter ? 



*By the Editor. By some experiments made by J. 

 Whitlaw, Esq. which are given ia detail in the J\'eiei 

 England Farmer, vol. i. page 53, and vol. iv. page 314, 

 that gentleman ascertained that large potatoes were 

 better for seed than small ones, and that large potatoes 

 when cut into quarters will produce more, other things 

 being equal, than when planted whole. Other cultiva- 

 tors assert that the best way is to plant potatoes of at least 

 middling size, cutting off and applying to other uses 

 the butt and top ends from each potato, planting the 

 middle pieces cut into quarters. The reason of this pro- 

 ceeding is that the shoots or eyes from the middle part of 

 a potato are commonly larger and stronger than those of 

 either end, and if tlie whole of a large potato is planted, 

 there are usually too many shoots in a hUl, and those 

 shoots are too near each other to afford so great a pro- 

 duct as they would if deposited in the soil at due distan- 



Mr. Knight, the celebrated English Horticulturist, has 

 found, that, "for a late crop, small sets, [seed potatoes] 

 may be used ; because the plants of the late varieties 

 always acquire considerable age before they begin to 

 generate tubers [young potatoes;] but for an early crop, 

 lie recommends the largest tubers [seed potatoes to be 

 planted ;] and he has found that tliese not only eifford 

 very strong plants, but also such as readily recover when 

 injured by frost ; for being fed by a copious reservoir be- 

 neath the soil, a re-production of vigorous stems and fo- 

 liage takes place, when those first produced are destroy- 

 ed by frost or other cause." — Har. Trans, iv. p. 448. 



