54 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1824. 



FARMER'S CALENDAR. 

 Swine. We have heretofore in the course of 

 t)ur Editorial remarks, discussed at considerable 

 length the subject of fattoning these animals. 

 We shall now give some hints and suggestions 

 which may not only supply former omissions, 

 but perhaps prove useful by giving old ideas a 

 new dress, and by that means excite a renovat- 

 ed attention to those matters which are most 

 essential to insure a prosperous course in this 

 branch of rural economy. Mr. Lawrence, an 

 eminent English Agriculturist, says, 



" A hog will probably fatten best by himself, 

 at any rate the fewer together the better; [if a 

 large number arc fattened under the same roof 

 they sliould have separate apartments] and it is 

 most conducive to their thriving that they have 

 room in their styes. They must be ringed. 

 Must be dry and enjoy that degree of warmth 

 which will render them entirely comfortable, 

 the demonstration of which is, that they lie up- 

 on their side, and extended. When the hog 

 lies upon his belly, and contracted, it indicates 

 a sense of cold, or some indisposition. If in- 

 nptitude to thriving be attributed to a foul, scur- 

 fy, and obstructed hide, the best remedy is to 

 extend the hog upon a form, and wetting him 

 with a lye, made of half a peck of wood-ashes 

 boiled in urine, or sailed -.vater, [soap suds will 

 answer] to curry or scrub him clean ; then to 

 wash in clean warm water, and dry liim with 

 wisps [of straw] strewing him over with ashes, 

 and putting him into a deep straw bed. Should 

 the pigs in a stye conceive an antipathy to a 

 particular one, an occurrence very common, 

 they will not only prevent him from feeding, 

 but fall upon and wound him, and when once 

 they have drawn his blood, will very probably 

 kill him. Such an one being saved, sliould al- 

 terwards be fed by himself if possible. Hence 

 the danger of putting a pig amongst strangers. 

 The method of pig-feeding to profit is, to begin 

 with inferior victuals, if any difference is pro- 

 posed in that respect; to feed moderately du- 

 ring the first fortnight, or longer if the animals 

 be vveak or low in condition, or exhausted by 

 travel, nnd never, throughout the whole peri- 

 od, to overburden their stomachs, but rather to 

 keep the appetites keen, and the trough per- 

 fectly empty, excepting at meal-times, which, in 

 truth, it were bettor to make three limes in- 

 stead of twice in the day. The pigs having 

 gorged themselves, and blunted their appetite, 

 give to each two table-spoons full of sulphur 

 once or twice a day, or in cases of great heat, 

 equal parts of cream of tartar and nitre, and i.-i 

 a day or two they will recover." 



Mr. Peters, of Pensylvania says, "dry rotten 

 wood should be constantly in the pens that the 

 hogs when confined may eat it at pleasure. Na- 

 ture points out this absorbent, (or whatever it 

 may be,) as a remedy or preventive. They 

 will leave their food to devour the rotten wood, 

 when they require it." An Ohio farmer re- 

 comnaends coals, as useful in fattening hogs. — 

 After giving his hogs n small quantity ilaily, say 

 two pieces to each about the size of a hen's 

 egg, they discontinued rooting, were more qui- 

 et, and appeared to fatten faster. He omitted 

 the coal a few days and they coiumenccd root- 



ing; he gave it again, and they ceased to root. 

 lie supposes the coal corrects that morbid fluid 

 in the stomach which incites them to root deep 

 in search of tVesh earth. 



Food which has been rendered acid by fer- 

 mentation has been frequently recommended as 

 preferable to that which is sweet for feeding 

 swine, and we have been told by farmers who 

 have experienced its benefits that they have 

 not been exaggerated. In order to effect the de- 

 gree of fermentation which is desirable, the fol- 

 lowing methods have been recommended. — 

 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. You should have ready several tubs 

 or vessels to receive this wash, and when it is 

 fermented to a proper degree, give it to the ani- 

 mals. It is wrong to permit the wash to be- 

 come very sour, and still more so, to let it stand 

 till what is called the putrid fermentation has 

 commenced. The rule with regard to /tn/ie?!^- 

 ed wash for sivine, is precisely that which ap- 

 plies to beer. It should be fermented [or work- 

 ed] till it becomes sweet, lively, full of fixed 

 air, and slightly or agreeably acid. If you let 

 it remain till the composition becomes stale, 

 rancid, and in any degree offensive to taste or 

 smell, it loses most of its good qualities. The 

 process of decomposition or destruction has com- 

 menced, nnd the food more or less injured. A 

 hog is quite an epicure, and though he will live 

 on stale, and putrescent aliment, he prefers that 

 which suits a creature of taste, and knoivs ivhal 

 is good as well as any two-footed body that ever 

 s:ratified his palate with the viands of French 

 cookery. 



Another mode of procuring acidulated food for 

 hogs is thus pointed out by Mr. Young. '>• The 

 best method of feeding all kinds of grain to hogs, 

 ! is lo grind it to meal, and mix it vth''\ water, in 

 I cisterns made for thai purpose in the proportion 

 of live bushels of meal to a hundred gallons of 

 water; the mass to be well stirred several times 

 each day until it has fermented and become 

 [slightly] acid, when it will become ready for 

 use. In this way two or three cisterns must be 

 kept for fermentation in succession; and the 

 profit will pay the expense." 



Change of diet makes fat swine. The unripe 

 ears of Indian corn should be given them before 

 they become shrivelled or mouldy. Hard corn 

 of the preceding year should not be dealt to 

 them without soaking, boiling or grinding. In- 

 dian meal will be the belter for boiling or at 

 least scalding. \Ve believe every kind of food 

 which is proper for swine, w ill be the better 

 for cooking, and the cultivator must use his 

 own discretion relative to the question, whether 

 the extra value of the food, acquired by being 

 cooked, will defray the trouble and exjiense of 

 the process. 



" FARMER'S GUIDE." 

 We have heretofore (page 13 of the present 

 volume) taken notice of a work lately published 

 with the above title. Having, since the time 

 in which that notice was published, received an 

 accession »f subscribers, and as this number of 

 our paper will be forwarded to several gentle- 

 man who have probably not seen the article to 

 which we allude, we will again call thj atten- 



tion of the agriculturist to a work which is per- 

 haps as cheap and useful a Manual of Husbandry 

 as has ever been presented to the American 

 public. 



The following is the title page of the work 

 under consideration. — " Compendium of Agricul- 

 ture ; or the Farmer^s Guide in the most essential 

 parts of Husbandry and Gardening ; compiled 

 from the best American and European publications, 

 and the unxn'ritten opinions of experienced cultiva- 

 tors. 



" Hate not laborious work, neither liusbaudry, which 

 the Most High hath ordained. "^Si/n of Sirach. 



"Cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous and 

 independent citizens." — Jefferson. 



By WiLLiAxM Drow.-*, with the advice and inspec- 

 tion of Solomon Drown, M. D. Providence ; 

 printed by Field & Maxcy, 1824. 



Immediately after the title-page succeeds the 

 following Recommendation. 



" The subscribers having been appointed by 

 the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement 

 of Domestic Industry, to examine Doct. and Mr 

 WiLLiAsi Drown's Compendium of Agriculture, 

 feel great pleasure in stating that they are sat- 

 isfied with the work, and do tlierefore, in behalf 

 of said Society, recommend it to their fellow- 

 citizens, as a production highly creditable to 

 the aiillior, and likely to be very useful to the 

 agricultural interest of the country. 



Tristram Bulges, ■) 



,1. B. Francis j 



M. B. Ives, J- Committee. 



S. H. Smith, | 



W. E. Riciimond, J 



The materials for the Farmer's Guide are de- 

 rived frcm a great number of sources, and a 

 cnrsjiy perusal of the work will lead any one at 

 all acquainted with the subject, lo give full cre- 

 dence to the assertion of its authors, that "not 

 less than eighty volumes have been examined 

 in the compilation." The articles are selected 

 with judgment, nnd we think it would be hardly 

 possible to name a book of a similar size, and 

 which may be had at so small a price, which 

 contains so many practical and evidently useful 

 observations relating to American husband- 

 ry, as this little volume. By omitting what- 

 ever is superfluous, doubtful, or merely specu- 

 lative, the com[iilers have furnished a '■ Guide," 

 which may, we believe, be depended on as fara3 

 it goes. A good farmer ought to have a knowl- 

 edge of many things relating to his occupation, 

 which cannot be found in that little work, but 

 there are few farmers, so perfectly acquainted 

 with every branch of their business, that they 

 may not derive useful information from Mr D.'s 

 (realise. Even those scientific cultivators, who 

 hiive deposited in the store-house of memory, 

 — the garner of intellect, — all that the work 

 contains, together with much more information 

 relating to the same or similar topics, may de- 

 rive great benefit from the Farmer's Guide, as 

 well as from other works of the same class. It 



