lOS 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



VOL. I, 



iiig to make the effort, may have some im- 

 proved animals in his pens. The time has 

 gone by when a hog should be kept four 

 years to weigh four hundred ; the busmessof 

 fattening is little understood were hogs of a 

 year and a half do not reach that amount, 

 and some pigs have even exceeded that 

 weight. 



Next to selecting good breeds, it is requi- 

 site that they should be kept constantly 

 growing. Tliero must be some foundation 

 for fattening when the process commences, 

 or much time will be lost in repairing errors, 

 and much food consumed in luakmg carcass 

 that should bo employed in covering it with 

 fat. Hogs should be kept in clover pasture, 

 a field being allotted to them for their exclu- 

 sive use, so large in proportion to tlieir num- 

 bers that the feed may always be fresh, yet 

 not so much so as to run up to seed, or to 

 grow coarse or rank. They should have the 

 slops of the kitchen, the whey or buttermilk 

 of the dairy, imlessthis is required for young 

 pigs, and in general every thing they will 

 eat to advantage, or which will promote their 

 growth. 



The manner in which the materials in- 

 tended for fattening pork is prepared and fed, 

 has a decided influence on tiie rapidity of the 

 process^ and of consequence on the aggre- 

 gate profits. If given out raw much of the 

 value of the article is lost; grain is much 

 improved by grinding, but the full effect of 

 all kinds of feed is only brought out by cook- 

 ing. Corn is, without a peradvcnture, the 

 best article ever produced for making good 

 pork ; and though other substances may occa- 

 sionally be used witii advantage, and may 

 produce pork of fair and good quality, yet 

 experience has proved that the real corn 

 fed meat is on the whole superior to all 

 others. Hogs will fat on corn given to them 

 in any state, yet it is far preferable when 

 soaked, ground, steamed or boiled. A farm- 

 er of our acquaintance, and who is celebra- 

 ted for the weight of his hogs, and the ex- 

 cellence of his pork, is in the habit of mixing 

 oats with his corn before grinding in the 

 proportion of about one-fourth, and thinks 

 that if lie had not the oats of his own, he 

 should be a gainer in exchanging corn, bush- 

 el for bushel, for oats, rather than not have 

 them to mix with his swine feed. He 

 thinks they eat the mixture better thaw clear 

 corn meal, are less liable to a surfeit, and 

 of course will fat much faster with the oats 

 than without them. Peas have generally 

 been ranked next to corn as an article for 

 making good pork, and they are probably 

 the best substitute that has yet been found, 

 hogs feeding well on tiiem, fattening rapidly, 

 and the pork being of good quality. It is 

 51] most indispensable that p-^as should be 



ground or soaked previous to feeding. Po- 

 tatoes are more extensively used for fatten- 

 ing hogs than any other of the cultivated 

 roots, and are probably the best of the whole 

 for this purpose. Unless they are boiled, how- 

 ever, they are of little value comparatively, 

 but when cooked thc-y will give the hogs a 

 fine start in feeding, and they may then be 

 easily finished off" with corn or peas. The 

 fattening of hogs on apples may be consid- 

 ered as one of the successful innovations of 

 the age, it being certain that this fruit pos- 

 sesses a value tor that purpose which but a 

 few years since was wholly unknown. The 

 success of this experiment has given a new 

 value to orchards, and will probably check 

 their destruction, which in some sections of 

 the country, had already commenced to a con- 

 siderable extent. The various reports from 

 gentlemen of intelligence of the practical re- 

 sults of apple feedmg are most gratifying, 

 and we have no doubt the system wjH be fully 

 approved wherever fairly tested. Where 

 convenient let the hogs lie in the orchard 

 from the time the fruit begins to fall, till it is 

 tune to gather apples for winter or^cider, and 

 they will in most cases be found respectable 

 pork. When it is necessary to put them in 

 the pen, boiled apples mixed with a small 

 quantity of corn, oats, peas, or buck-wheat 

 meal, will fill them up rapidly, make them 

 lard well, and fill the farmers' barrels with 

 sound sweet pork of the first quality. If any 

 however are doubtful, they can easily finish 

 off their apple fed pork, as is generally done 

 with potatoe fed, with corn or peas, and with 

 similar results. 



[VVe intend in the course of the present 

 work to treat on the diseases and manage- 

 ment of cattle, the most successful and 

 proper modes of treatment, &:c. For this 

 purpose we have solicited the aid of a few 

 practical and competent individuals; and we 

 hope ere long to commence a series of papers 

 on Cattle and Sheep Husbandry, which 

 will not only interest but profit our readers.] 



Osir «lHty to Domestic Aiiisnals. 



Warren, Chester Co. Sept. 28, 1836. 



Mr. Editor — Our duty to our domestic 

 animals is of vast imjwrtance, and I regret 

 tliat it is not in general duly appreciated, ful- 

 ly understood, and properly practiced. This 

 part of the brute creation have great and im- 

 perious demands upon us — they require care 

 and attention. They are subject to many se- 

 rious and fatal diseases, and It is incumbent 

 on all who may own or have the manage- 

 ment ofanimals to make themselves acquaint- 

 ed with the diseases to which they are lia- 



