118 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



winter more liogs than are required to breed from. 

 I like my pigs to come about the let of March, and 

 at 9 months old I find no difficulty in getting them 

 to weigli from 200 lbs. to 250 lbs. 



Mr. Dkla Dunbar, of North Ohili, writes as in 

 regard to the Chester Whit© pigs, which he has 

 kept for some time. He says they ara the best 

 breed of swine ho ever knew. He has been ac- 

 quainted with them since 1852, and has found them 

 to haye all the good points desirable in a hog. 

 " They are quiet, keep easily, have a good square 

 form, very heavy hams and shoulders, broad on 

 the back, short head and legs, and without excep- 

 tion always white. They will probably make more 

 pork in a given length of time, with a given quan- 

 tity of food, than any other breed of hogs. They 

 readily fatten while young, or at any age, or will 

 grow to weigh from 400 lbs. to 700 lbs. at 16 to 18 

 months old." If there is any better breed of hogs 

 lie would like to get some of them. 



HIGH WAGES AND HIGH TBICES. 



Every one desires to receive high wages for his 

 labor, although his gains must come out of another 

 man's pocket. The same remark is true of high 

 prices. There .are certain instances, however, 

 where farmers may receive high wages and high 

 prices, without any corresponding deduction to be 

 made on another man's account. These instances 

 every good farmer should well understand. If they 

 are small, they are quickly accomplished ; if largsr, 

 the advantage is of a correspondingly greater amount. 



Many laboring farmers would be glad to get win- 

 ter work at one or two dollars a day, and five or 

 ten times as much as the usual price for products 

 or materials. In the summer, if their dollar-a-day 

 laborers could be made to yield them five dollars a 

 day, they would regard it as a splendid speculation. 

 We shall mention a few instances, where at least 

 this amount of gain might be obtainfed. Their ob- 

 servation and ingenuity will point out many others. 

 Among some of these examples, which may be 

 acted on at the present time, we may mention the 

 following : A large number of farmers are in the 

 practice of foddering their cattle by throwing their 

 hay upon the ground ; whenever the yards are 

 muddy, which in many places is nearly one-half 

 of the whole foddering season, the cattle tread a 

 considerable portion of the hay under foot, and it 

 is entirely wasted. Ten to twenty per cent, is not 

 an unusual loss; and the farmer who feeds out fifty 

 tuns of hay in a winter, wastes annually therefore 

 five to ten tuns of hay — worth at a moderate esti- 

 mate from fifty to a hundred dollars. Two or 

 three days labor, and two or three dollars north of 

 lumber or poles, would furnish good feeding racks 

 and entirely prevent the waste. It will thus be 

 seen that if his labor is rated at five dollars a day, 

 and lumber at triple the usual price, he will make 

 an actual saving in a single winter, to say nothing 

 of a series of years to come. We advise every 

 farmer who has an opportunity of receiving such 

 high prices, to seize on it at once, without any fear 

 or conacientioas scraples of robbing any other 



man's pocket. Another instance: we know { 

 farmer who feeds fifty or sixty head of cattle fron: 

 stacks in the open fields, exposed to sweeping winds 

 and snow-stornas. The additional food required tc 

 keep up their animal heat, and the loss of flesh, 

 which their suflfering condition occasions, we are 

 satisfied amounts to at least one-third of all that is i 

 fed to them. If therefore they consume a hun- 

 dred tuns of hay each year, thirty-three tuns, equal 

 to some three hundred dollars, is yearly thrown 

 away. Good, well-made barns or sheds would 

 doubtless pay for themselves, several times over, 

 the next dozen years ; but in the absence of these, 

 a few days' labor in providing temporary shelter, 

 would probably be rewarded at the rate of some 

 ten dollars a day or more. Rough built sheds with 

 straw roofs would pay for themselves and sav© 

 enough in two or three years to erect neat, com- 

 fortable, substantial barns or sheds. 



There are some smaller opportunities for similar 

 profits which should not be overlooked. A neigh- 

 bor drives his cattle daily half a mile to water; 

 the labor which this requires would, in a short 

 time, enable him to sink a tub at a spring, where 

 they could partake at all times, without the injury 

 of over-dricking once a day, and thirsting all the 

 rest of the time. A gate for want of a good latch, 

 is left swinging in the wind, and in a few month3 

 is beaten to pieces; thus for want of a simple 

 latch the gate is destroyed. A chimney becomes 

 filled with soot. But the owner could not devote 

 an hour's labor at the right time to scrape or burn 

 out this accumulation, in consequence ot which it 

 took fire in the night, threw burning cinders from 

 the chimney-top to the shingled roof, set fire to the 

 dwelling and consumed one or two thousand dol- 

 lars. We advise those who have not attended to 

 their sooty chimneys to spend an hour or two when 

 the roof is wet in removing the difficulty. 



We need not continue these examples, except 

 merely to name a fev/^ more instances, where simi- 

 lar benefit may be derived ; such as making strong 

 yard fences to prevent the escape of cattle into 

 mischief, or the ingress of intruders; closing any 

 openings through which cold air sweeps into stables, 

 kitchens or under the floors of dwellings; provid- 

 ing warm, dry, clean beds for store hogs in winter ; 

 sheltering and painting tools, and keeping them in 

 the best working order; preventing the waste of 

 manure; securing grain from rats ; attending con- 

 stantly to the comfort of all animals in winter, 

 feeding them regularly, &o. 



There are many instances of a similar character 

 occurring during the summer season. Sometimes 

 a few days labor in. underdraining will relieve a 

 wet portion of ground of its surplus water, and be 

 worth many dollars. Destroying weeds among 

 root crops when only an inch high, is not the tenth 

 of the labor required when they have grown a foot, 

 to say nothing of the loss in the crop, which an 

 over-growth of weeds occasions. We have known 

 a crop of oats diminished one-half in amount, by 

 being sown a fortnight later than another along- 

 side. A few hours attention in procuring the besi 

 seed corn, has sometimes resulted in a hundred 

 bushels increase in a ten-acre field. A similar care 

 in breeding from the best swine has saved a like 

 amount in feeding, and double its value in the 

 quality of pork.— Ciwnfry Oentlvman. 



