No. 10. Plan of a Piggery — Horses and Oxen for Teams. 



305 



From the Mainn Farmer. 



Plan of a Piarafcry. 



Permanent 



Permanent 



Partition. 



Partition. 



Permanent 



Sleepinof apart- 

 ment 4 by 9. 



E|. 



Partition. 





Plank with cleats 



Fig. :!7. 



The foregoing is a description of the Pij^- 

 jrery of Mr. B. Springer, of Litchfield, the 

 dimensions of which we have accommodated 

 to onr columns, without regard to exact pro- 

 portions. But as we name the dimensions 

 of each part of it, onr readers can judge of its 

 convenience and capacity. The building is 

 36 feet long and 22 feet wide, the roof shin- 

 gled, and tiie walls made tight by clapboard- 

 intr. A sill passes lengthwise the building 

 to support the floor, which covers only one 

 part of it. The other part is divided into four 

 vats for making manure, which are dug three 

 feet deep, into which all the? rubbish, leached 

 ashes, &c. &c., that are made about the pre- 

 mises, are thrown, and by a spout from the 

 sink in the kitchen, all the soap suds and 

 wash of the house is carried out and deposited 

 in a trough which is put up exactly level, and 

 extends the length of all the vats, and lots 

 out an equal quantity into each. Muck, 

 weeds, and other materials, are also collected 

 and deposited in the vats. The remainder 

 of the room, after taking out a passage three 



feet wide, is divided into pens for eating and 

 sleeping. Tiio floor to the former inclines 

 six indues Upwards the vat, the more easily to 

 drain ofl' any filth that may collect upon it, 

 but in the latter it is level. The partition 

 between the passage way and pens, and be- 

 tween the two pens may be made of any con- 

 venient height. The apartment for sleeping 

 has a cover, which may be raised or shut at 

 pleasure, which keeps them very warm in 

 winter and attords them proper ventilation in 

 suu)mer. A plank with cleats is placed one 

 end upon the floor and the other on the bot- 

 tom of the vat for the hogs to pasa up and 

 down on. On the side of the building, oppo- 

 site the passage, are doors ij feet wide, which 

 open to the vats, with long glass windows 

 over them, similar to the windows frequently 

 placed over barn doors. There is an aperture 

 in the partition between the pens for the hogs 

 to pass from one to the other, which may be 

 apportioned to the size of the hogs to be kept 

 in them. In one of the apartments there is 

 a door that opens to a yard for the purpose of 

 giving a free passage to young pigs and sows 

 that are about bringing forth their young. 



This is certainly the best piggery we have 

 seen in this State, but still it is susceptible 

 of being improved, as Mr. Springer is fully 

 aware. We think that a building four feet 

 wider than this might be made, and the flofii 

 of the pens which, without injury, may be 

 made one foot shorter, let run over the vats 

 four feet, which would give a space of nine 

 feet on the other side of the passage way. in 

 which may be a room to keep roots and other 

 food for the swine, and another for boiling 

 and steaming it. 



This would add very much to the conve- 

 nience of the establishment at very little ad- 

 ditional cost. We give this plan, and make 

 these suggestions that those who are about 

 erecting piggeries may improve by them. — 

 The business of pork raising is just beginning 

 to attract attention in this State, and it can- 

 not be expected that the best construction for 

 piggeries can be at once discovered. One 

 advantage in this plan is, the manure is kept 

 under cover, free from the evaporating influ- 

 ence of the sun and atmosphere, and from 

 washing away by rain. 



Horses and Oxen for Tcaniisi. 



I have observed that in many places horses 

 have taken the place of oxen, are used tor 

 the purposes of farming, introduced, I sup- 

 pose, under the impression that they are bet- 

 ter adapted to the service, and more profit- 

 able to the owner. I am not about to contra- 

 dict the truth of this supposition, or prove that 

 a man cannot plouah and harrow as fast and 

 as well with horses as with o.xen, but shall 

 merely mention a few of the comparative 



