1836.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



545 



communication last winter, states that he shut up 

 seven hogs about fourteen months old on the first 

 of October; (hey were in poor condiiion, and csii- 

 matcd to weiifh about 159 lbs. each, and worlh in 

 the market 12 1-2 cents per pound. They were 

 led fifty days on apple.s, mostly sour, boiled with a 

 small quantity of water, with the addition of a 

 bushel of bran and a pint of salt, to three bushels 

 of apples. At the end of fifty days they were fed 

 with twelve and a half bushels of -soft corn in the 

 ear, and afterwards slaiigl^tered. The average 

 weiirht of each u-as 272 pounds. Estimatiiio-ihe 

 apples at 25 cents a bushel, the bran at 6 cents, 

 and corn, at 62 1-2 cents, the whole expense was 

 S77.55, and the pork at §0.12 1-2 per cwt. ^116, 

 leaving a clear profit of ^Hl.45. See whole ex- 

 periment detailed, in Genesee Farmer, current vol- 

 ufno, p. 61. 



These experiments it will be observed, were 

 with cooked apples. The practice has' also suceed- 

 ed when they have been fi'd in a raw state; 

 though the latter is not as profitable, except on a 

 very small scale, when the trouiile and expense of 

 cooking would be comparatively greater, fn the 

 following experiments, the apples were given un- 

 cooked. A correspondent in Onondaga coiintv 

 turned thirty hogs and fi-oni thirty to fbrtv shoats 

 and pigs in an orchard of 430 tree's about "the loth 

 of Sepreraber, and they remained, there until the 

 latter part of November v/heathey were slaught- 

 ered, wi;h the exception of tvi/^elve dcillars worth 

 sold alive, and about a dozen retained as store 

 pigs. They yielded about 5,459 lbs. of .first rate 

 ])ork, fattened on apples u'holly, without any grain. 

 This was the fourth experimen] of the' kind made 

 by the writer, all of which were attended with 

 comp'ete success. ^■- 



In the 5;h volume, pago 824, of the Gencseef 

 Farmer, S. P. Rhoades' of Skaneatdes savs, "a 

 Iriend ti-om Massachusetts inliirms me that he shut 

 UD a hog by himself; and fed him entirely on ap- 

 ples and' water, last fall, and that he became vcrv 

 lilt, was vv^ell filled, and the pork was hard and 

 sweet as that fed on corn," lie also states that 

 when turned into an orchard where there are both 

 sweet and sour apples, hogs will eat about as 

 much of one as of the other. 



In the Brattleborouirh Messenger, a correspon- 

 dent says, "A man in Guiiftird, conversing o I'this 

 subject, said to me, 'There is a horr that will weigli 

 over two hundred; I broutjlit liim home in July on 

 my back. 1 have given it nothing but apples, and 

 a little slop Ibr drink." . I 



Sdcondly, wi:h regard to the cheapness of this I 

 kind of food. This "may perhaps behest deter- { 

 mined by calculation. \Ve will suppose that an 

 orchard is planted on an acre of Ground, and that ! 

 the trees stand at a distance of twenty five feet | 

 asunder, which would nnt be too near when thev 

 arc merely intended fjr this pm-pose. This would 

 give about seventy trees to the acre. The frees 

 at twenty five cents each would cost .§18.75; and 

 the expense of plantins, supposincj each tr^e to 

 cost ten cents each, U'ould be 7 dollars. V/liile 

 the trees are STtia'i, the land may be tilled and will 

 produce as much as before; and from the time 

 they begin to bear, they may he considered as 

 paying for the ground they occupy, by their iViiit. 

 Such an orchard, therefore, in a good bearing 

 ttate, would cost as follovrs: 



Vol. IV— 63 



^50 00 



18 75 



7 00 



One acre of land 

 Seventy trees, 

 Planting, 



8 "5 75 

 The anual interest on Ih'.s sum at seven per 

 cent, would be 85.30, whicii woulil be the actual 

 CTcpense ol" each crop, as the pasture of the ground 

 would pay for gathering. It' each tree bears on 

 an average five budiels-a year, (this is low esti- 

 mate if the most productive varieiiea are selected.) 

 the armual crop would be three hundr+-'d and fii'ty 

 bushels, which according to the prccin^ling calcu- 

 lation would be at the rate of one cent and a half 

 a bushel. Estimating the cost at doulde this, the 

 clear profit in the second experiment bef()re stated, 

 instead of being '^'41,45, would actually be -874,45. 

 One of our neiohlwrs, last year, made forty 

 dollars from a small orchard of about an acve, by 

 liUtening hogs, and reser\ed a large suj/ply Ibr 

 winter and other use. 



If instead of feeding potatoes to their hogs, 

 farmers would sell their potatoes, and purchase 

 apples for this purpose, they would find it to their 

 advantage. In- ordinary seasons, apples suita- 

 ble for feeding may be had at one quarter the 

 price of potatoes, or even loss, and their superior 

 value has been already shown. It would be fur 

 prefei'iible, hovVever, if fhe}^ would raise their 

 own apples, of kinds expressly for this purpose. 



Extracts finni Travels of a PliilOiOplicr. 

 CIII-XESE AGRIC'JLTniE. 



f a.rrive at Caritori, where new oitjects of admi- 

 ration arise; \he noise, the motion, the crowd 

 auirmenf. the v.'itter, as v.'cll as land, being every 

 where coysrcd with multitudes. Astonished at 

 the amazing app,earance. I inquire into the num- 

 bers of the inhabitants of this city and suburbs; 

 and after comparing diflTcrent accounts, find that 

 they must amoimt at least to eight hundred thou- 

 sand souls. My surprise, hovv'ever, is greatly in- 

 creased, when i learn, that to the northward of 

 iCanton, about five leagues up the river, is a vil- 

 lage named VacJian, which contains a million of 

 inhabitants ; and that every part of this great em- 

 pire, extending aliout six hundred leagues from 

 north to south, and as nmch from east to west, is 

 peopled in the same proportion. 



Ey v.-hat art can the earth produce subsistence 

 (t)r such numibers ? Do the Chinese possess anv 

 secret art of multiplying the gram and provisions 

 necessary for the nourishment of mankind ? To 

 solve my doubts, I traversed the fields, I introduc- 

 ed myseli among the laborers, who are in general 

 easy, poliic and atTable, with some share of learn- 

 inix, and knowledge of the world. I examine, and 

 pursue them through ail their operations ; and ob- 

 serve that their secret consists simply in manurinf^ 

 their fields judiciously, ploughing them to a consi- 

 derable depth, sowing them in the proper season, 

 turning to advantage every inch o\' ground which 

 can produce the most inconsider:d>!e crop, and 

 prcferrinir to every species of culture that of grain, 

 as by far the most important. 



This system of culture, thelas< juticle excepted, 

 appears to be the same that is recommended mail 

 our best authors, ancient and moderPj who have 



