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THE GENESEE FARMER, 



WDfTERING PIGS. 



Allen says, " by far the cheapest mode of win- 

 tering pigs is in the pork barrel," and we believe it 

 is so. But it is sometimes done outside, and a few 

 words on the provision for their tlien ZwvZ^/ "demands 

 for board and lodging, may be of some interest to 

 your readers. I know I should be glad to hear 

 from other farmers on the subject, so I send you 

 my " say '' about it— submitting it, of course, to 

 your editorial judgment. 



In the first place, I am decidedly opposed to win- 

 tering "spring pigs'! anywhere above the brine. 

 They had better come into the pork barrel at eight 

 or nine months old " by a hmg shot." If the object 

 of raising a hog is to mal-e'jjorl-., that end sliould 

 be kept steadily in view, — his swineship should see 

 it, and eat for it. This keeping pigs eighteen 

 months to fatten them the last three, is not a pay- 

 ing business. Feed a decent pig irell from weaning 

 until eight months old, and you will get 250 lbs. to 

 300 lbs. of pork — and you do not usually get 50 lbs. 

 morefor those ten months older. There can be no 

 question but an animal can conmme much more to 

 produce in eighteen months about the same quan- 

 tity vrf meat, which is made by another in half that 

 length of feeding. 



But si)ring pigs, in order to become ^jcrl- in the 

 fall, must receive extra attention. They must be 

 Avell fed and kept growing. Besides supplying the 

 slops of the dairy, windfalls of the orchard, etc.,— 

 one ought to save over some corn, rye, or barley, 

 soas to give them one meal of pudding daily. By 

 this course, a friend who has practiced it twenty- 

 five years, usually make spring pigs weigh at the 

 rates above stated, and furnish him witli the very 

 first quality of family pork. He finds it to his ad- 

 vantage from the fact that he gets the benefit of the 

 summer season for fatting, and saves the long ex- 

 pense of winter feeding, when much of tlie food 

 consumed goes merely to support the animal heat. 



But to return to the subject of wintering pigs. 

 I have generall^^ wintered a few August pigs^ wean- 

 ing them the first of October, and keeping them 

 penned through the fall and winter. A pig out 

 side of a pen is a nuisance at large. They run over 

 garden and door-yard, througli corn and potatoes, 

 rooting up, pulling down, and destroying generally, 

 ten times more than their handsome little carcases 

 are worth, or ever likely to be. Deliver me from 

 them, either by death or close confinement, until 

 they get too large to laugh at all fences— then they 

 may go to pasture and welcome. 



To winter pigs just to my mind, I would have a 

 good, warm, oak -floored pen, with a yard attached 

 tor out-door exercise ; and would feed tJiem some 

 green food, such as apples, pum])kins, sugar beets 

 or potatoes, once a day— once on kitchen and dairy 

 swill, thickened with corn, rye, or barley meal, 

 and once (if I had the article) on soft corn in the 

 ear. I would try and keep them growing fairly, 

 and when grass got a good start ^in the spring, 

 would turn tliem to pasture, keeping up the feed- 

 ing with kitchen swill, thickened with meal, 

 througli the summer. They should have the sum- 

 mer run of the orchard, and early in the fall an 

 increase in tbe richness of their food, preparatory 

 to spending the second winter in the form of fam- 

 ily pork. To give them, from the first of August 

 until lato ia November, all they could eat shoiUd be 



the prime object, and to this end the change aatS 

 variety of their food should be looked to. 



To keep a pig growing, one must keep him eat- 

 ing and eating abt>ut all the time. To do this there 

 is nothing like " change and variety," now a little 

 corn, then a little railk, a few boiled iw)tatoes, a few- 

 raw apples, now a pudding, then a dish of greens, 

 — anything to keep tliem eating and stuffing when 

 awake, even if it does require a little extra atten- 

 tion. B. F. 



RTJKAL NOTES FBOM MAENE. 



Emtoes Genesee Fakmee :— I read in the Farmer 

 communications from various sections of the Union, 

 and I thought a few notes from Maine might prove 

 interesting to some of its readers. I will notice 

 some of the crop.s of this section, their price, pro- 

 ductiveness, etc. 



Hat- $8 to $10 per ton. The hay crop was. 

 pretty fair this year ; the yield was not so large as 

 last season, but it was of better quality and cut in 

 better order. This State exports considerable quan- 

 tities of hay yearly. Timothy and red clover are 

 the principal grasses. 



Wheat— $1.25 cts. per bushel. There is- but lit- 

 tle wheat grown in this section; but, under good 

 cultivation, it yields a fair return. The principal 

 varieties sown are the Bald^ Red, Sea ^ s,n(\ Java ; 

 the latter a new and promising variety. 

 _ Oats— 40 cents per bushel. Considerable quan- 

 tities of oats are produced yearly. The crop is. 

 good. The kind generally sown is called the Eatck 

 oat — not liable to rust. 



Baeley— 50 to 60 cents per bushel. The crop 

 this year is pretty good. The cultivation of barley- 

 is gaining fovor with the farmers yearly. The sale 

 at time of harvest is small ; in the spring it com- 

 mands from 87i cents to $1 per busheU 



CoKN— 90 cents to $1 per btisliel. Corn crop 

 decent,- DO frost to injure it— most all harvested. 



Potatoes— 40 to 50 cents per bushel. The yield 

 of potatoes is not so large as in former years. On 

 an average, over one-third are diseased. Thegre.ater 

 [•art of the fields wei-e struck with rust before they 

 obtamed their gnnvth. The leading- sorts cultiva- 

 ted are the Early White, Long Eed, and Jaclsm. 

 The latter, I believe, is peculiar to this State. 



Apples — 75 to 82 cents for eating, and 40 to 50» 

 for cooking apples. The trees last spring gave in- 

 dication of a good fruit season, but as summer pro- 

 gressed it was evident that the crop would be small. 

 The equinoctial gale which reached us the middle 

 of September, caused a great destruction of fruit. 

 The apples were literally harvested; and the major- 

 ity being bruised, they will soon be rotten and un- 

 marketable. The leading fruit cultivated here is 

 the Baldwin ; other kinds are cultivated according 

 to the choice of the person raising them, but this 

 is generally considered the standard for all pur- 

 poses. 



Our State Fair this year was quite a success. It 

 was held at Augusta, commencing September 21st, 

 and continuing five days. About 1,000 head of 

 animals were entered for premiums, consisting of 

 Short-horns, Devon's, Ayrshire^ Jersey's, and 

 Natives, with their different grades. The receipts 

 for admission tickets amounted to about six thou- 

 sand three hundred dollars. 

 £elfagt, Oct., IteSS. i GEO. E, BEACKETTL 



