vol.. X«I. NO. 33. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



2G1 



October IDlli, I again weiglieil tlieni : tliu result 

 n-as as IoUoh's : 



Pig ill pen No. 1, 170 lbs. — gain in .5(1 days, (M lbs. 



" 2, ]80 " " in ilo. 70 do. 



" " 3, I(J7 " •' in do. t)8 do. 



" " 4,"134 " " in do. (!1 do. 



" " " 148 " " in do. (>7 do. 



I then clianged their food ; those that had been 



Tod with scalded meal, I gave raw meal ; and those 



[hat had been fed with raw meal, I fed with srald- 



d meal. .And instead of feeding them three times 



aer day, as I had previously done, I fed them but 



wice per day ; but gave them the same quantity of 



bod — ir>() pounds, in 40 days. 



November ^6lh, I weighed them again, and the 

 •esult was as follows : 



Pig in pen No. 1, 209 lbs. — gain in 40 days, 39 lbs. 



" 2, 213 " " in " " 33 do. 



" 3, 207 " " in " " 40 do. 



" " 4, 183 •' "in " " 35 do. 



" " 183 " " in " " 49 do. 



Thus it appears that two pigs, fed on raw meal, 



gained in fiftysix days, 69 pounds each ; and three 



ligs fed on scalded meal during the same time, 



Tallied on average 64 pounds each ; also, two led 



an scalded meal, gained in forty days, 36 1-2 Ib.i. 



iach ; and three fed on raw meal, during the same 



time, gained 41 pounds each. 



After weighing the pig that weighed 183 lbs., I 

 iressed it, and it then weighed J54 pounds. 



That there should be no mistake in regard to the 

 ibove exfierimenls, I have fed them nearly all the 

 ;ime myself, and weighed them myself 



JOSEPH HOW. 

 Meihuen, Sept. 27lh, 1843. 



EXTRACTS FROM MR DODGE'S ADDRESS 

 Before the Essex Co. Agricxdiural Society. 



Our farms too Large. — " It has frequently been 

 said, and I think justly, that the majority of our 

 farms are ton large ; thai more ground is cultivated, 

 or attempted to be cultivated, than there is ability 

 ;o cultivate profitably or well. The time and labor 

 expended in raising ten acres of corn, would be 

 diminished nearly one-half, if bestowed only on 

 ive acres ; while, if the same quantity of manure 

 ■is is generally applied to the former, were used on 

 :he latter, the crop would be equally as large, and 

 ihe land would be left in far better heart. The 

 same is true, also, with regard to grass-land. Ten 

 tons of English hay, on five acres of ground, can 

 be cut and cured, with as little delay and expense, 

 as five tons on ten acres. The gain in this re- 

 spect, to say nothing of other advantages, must be 

 apparent to all. I know of a farm in this county, 

 consisting of but forty acres of tillage and mow- 

 ing, full one-quarter of which, when I lately saw 

 it, was under root cultivation, and a luxuriant 

 growth of rowen covered the remainder. From 

 this had been taken, the present season, fortyfive 

 tons of English hay, all of which was cut, cured 

 and stored by three men ; and it was but eleven 

 days from the time the first, till the last load went 

 into the barn. 



But suppose that your farm is a dairy farm, con- 

 sisting of a large range of pasture. There are the 

 fences and the ga'tes to be maintained, and the 

 taxes to be paid, double what they would be, on 

 half the extent of ground. And the larger the 

 pasturage, the less likely will it be to receive any 

 efforts to renovate its fertility. Hence, we see, 

 throughout the county, large tracts of such land, 



moss-grown and nearly barren, which needs only 

 the plow and a moderate supply of manure and 

 hay seed to bring it into good condition. But the 

 extent of this description of land discourages the 

 attempt. I am almost inclined to the opinion, that 

 could many of mir farms be divided into halves, 

 and one moiety lie fallow for five or ten years, and 

 the other moiety only be cultivated and fed, we 

 should, in the end, find our account in the increas- 

 ed fertility of the latter, from the very (act that our 

 resources were better husbanded, and our labor and 

 manure better applied. 



The Manure Heap. — '' There is another promi- 

 nent error prevalent among our farmers, which ope- 

 rates powerfully to their injury. I mean the little 

 pains which they take to improve the manure heap, 

 Snd to preserve it in the best possible condition for 

 use. I say nothing as to the best method of apply- 

 ing manures — whether by plowing in, harrowing 

 in, or using only in the hill — for this is a vexed 

 question, and the practice of good farmers varies 

 in respect of it. But how few the fanners who de- 

 vote the care they ought to enlarge the manure 

 heap. How seldom are barn-yards contrived in 

 the manner best adapted to save the strength of nil 

 that goes into it; and how rarely are they supplied 

 with the material at the proper times and in suffi- 

 cient amount, to produce the greatest result. What 

 waste, too, is committed by the summer's sun, and 

 the rain and winds of spring and autumn, in dissi- 

 pating the virtues of that which is to constitute 

 the food of the coming crops. We might borrow 

 a useful lesson from the English farmers, by mak- 

 ing manure into what they term '' pies," instead of 

 carting it in the fall to the open field, to be strown 

 over a large surface, exposed to the ravages of 

 the weather. This may be done by placing it in 

 alternate layers with meadow mud or with soil, and 

 enveloping the whole with a side and top crust of 

 the same material." 



The " Going to do" and the " Doing" Farmi:r. — 

 " Again, I would ask, if labor is as well directed, if 

 foresight and judgment are as often exercised as 

 they should be, upon our farms, in order to bring 

 them into the best condition .' In many places 

 there are yet meadows to be reclaimed ; wet lands 

 to be drained ; clayey soils to be mellowed by the 

 adiriixture of sand and sandy soils, or light soils to 

 be strengthened in texture by clay. Are these and 

 similar improvements made as often and as effec- 

 tually as they might be made, if undertaken in good 

 earnest? Do you say there is not time ? There 

 may always be found intervals of time for such 

 work, if resolutely determined upon. But the mag- 

 nitude of the undertaking appals many a faint- 

 hearted man, simply because he looks at the exe- 

 cution of the whole, instead of setting about it at 

 once, and accomplishing it as he Is able. He will 

 commend the improvement, wish it was made, 

 is persuaded of its benefit, and will freely intend 

 one of these years to undertake it, but ho never 

 does. 



Such an one is a going-to-do farmer ; and is it 

 any wonder that he makes little or no progress ? 



Look at his neighbor, who is always doing. He 

 spends no time In complaining of hard times, want 

 of means, or the extent of the job he has on hand. 

 Not he. If the times are hard, so much the more 

 reason, he thinks, why he should work the harder; 

 If his means are small, that does not lead him to 

 envy his more wealthy neighbors, but stimulates 

 him according to his means, to rival their husband- 



ry: if the job is heavy, the sooner it is begun the 

 sooner it will be completed ; so at it he goi's, boys 

 and all, from early dawn till dusk — as he finds op- 

 portunity — and when it is finished, the whole fam- 

 ily of the g-oi'»i;;-(o-(/o begin to wonder how he finda 

 time to do so much. Now here is one reason, al- 

 most of Itself siilliclent to account for the disparity 

 of condition between a good farmer and a poor one. 

 Is it not so? And cannot you call to mind living 

 examples of the two pictures here drawn ?" 



Parsnips as Food for Pigs Whilst staying in 



the Isle of Guernsey for a couple of months, in the 

 summer of 1841, I was much pleased with the pe- 

 culiarly fine Havnr of the pork, being sweet, juicy, 

 firm, and beautifully wlilte, at a season of the year 

 when that unclean animal is thought not to be in 

 the highest perfection. This superiority in flavor 

 and appearance Is attributed to the plentiful supply 

 of raw parsnips with which the animal is fed. In 

 confirmation of a universally admitted fact, I beg 

 to send you the following extract from a lately pub- 

 lished history of the island and its products : 



"Hogs prefer raw parsnips to all other roots, 

 and make excellent pork when fed upon them; but 

 the boiling of the root renders the bacon fiabby. 

 By this food the animal can be fatted in six weeks. 

 Too much can hardly be said in praise of the beef 

 anil pork fatted on parsnips. At this time (July 

 17th, 1840,) there is in the Guernsey market, a 

 porker 23 months old, weighing neat 7.50 lbs. Eng- 

 lish, which has never eaten any thing but raw pari- 

 nlps and sour milk : finer meat never was seen. 

 In the use of parsnips, one caution is absolutely 

 necessary — they are ncyer to be washed, but to be 

 given as they are taken up from the ground. Used 

 in that way, they are found not to surfeit the hogs 

 and cattle, and to fatten them better and quicker 

 than they otherwise would. If washed, they are 

 apt to satiate, and as the farmers say, will nerer 

 thoroughly fatten them. An ox will eat 120 lbs. 

 per ^ny, exclusive of hay. — London Gnrdener's 

 Chron. 



Cockroaches. — A correspondent of the Gardener's 

 Chronicle says he has found 6,)jrits of turpentine 

 eflfectual in destroying cockrotphe.". He poured a 

 little into the crevices and holes near the hearth- 

 stone, and sprinkled the remaimler of half a pint 

 In places infested by them, ana after doing this 

 three times, scarcely a cockroach was left. If the 

 liquid ever comes In cimtacl with one of them, it 

 will give one or two leaps, and then fall on its 

 back and die immediately. 



Late intelligence from Egypt states that that 

 country was sufl^erlng severely from the murrain 

 among oxen. The loss was estimated at 150,000 

 head of cattle. Next year's crops are likely to be 

 seriously affected by this loss. The cavalry and 

 artillery had been dismounted, and the horses sent 

 to assist in agriculture. 



The Mark-lane Express states that the number 

 of sheep exposed for^ale In Smithfield market, (near 

 London,) weekly, during the winter, extends from 

 26,000 to 33,000. 



Ice The Charlestown Aurora states that OTer 



1900 tons of ice have been brought from Fresk 

 Pond, over the railroad, the present winter. 



