78 



NEW E N G L A N U FARMER, 



SEPT. 10, 1835. 



liOSTON, WEDNSiSDAV EVliNlNti, SEP C. 16, 1835. 



s^VIXE. 



We have herctcifore, Miid very often, adverted to the 

 subject of fattening swine ; bulas we are frequently hon- 

 ored with additions to our subscription list of persons 

 who are not much acquainted with the contents of the 

 former vohimes, we shall, for their aci ommodaliun, 

 sometimes use repetitions in substance, if not in words. 

 Acid or ferinented food for swine lias been much re- 

 commended. Arthur Young, a high autliority among 

 fanners, says, " the most profitable method of converting 

 corn of any kind into food for hogs, is to grind it into 

 meal, and mix this with water in ci.-iterns in the pr( por- 

 tion of five busliels of meal to one hundred gallons of wa- 

 cr ; stirring it well several times a day, fur three weeks, 

 in cold weather, or a fortnight in a warmer season, by 

 which time it will have fermented well and have beconie 

 acid, and until then it is not ready to use. The mixture 

 should always be stirred immediately before feeding, and 

 two or three cisterns should be kept fermenting in suc- 

 cession, that no necessity may occur of giving it not duly 

 prepared. Judge Peters, ol Pennsylvania, whose author- 

 ity as an agriculiurist is of great weight, observed, that 

 sour food is not only most grateful and alimentary to 

 swine, but that one gallon of sour wash goes farther than 

 two of sweet. 



But an Engli.«h work entitled Farmer's Calendar, de- 

 clares, that " much has been said, and little understood, 

 SibouX purposely souriiig food for hogs It is not that acid- 

 ity can possibly tend to piriguefaction [making fat], bat 

 it is f^jund that hogs will readily fatten upon acid, or 

 rather acescent food, a sweetish taste and glutinous 

 quality succeeding fermentation; and that they will do 

 still more readily upon such as has never reached the acid 

 state, I know, and have seen in hundreds of instances. 

 ]s a proof wanted ? How much more readily do the 

 country hogs feed upon sweet and unfermented food, 

 than those of the starch house upon the fermented and 

 subacid wash, however rich. I say subacid, fur did not 

 starch makers run otf a great part of that which is really 

 sour, they would kill instead of fatten their hogs." 



In order to reconcile these writers it will only be ne- 

 cessary to advert to the diflerent stages of ordinary fer- 

 mentation, and the products of each stage. The first 

 stage of fermentation produces sugar, and is called the 

 saccharine fermentation. The second stage developes 

 alcohol, or spirit of wine, and is called the vinous fermen- 

 tation. The third stage produces vinegar, and is called 

 the acid fermentation ; and the fourth and last stage con- 

 verts the matter fermenting into a substance which is not 

 only offensive, but poisonous, and is called the putrid or 

 destructive fermentation. 'I'hus, if you soak wheat, or 

 other farinaceous substance, in water of a proper temper- 

 ature, it will first become sweet, and begin to sprout or 

 vegetate; it will next alTord spirit or alcohol; continue 

 the process, the wash turns sour, at first slightly, and 

 then more strongly acid, and at last the whole becomes 

 putrid. It probably contains most nourishment, when It 

 is sweetest, but it is valuable till very sour, when it is 

 worth little or nothing ; and when the putrid fer 

 tion has commenced it is worse than nothing, as food for 

 any animal. The farmer then should give his ferment- 

 ed wash to his pigs while it is yet sweet, or but begin 

 ning to turn sour. 



S Keith, Esq. of Framingham, has accepted of an 

 invitation to deliver an Address before the Middlesex 

 Agricultural Society, at 'heir next Cattle Show, to be 

 holden at Concord, on the 7th of October. 



The Essex Jlgi icuUural Society hold the Annual ExI) 

 bilion at Danvers on Wednesday, Sept. 30th. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULiTUKAL. SOCIETY. I 



Saturday, Sept. 12, 1835. 

 KXHIBITION OF FLOWERS. 



S. Sweetser, Cambridgeport, favored the Society with 

 beautiful specimens of Dahlias, many of them, as will be 

 seen by the following list, were new and rare kinds. 



King of the Yellows, Jason, Queen of the Yellows, do. 

 Dahlias, Belladonna, Rosa alba, Porcia, King of the 

 Whites, Agrippina, Beau des Dames, alba Fimbriata, 

 Lady Grey : bright colors. Picta formosissima. Rose 

 d'Amour, Culbush's rose leaf stripe. Sir Walter Scott, 

 Corcinea speciosissima, Round red, Maria Louisa, Ful- 

 gida perfecta. Star of Brunswick, Scarlet Ranunculus, 

 Widnall's Chancellor, Rose constantia, Dennissii, Globe, 

 Sir J. Copley, Orange Rosette, Dwarf Orange, Buff, 

 Springfield Rival, Marchioness of Lothian: various col- 

 ors. Plum color. Paragon of Perfection, Pulla, Erecta, 

 Granta, Giand Monarch, Champion, Commander in 

 Chief: dark colors. 



Messrs Hovey and Thomas Mason decorated the ta- 

 bles with superior Dahlias, China Asters, &c. We re- 

 gret a list of the names was not handed to the committee. 

 The members and visitors were highly gratified with 1.5 

 specimens of Seedling Dahlias, from Robert Milne, gard- 

 ner to M. P. Sawyer, Esq., Portland — five of the varie- 

 ties were equal to the fine imported ones. The com- 

 mittee also derived much pleasure from the known fact, 

 that one of the first, if not the first, horticultural amateurs 

 and refined gentlemen of a sister state, is about to locate 

 himself in the midst of us. We tender him a hearty wel- 

 come and our best wishes. For the Committee, 



JoNA. WiNSHiP, Chairman. 



EXHIBITION OF FRDITS. 



Apples; — from M. P. Sawyer, Boston, two varieties, 

 natives, of good quality and size. Pears : from M. P. 

 Sawyer, Boston, Andrews Pear; from Robt. Manning, 

 Salem, Bergamot Rouge ; Summer Rose, (Pom. Mag.) 

 good — (red Bergamot of Cox, erroneou.sly) ; musk Sum- 

 mer hon Chretien, (Cox No. ]) ; Summer bon Chretien, 

 or Gracioli Cox ; Dearborn's Seedling — very fine; from 

 John Heard, Esq., Watertown, St. Ghistien, Johonnet, 

 and a variety, unknown, not in eating ; from Dr Swan, 

 Medford, Williams' bon Chretien, (called Bartlett) fine; 

 from Mr Marsh, Quincy, a basket of the beautiful Gush- 

 ing Pear, of large size, and excellent, rich, and melting : 

 this pear should be more known ; it bears well, and 

 stands our climate without injury, it being a native. S. 

 Downer, Dorchester, Marie Lourte. E. Bartlett, Rox- 

 bury, Johonnet Pear; Seedling, from the Williams' bon 

 Chretien, named Bartlett's Seedling by the committee. 

 The quality is good, about the size of the St. Michael, 

 melting, and rich flavor, somewhat resembling its ma- 

 ternal pear. Plum- : — From S. Pond, Cambrirlge, Blee- 

 ker's Gage, Purple Duane. R. Manning, Bleeker's gage 

 and German Prune. Peaches:— M. P. Wilder, Minot 

 Peach, President do. Some pears were presented by 

 Messrs Winship, of Brighton, name unknown not in eat- 

 ing, from the garden of John Boyd, Newton. 



For the Committee, S. A. Shcrtlf.ff. 



^X An exhibition of Fruits, Flowers and Vegetables, 

 will be had by the Society on Wednesday and Thurs- 

 day, IGth and 17lh inst. at the Odeon, in Federal street 

 Tickets will be furnished to members and contributors, 

 by application to Messrs Movey's, Cornhill. Tickets 

 2.5 cents for the exhibition, for sale at Russell, Odiorne 

 & Co. Washington street, at the Agricultural Ware- 

 house, and at Hovey's, Cornhill. 



Per order of Committee of Jlrrangements . 



The following list ot Dahlias was omitted last week ; 

 From the Botanic Garden, Cambridge. — Dennissii, 

 Plant's purpurea perfecta. Prince George, Queen of yel- 

 lows, Theodore, 1^^"^ Matilda, Queen of Wirteniburg, 

 Marshall's velvet, Piota formosissima, Foster's incom- 

 parable. Globe Anemone, Miss Pelham, Levick's Shan- 

 non, Rose Constantia, Scarlet Ranunculus, Squibb's pure 

 yellow. Miss Smith, Longley's purple. Countess of Liver- 

 pool, Widnall's Perfection, Duchess of Bedford, Brown's 

 Ophelia, Barrett's Susannah, Roke's dwarf scarlet, Don- 

 na Maria de Gloria, Alropurpurca, Hanoverian striped, 

 Bates' Rosamond, Prince George of Cumberland, Sur- 

 pass Triomphe royal, Eclipse, Washington, Magnet, 

 French White, Prince of Orange, Elliott's William IV., 

 Levick's incomparable. Earl Grey, Foster's Constantia, 

 Lady Fitz Harris, Exin;um, Springfield rival. Queen of 

 Dahlias, Amanda, Surprise, Wells' white, Imperiosa, 

 Belloua, King of the whites, Hedychium gardenanum. 

 From M. P. Wilder. — Sally's Emperor, Desderiiona, 

 Queen of Dahlias. Quein of Shcba, Jason, Lutea purpu- 

 rea. Earl Chichester, Dennissi minor, Dennissi coccinea, 

 Queen whites. Goldfinch, Ophelia, French white. Coun- 

 tess Liverpool, Mrs Petre, Salem Beauty, Donna Ma ia, 

 de gloire, Picta formosissima, Aurantiaspeciosa, surpasse 

 Triornphe royal, Aurantia purpurea superba, Maid of 

 Bellevue, Duchess Richmond, Le Brilliant, Countess de 

 Ponza, Pavonia, Springfield rival, Widnall's perfection. 

 Belladonna, Early Grey, Lord John Russell, Barrett's 

 Susannah, Rosa speciosa, Alba purpurata, Megro boy, 

 Polyphemus, Rose d'Amour, Cyprian, Paragon of perfec- 

 tion, Columbine, e nnissi, Walter Boyd, Queen yel- 

 lows, Sulp. excelsa. 



One or two other lists of Dahlias are, for want of room, 

 excluded. 



'*^* In the report of Fruits last week, we neglected to 

 state that Joseph Strong, Esq. of Rochester, N. Y. exhi- 

 bited five large specimens of the White Gage Plum. 



Rhode Island Exhibition and Catlle SIiow. 



Our Agricultural friends in Rhode Island hold their 

 Cattle Show, Ploughing Match, &c on Wednesday , the 

 30(A inst., at Pawtuxet, where the members of the Soci- 

 ety will be iurnished with a dinner. 



The Society have offered very liberal premiums as 

 usual, and we are happy to learn they are in a very pros- 

 perous condition. They have done much for the benefit 

 of the agriculture of Rhode Island. 



Amrricau Silk Grower's Guide. 



We have just received a small, but we believe highly 

 valuable Treatise, with the above title, by William 

 Kf.nkick, Esq. of Newton, Mass., author of that excel- 

 lent and well known work, entitled J^ew American Or- 

 chardist. We have not had time to peruse, attentively, 

 the Silk Grower's Guide, but from a cursory glance at its 

 contents have formed a high opinion of its merits; and 

 think it ought to be in the possession of every person 

 who is concerned, or wishes to take an interest in a man- 

 ufacture which promises to be of paramount importance 

 to the country, as well as a source of emolument to those 

 who with skill, ardor and perseverance devote the requi- 

 site time and attention to its pursuits. 



We would remind our readers that the Catlle Show 

 and Exhibition of the Massachusetts Agricultural Society 

 will be held at Brighton on Wednesday, the 14th of Oc- 

 tober. There is every reason to believe it will be a great 

 holiday for the farmers of Massachusetts. 



JU" A meeting of the Mass. Hort. Society will be held 

 on Saturday, Sept. 19th, for choice of officers for the en- 

 suing year. E. Weston, Jr., Rec. Sec. 



