FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF HOGS. 



595 



pressed a doubt that even, in those countries, plans 

 of much more extensive usefulness might have 

 been devised and executed by the government. In- 

 dividuals make improvements without any regard 

 to the situation of any section of the country, other 

 than that in which they are immediately interested. 

 Hence it has frequently happened, that particular 

 works, constructed without any reference to a ge- 

 neral plan, have been rendered entirely useless by 

 the ultimate selection of a more extensive and 

 judicious location for a road or canal. Numerous 

 instances in both these countries, exemplify the cx)r- 

 rectness of this remark. Immense expenditures of 

 capital, upon works subsequently rendered useless 

 by the success of greater and rival enterprises, 

 have returned no profits to the stockholders, an(l 

 subtracted greatly from the national wealth. If 

 we expect to escape their evils, Ave must avoid 

 their errors. The great outlines which, in the na- 

 ture of things, are not likely to attract, or be com- 

 passed by individual et!brt, should be marked out 

 by the Legislature, effected by the }>ublic treasure, 

 and beexclusively under public control. Such has 

 been the system adopted by New Y6rk, Pennsyl- 

 vania and Ohio, and is the only system that can 

 succeed here. Who believes that the great Erie 

 Canal would have been cut in a century to come, 

 by individual enterprise.' Who can now assign 

 limits to the improvements which may be hereaf- 

 ter effected by that great State.' If we proceed 

 with less, but not small resources, with like spirit, 

 and ou the same system, we too, may do something 

 for the honor of human nature, and give to North 

 Carolina a name amonsr the nations of the earth. 



MANAGEMENT OF HOGS — BEKTS PROPOSED 

 AS PART OF THEIR FOOD. 



January 15th, 1S34. 



Mr. Editor, — It is very certain that the Far- 

 mers' Register never can prove very beneficial to 

 any particular section of country, unless your sub- 

 scribers from that region, give to the public, 

 through the medium of your journal, the result of 

 their experience. I am sorry that so few commu- 

 nications have appeared from the Middle Country. 

 It is a trite but true saying, that " every man's 

 business ; is no man's business" we all wait for 

 each other, and I am determined to send you an 

 article for publication, hoping that others more ca- 

 pable and more experienced, will follow the exam- 

 ple. My farming career has been so short, and so 

 much interrupted by professional business, that I 

 have but little to offer at present. I begin, how- 

 ever, to apprehend that in future, I shall have more 

 leisure than may be altogether desirable, in conse- 

 quence of a new "notion," which seems to take 

 wonderfully in our portion of the community, and 

 which threatens to make at least some of the " Old 

 School Physicians," pay more attention to tlieir 

 farms than they have done. Without further pre- 

 face, I will proceed to state a few circumstances 

 vvhich have occurred to me during the last twelve 

 months, relative to my management of hogs : as I 

 hohl it a sound principle, that experience may be 

 acquired from a knowledge of those methods which 

 fail, as well as from those which succeed ; at least, 

 in agricultural pursuits. 



I have been in the habit of purchasing more 

 than half of my })ork every fall, and if I have no 

 better luck in raising hereafter, shall find it to my 



interest to buy the other half also. I had a fine 

 litter of pigs about Christmas twelve months, from 

 what was called a very fine breeding sow ; her ex- 

 cellency, however, consisted in prowling all over 

 the neighborhood, in defiance of gates and fences, 

 and withal, keei)ing in such order as to give a 

 poor idea of having met with good cheer in her 

 perambulations. 1 put her up more than a month 

 before she pigged, hoping to make something like 

 bacon o{ her, in the course of the winter. She 

 was kept up, and well fed with corn, until about 

 the first of February, (as well as I remember) — 

 when despairing of making any thing of her, I 

 again turned her out on the commons. I only men- 

 tion this to show that her pigs, nine in number, 

 and well grown, had every chance to tlirive. They 

 had, moreover, access to all the oftal of the kitchen, 

 were fed regularly after separation from the sow, 

 and ran on clover and wheat, with rings in their 

 noses ; — about the middle of May I inclosed a lot, 

 containing considerably more than half an acre of 

 good clover, and put them in it : here they remain- 

 ed as long as the clover lasted, with a small allow- 

 ance of corn every day. After the clover gave 

 out, having no pumpkins, they were fed on peach- 

 es and apples till those crops failed, when I resorted 

 to corn alone. Nothv* ithstaniling this, they barely 

 kept in tolerable order, and when butchered in 

 December, they averaged less than 55 pounds! 

 You will readily agree with me, sir, that this 

 method will not answer. ' 



My pi-ospect for hog meat another winter, is still 

 worse. I had nine or ten shotcs, which came about 

 harvest, which I "turned out" to shift for them- 

 selves, as is much too common with the farmers 

 around me. These had a small allowance of corn 

 every morning; that is, the corn was given out, 

 and daily carried to tlie place where the pigs were 

 expected to "come up." How much was given, 

 I will not undertake to say. One remark I will 

 make by the way, that most of the negroes about 

 me are permitted to raise hogs, and although they 

 feed on " meal-husks j" always contrive to have the 

 best hogs. My shotes, under this management, 

 after committing many depredations on my corn 

 field, strayed off, and have dwindled down to three 

 or four runts, which will probably not survive the 

 winter, unless }mt up again, and fed on corn. This 

 latter method then, which is the most common 

 with us, is certainly not likely to prove much bet- 

 ter than the first mentioned; and some other must 

 be adopted, or I must hereafter purchase all my 

 pork. 



I will now digress from the subject of hogs, 

 though it will be seen to be connected with the 

 same. In the month of April last, I had planted 

 in my kitchen garden, six rows of beets, two of 

 the early turnip, and four of the blood beet. The 

 seed, I must not omit to mention, were obtained 

 of Dr. James Cooke, of Fredericksburg, The 

 rows were four feet apart, and the plants twelve 

 inches from each other in the rows. I paid very 

 little attention to them, except to have them 

 worked once with a grubbing hoe, and the grass 

 and weeds kejit under with a common weeding hoe ; 

 cabbages were planted between the rows of beets. 

 You will recollect the season was unusually dry — 

 and all the vegetables vveie nearly destroyed by 

 drought. My beets, however, turned out very 

 well ; one dozen of the largest, weighed 66 pounds, 

 an average of 5\ pounds — one dozen more might 



