696 



FARMERS' REGISTER— MANAGEMENT OF HOGS, &c. 



have been added, without diminisliing; the average 

 weight more than half a pound. The largest taken 

 up, weighed 10^ pounds, and measured 20 inches 

 in circumference ; several others nearly as large, 

 were left ior seed. I do not mention this as any 

 thing very uncommon, for I have heard of much 

 larger beets, but only to show v/hat may be done 

 in this way, by a little attention. Adjoining my 

 beet patch, I planted eight rows of mangel wort- 

 zel, but so few came up, tliat they were abandoned ; 

 some half a dozen or more roots, however, literally 

 without cultivation, attained a very respectable 

 size, nearly as large as the average size of the 

 beets, although the ground was inferior, thus show- 

 ing the superiority of that species, if size is to be 

 the criterion of utility. I think it more than pro- 

 bable the beels would have attained a much larger 

 size, had not the tops been pulled off for milch 

 cov/s. This I am satisfied is wrong. In very wet 

 seasons, it may not be very iniportant. I have 

 made some little calculation of the probable quan- 

 tity of good nourishment w h.ich may be in this 

 manner made on a hali'acreof land, well prepared 

 and cultivated, according to the little experiment 

 mentioned. I think I am moderate in saying, that 

 nearly fifteen thousand pounds might be raised in 

 an average season. Here is the calculation. A 

 half acre is 210 feet by 105. The rows to be three 

 feet apart, and the roots one foot from each other — 

 70 rows of 105 roots each, will give 7,350 roots, 

 which at the moderate estimate of two pounds 

 each, will be 14,700. 



This calculation would be far below what might 

 be reasonably expected, were we to make no al- 

 lowance for missing plants, and not taking into 

 consideration also, the fact, that it would be neces- 

 sary to begin on the roots, before they could attain 

 their full size. 



I would have the ground prepared as early as 

 possible. It is almost needless to say, the ground 

 should be ploughed very deep ; a plenty of manure, 

 tolerably well rotted, applied, and the harrow run 

 over it as often as might be necessar)' to pulverise 

 it properly ; the ground to be kept clear of weeds 

 and grass, while the young plants are coming on ; 

 and, after they attain a sufficient size, a common 

 coulter to be run twice or three times in each 

 space, very deep. It might be well to repeat this 

 operation, if the land should become close ; I 

 would divide the patch into three parts, one part to 

 be devoted to the early turnip, but one to the 

 blood feeet, and one to mangel wortzel, to be used 

 in the order they are m.entioned. 



The turnip beet may be used in June ; after 

 the cold v>feather sets in, they may be preserved as 

 usual in cellars, laid away in dry sand, or in pits. 



Now, Mr. Editor, let us bring the hogs and the 

 roots together. Will the hogs eat the roots, and 

 will the roots fatten the hogs.'' This seems to me 

 to be the greatest ditliculty , and this is the point on 

 which I wish to be informed. 



I think, with the addition of as much corn as is 

 usually given to our " out hogs" during the year, 

 (previous to the time of fattening them for pork,) 

 ground into coarse meal, to the boiled roots, we 

 might do infinitely better than we are now doing. 

 An essential part" of this plan is to keep up the 

 hogs the whole year, in a small lot, with a good 

 shelter in winter, and shade in summer. I believe 

 the time saved in looking for hogs, would be suffi- 

 cient nearly to cultivate the roots. But supposing 



it not sufficient, we can surely spare time enough 

 to cultivate half an acre, or even a whole acre of 

 ground, provided we can obtain such results as I 

 believe are almost certain. 



This ])lan may be new, or it may not be. If it 

 be new, it certainly deserves trial ; if not, some one 

 who has tried it, will oblige me by giving to the 

 public the result of his experience. I shall try 

 it, and I hope others will do so likewise, if they 

 think the scheme plausible. Another remark , and 

 I am done. The breed of hogs is a very material 

 point, for we know that there are runts and " gar- 

 rons" among hogs as well as among horses, and 

 I should be under obligations to you, sir, or any of 

 your correspondents, for such intbrmation as may 

 enable me to get into the best stock of hogs. I 

 believe we have no stock to which so little atten- 

 tion is paid to the breed. 



Should you think the above remarks worthy of 

 insertion, you can publish them, only omiting the 

 name of the county — and subscribing, instead of 

 my real name, a poor farmer. 



[The mode of managing hogs by our correspondent, 

 and his ill success, are not so uncommon, as for his 

 statement to endanger the incognito which lie is desir- 

 ous to preserve. There are but few farmers of Eastern 

 Virginia, (and we certainly are not among those few 

 exceptions,) who are sure that the pork they make does 

 not cost them its full market price, in the corn consumed 

 by the hogs, and the time and trouble required to take 

 care of them. One of the various causes which pro- 

 duce this state of things, is certainly that which " A 

 Poor Farmer" has slightly touched upon, and which de- 

 serves consideration in more respects than this. Hogs 

 can be kept fat by our slaves, though not by the mas- 

 ters — and supposing them to cost nothing, many per- 

 sons permit this plan of raising hogs, as a cheap mode 

 of supplying negroes with a part or the whole of their 

 year's pork. If they are supplied by the master with 

 the lean pigs, and a reasonable allowance of grain in 

 aid of their year's support, it will be fovmd that there is 

 but little economy in the plan : and if these are not 

 furnished, and the slave is merely permitted to keep a 

 hog, he had as well be told by his master, in plain En- 

 glish, "steal a pig v/herever you can do it safely, and 

 steal enough corn to feed him through the year, and to 

 fatten him for slaughter at Christmas, and you may there- 

 by have as much meat as you can gormandize and waste, 

 until March, after which you will either eat bread alone, 

 or steal and kill lean hogs from my neighbors and myself, 

 until your next hog is fat." This practice tends to cor- 

 rupt the morals of slaves — indeed almost compels them 

 to resort to jDilfering — and if it does not cause loss to 

 each individual who permits it on his farm, it is because 

 his slaves jDilfer abroad, more than at home.] 



AGRtCULTURAI. ENTERPRIZE. 



At a meeting of the Ohio Company for the Im- 

 portation of English Cattle, held at Madeira's 

 Hotel, in Chilicothe,on the 27th Jan. 1834, it was 

 resolved, that Mr. Felix Renix,of Ross county, a 

 successful dealer in stock, and an excellent judge 

 of cattle, be appointed agent of the company to 

 proceed to England, with as little delay as possible, 

 for the purpose of selecting and purchasing a stock 

 of the finest cattle to be met with in that country. 



