February, 1842. 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



19 



that niiiis horses and causes distress in all ani- 

 mals that are put to it. And though every man 

 of reflection knows violent exercise, ijimiediate- 

 ]y after eating, causes pain in his own stomach ; 

 yet many will give horses the most solid food 

 jnst before commencing the labors of the. day. 

 Stage owners in the vicinity of Boston formerly 

 directed that mertl and water should be given to 

 the teams on stopping for a few moments to take 

 bieath ; and it was not till many of tliese animals 

 dropped dead in the service that the practice was 

 discontinued. _ On opening the stomachs of these 

 horses the meal was found in bard cakes und 

 gested. Violent exercise probably prevented the 

 proper action of the gastric juice on the food 

 Such exercise might cause an absorption of these 

 juices and rob the stomach of its great means of 

 disposing of its load. 



Men of sound understanding on subjects in 

 general, conduct most foolishly in regard to feed- 

 ing their horses while on journies^we hear 

 them order grain to be given just before starting 

 in the morning, instead of giving the heaitiest 

 portion of tlieir food at night when they would 

 iiave time to lie down and to be comforted, instead 

 of tormented by the rich repast. This is done by 

 practised travellers; and they fancy they have 

 managed adroitly to get as much as possible of 

 the taverner's hay into the horse's .stomach before 

 he is allowed to taste of what is more nutricious. 

 They chuckle like the foreigner who would not 

 inform the landlord that he had found a chicken 

 in one of the eggs, set on the table (or his break- 

 fast, for fear that a greater price would be 

 charged for what he considered an tmnsually 

 rich repast. 



Men who give their horses no grain, except on 

 extraordinary occasion.s, will administer a dose 

 of it just heibre starting for a day's ride. They 

 would not give it on the night preceding, lest all 

 its virtues should evaporatebefore daylight. Such 

 practices ought to be ridiculed if we cannot rea- 

 son peojjle oui of them. 



In former years we have travelled through the 

 counlry and tried various methods of feeding, 

 and have come to the conclusion that the best 

 tuid heartiest food should bo given at night; and 

 this should be very soon after the horse is put in 

 the stable. He will then soon eat enough to sat- 

 isfy his appetite and will have time to lie down 

 and rest — his food will serve during the whole 

 of next day, and he will need but little baiting 

 till he stops again at night. 



This will be found a more economical practice 

 than to bait three or four times in the twenty- 

 four hours. You buy your grain by wholesale; 

 that is, you buy hal/n bushel of oats tor the night, 

 and the taverner will seldom charge more than 

 fifty cents— double the first cost of the oats. Now 

 if you keep your horse on hay and let him have 

 but half a peck of oats you must pay quite as 

 much as for half a bushel. We do not say that 

 oats are always the best food for a horse, but 

 they are the most convenient article you can 

 generally find at public houses. If oats cannot 

 be had, a peck of corn may be given at night 

 without injmy, i>rnvided your horse has been 

 used to grain, and the price of this will equal the 

 price of half a bushel of oats. 



This will be found the best mode of feeding 

 even when you can find the best of hay at public 

 houses : for your horse will be all ready to start 

 in the morning— he has had his breakfast the 

 night preceding, and if be has stood a whole 

 hour in the morning without eating, he will be a 

 belter traveller for it through the day. 



But good hay is not always to be found at pub- 

 lic houses; and though it may be considered 

 tnerchantable, horses often smell of it with sus- 

 picion, and wish themselves at home. You can 

 scarcely exiicct to find the sweetest hay at tav- 

 erns, when that which is inferior will bring quite 

 as high a price, and no farmer ever sells his very 

 best hay. Your principal reliance must therefore 

 be placed on grain if you would have your horse 

 perform well. B. 



Effects of Poisoiis. 



It is not generally known, perhaps, that sub- 

 stances which are higldy poisonous to one spe- 

 cies of animals are frequently not so to others. 



In some cases, indeed, articles that are ex- 

 tremely deadly in their efect upon one species, 

 ore medicinal to others, and to some even Jiighly 

 nutritive. 



Thus, swine are destroyed by pepper-seeds, 

 while by man the same snlistance is highly priz- 

 ed as a most grateful and salutary spice. On the 

 contrary, the roots of the hen-bane which are a 

 most virulent and liital poison to man, are a ser- 

 viceable and « holesome food lor swine. 



Aloes, also, which constitute so valuable an 

 article in the Materia Medica of our physicians, 

 and which are so beneficially applied in many 

 diseases to which the human system is subject, 

 proves a rank poison to the canine race — at least 

 to the fox and dog. The horse, which is destroy 

 ed by the phelandrum aqiiaticum — or water-hem- 

 lock, and by corrosive sublimate, even in small 

 quantities, will nevertheless take a drachm of ar 

 senic daily,- and improve in conseqricnce, botl 

 in his coat and ^es{\.— Maine Cultivator. 



And Beauty, with lier opening rose — 

 And Cliildhood with its locks of light, 



But many a heart with mortal fear 



Hath Ihvobb'd at memory's busy tale — 

 And many an orphan wept to licar 



The name of that ill-omen'd sail— 

 Slie never reach'd her destined strand, 



But well w= know what doom she bore, 

 For stiffened corpse, and wave-quenched brand, 



Went drifting on a frozen shore. 



Dr. C. Follen. 



X Capt. Ililliai-d, Man 



From Mr. Colman's Agricultural Report. 



West Cameridue Piggery. — "A very large 

 hog establishment," &c. 



A very large hog establishment in this county 



to be found in West Cambridge, on the farm 

 of Abner Pierce. He keeps in his enclosure 

 about 500 hogs. They are supported upon the 

 city swill or refuse. No bogs are allowed to be 

 kept in Boston but by special and extraordinary 

 permission ; and among the excellent municipal 

 regulations, the refuse vegetables, meat, garbage, 

 nd offal of the houses are required to be kept 

 by each householder in a box or barrel which is 

 enqjtied once a week or oftener by the city scav- 

 engers. This, being taken into the covered city 

 carts, is delivered at Jlr. Pierce's establishment, 

 about five miles from the city, daily — he paying 

 therefor to the city 4000 dollars per year on a 

 contract for five yeai.s. 



His hogs, when I visited thein, were in an en- 

 closure of aboi;t fourteen acres, partly covered 

 with trees and bordering in one of the beautiful 

 ponds in that vicinity — a picturesque situation 

 most certainly, for animals making such humble 

 pretensions to taste and sentiment. If nothing 

 Ise, however, in the summer months they enjoy, 

 as niucli iis their betters, the lu.xury of a refresh- 

 ing bath and quiet repose under the shade, both 

 essentially conducive to their health and thrift, 

 He has had no general disease among them, 

 though occasionally a case of the "blind stag- 

 gers." He considers this tioublesome disease as 

 proceeding wholly from indigestion ; and he finds 

 no difficulty in its cure, by procuring an immedi- 

 ate evacuation. For this purpose he gives a dose 

 consisting of half a pint of lamp oil, and half a 

 pint of molasses, strongly charged with pounded 

 l)rimstone. This temedy is important to be 

 known, ;i9 the di.'sease is not uncommon among 

 swine, and often jiroves fatal. This disease can 

 hardly be considered local, though the " blind 

 staggers" in years gone by, has been known to 



prevail in some localities near at least one of 

 these ponds among a class of animals, who as- 

 sume to be of a higher rank, but who occasion- 

 ally pollute these beautiful regions by a resort to 

 them for purpo,ses of dissipation ; but a simple 

 and perfect ineventive is at last found for this 

 disease, (so much more humiliating and dreadful 

 in its efiects on them) if they can be induced to 

 take it, in "total abstinence." 



Mr. Pierce's hogs are purchased; he raises 

 none. He buys them at a weight of 100 to 150 

 pounds. Their average weight when killed is 

 from 250 to 300 pounds. He has a killing twice 

 a year, though many of his hogs are kept a year. 

 The supply of refiise from the city is sufiicient, 

 excepting at certain seasons of the year, when 

 some meal and corn are given. They fatten in 

 the yard without extra feed, excepting as above. 

 At killing, the skins (that is, the small entrails) 

 are sold at ten cents a set ; the harslet at 8 cents; 

 which pay fully the expenses of dressing. The 

 remainder is cooked for the swine, after saving 

 and selling what can be used by the soap maker. 

 The manure made in their beds v/here they are 

 littered is sold readily at fi)ur dollars per cord, 

 and in quick demand. The average sales of 

 nianme are not less than one thousand dollars. 



In the enclosure there are extensive plank plat- 

 forms on which the garbage is spread when 

 brought from the city. The right of cleaning 

 the tables, after the hogs have filled themselves, 

 is jiurchased by several neighboring farmers at 

 $2,50 per day. Much of the refiise thus obtain- 

 ed is spread upon their grass lands, or ploughed 

 in on their cultivated grounds, or placed round 

 their apple trees, and in every case with the 

 greatest advanfage. If not used immediately it 

 is put into a com|)ost heap and covered with 

 mould. Some fanners wjio obtain it use much 

 of it for feeding their own swine. One farmer 

 stated to me that he had purchased the right of 

 obtaining it two days in a week. He kept the 

 last year fourteen hogs entiiely upon tbe.se glean- 

 ings. The gain upon these hogs in live weight 

 from 1st October to 1st April, when he sold them 

 on foot, was 2800 pounds. Other farmers have 

 been equally successful in this economical pro- 

 cess. 



The average gain of the hogs at this establish- 

 ment is rated at a pound per day, live weight. A 

 large amount of bones are brought out iii the 

 carts, and these find a ready sale at the bone- 

 mill for manure. 



From Graham's Magazine for February. 

 THE DAUGHTERS OP DR. BYLES. 



A SKETCH OF REALITY. 



ET MISS LESLIE. 



(Concluded from our last.) 

 She shewed us the envelope of a letter address- 

 ed to her father by no less a person than Alexan- 

 der Pope, and directed in the poet's own hand. — 

 The writing was clear and handsome, and had 

 evidently been executed with a new pen, and with 

 a desire that the superscription should look well. 

 Next, were exhibited four commission.s, each 

 bearing the signature of a different British sove- 

 reign. The names of the royal personages were 

 placed at the top ot the document and not at the 

 bottom. This, the old ladies told us was to show 

 that royalty ought to go before every thing else. 

 The first signature was that of Queen Anne, and 

 headed the appointment of their grandfather to 

 the government of the jirovince of Massachusetts. 

 I have never in my life seen any autograph so bad 

 as that of" great Anne, whom three realms obey- 

 ed" — if this was to be considered a fair specimen. 

 It looked as if nobody had ever taught Iter to 

 write, and had the ap|)earance of being scratched 

 on the paper, not with a pen, but with a pin dip- 

 ped in ink. I believe it is related of the Emperor 

 Charlemagne (who prfssed the seals of his mis- 

 sives with the hilt of his dagger) that he effected 

 his signature by plunging his thumb into the ink, 

 and making with it a large black spot or blot on 

 the'parchment. No doubt, being a man of sense, 

 lie took care that his dab or smear should always 

 be of the same shape and dimension, and so 

 unique in its look as to preclude the possibility of 

 counterfeits. 



The next document shown us by Miss Cathar- 

 ine, was honored with the name of the First 

 George, — that sapient Elector of Hanover, whose 

 powers of comprehension were so obtuse that he 

 never could be made exactly to understand by 



