1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



275 



tering : at this age their average is ret two hunJred and 

 fifty pounds. More tlian one half the fat made is run oft" by 

 labor and travel ; little food is allowed in winter and less 

 in the fall and spring, and the hogs have to work for a living. 

 In many cases they get stinled and never recover. It may 

 here be mentioned that pig pork is worth more for domestic 

 use or for shipment to England and France, than pork from 

 older hogs. Indeed, a pig should be kept constantly grow- 

 ing and ought (and v^ill, if properly attended) to increase 

 one pound a day till killed, at ten or eleven months old, 

 when he will weigh three hundred pounds if the breed is 

 good. The doctrine that the breed is in the trough is not 

 wholly correct — good hogs must also be fed, but there is as 

 much (if not more) dilTerence in hogs as cattle as to taking 

 on fat. 1 have some so much inclined to fatten that it is 

 difficult to reduce them sufficiently for breeders if they were 

 placed even in common short pasture. Hogs to fatten best 

 should not know what liberty is, they should have a warm 

 dry bed, — their feed at regular hours and in sufficient 

 qaaniiiies. As soon as the meal is over they then lie down 

 and rest till the next feeding time comes round. Pushing 

 hogs, however only to those intended for early killing ; if 

 extraordinary weight is desired, pigs should not be confined 

 too closely or be too highly fed for the first year ; room and 

 moderate exercise is favorable to the growth of bone and 

 muscle. A pig that has been pampered for one year, will 

 if taken then fall far below one of the same weight that 

 has not been crowded if both are allowed the same diet 

 afterwards. 



I cannot omit to notice a fatal error among farmers in 

 hazarding all by new crosses. Many of the first breeds in 

 this and other sections of the country have been spoiled by 

 mixtures with the Berkshire, for while a cross with the 

 Berkshire and the Wood breed of hogs could not but im- 

 prove the stock, an equal improvement has not followed in 

 crossing the former with the improved kinds. When a 

 good breed has been obtained it should be kept till there is a 

 certainty of getting a better. Crosses often do not improve 

 stock, the experiment should be first-made with a few hogs. 

 There is another important fact to be attended to. It is 

 desirable to breed in and in for one or two litters, until the 

 breed becomes established. One cross may produce an im- 

 provement in the appearance of the pigs, but their progeny 

 may partake fully of the male or female, neither of which 

 is wanted. The great deterioration in hogs does not follow 

 so much from breeding in and in as from injury to the 

 male by excessive indulgence. The male should be kept 

 up and not allowed mure than one or two connections. If 



that such amounts of corn can be raised or purchased so 

 cheap. It costs 2,50 to §3 to hire land tilled in corn— the 

 crop averages .50 bushels ; thus making the corn in the field 

 six cents per bushel, exclusive of rent of ground, which to 

 a purchaser is very inconsiderable. 0«e young man with 

 two horses will tend easily forty acres, and raise two thou- 

 sand bushels by three and a half month's labor. 



Lafayette, Ind. H. L. Ellsworth. 



American Farmers. — Many thousand far- 

 mei-s in New England rear large families, pay 

 all their debts and taxes promptly, live indepen- 

 dently, well clothed and comfortably housed 

 and provided for on farms of fifty acres. The 

 idea is that these people labor severely. This 

 is a great mistake. They have much, because 

 they waste no time. With them there is " a 

 place for every thing, and everything in its 

 place." Their horses cattle, tools and imple- 

 ments, are attended to with clock-like regularity. 

 Nothing is put ofF till to-morrow that can be 

 done to-day. Economy is wealth, and system 

 affords ease. These men are seldom in a hurry, 

 except in harvest time. And in long winter 

 evenings or severe weather, which forbids em- 

 ployment out doors, one makes corn brooms, 

 another shoes, a third is a carpenter, cooper or 

 tailor; and one woman spins, another weaves, 

 and a third plaits "Leghorn bonnets." And the 

 families thus occupied are among the most 

 healthy and cheerful in the world. It is easy 

 with them to reduce their wishes to their means, 

 if convenient, or prudent, and to exrend" ThBif 

 means to their wishes. 



Improvement in Harness. — We saw, says 



the Maine Farmer, not lon'g since, in Alexan- 



famiers would be particuiar'on "thiT point "they will have ander's Messenger, a notice of a certain con 



better hogs and also find that the number of boar 



pigs 



will 



trivance or invention, patented by Thos. S. 

 Speakman, of Philadelphia, to be applied to 

 carts, drays, &c., for the very purpose above 

 named. In the usual mode of harnessing horses 



be increased^/i!y per cent. Such is the result of experiments 

 in Europe as most fully tested. 



STOCK RAISING AT THE WEST. . 



After a full consideration of the subject I am satisfied that into carts and drays, we have a chain passing 



stock raising at the west is much more profitable than grow- from one shaft over the saddle on the liorse's 

 ing small grain— indeed an examination, in the iVonh-West- ■ ,. . ., nthpv This hrinffs the weight of the 

 ern Stales, shows a vast dilVerence in the wealth of the ^^"^^^ ^° \^^ °^"^V , ^ "'^ tarings llieweigu ui lub 

 graziers over those who crop witii gram. The profits of shaft and part ol the load on the horse s back, 

 w heat appears well in expeciation on papers, but this pros- 

 pect is blasted by a severe winter, appearance of insects, 

 a want of harvesting, bad weather in harvesting, in thresh- 



and it falls dead and heavy every Lime the 

 wheels pass over obstacles, or over rough places 

 and inequalities in the road. 



To obviate this, and give the horse relief in 



ing. for there are few barns at the west, or transporting to 



market, and lastly, a fluctuation of the market itself. Some 



one of these is likely to happen, for very fortunate is that , . , nj o r "; j u i „a ., 



farmer who escapes them all. There is too another very this respect, Mr. b. fastens Under each shaft a 



important fact to be noticed. Constant cropping of corn half elliptic spring, the centre of which is con- 



and small grain carried from the field will of course dimin-. ^^ ^ ^^ jo^^ ends of the Staple, which 



i-sh gradually, at least, the fertility, and the farm IS at length "^^'^^ , , , , , , j • ^i u a a 



worn out. On the contrary, by feeding the crop on the pass freely through a hole bored in the shaft and 



land, the farm evenjyear growsbetter. I am making several ! connect with the chain that paSSes Over the back 

 experiments with stock, but shall not be able to complete I r .,,_ Ur„.«f. hv Ipltino- thp load romedown 

 them in time for your report tlvs year. 1 have now on my "^ '''^ hoise, by letting tne loau come u .wu 

 farm one hundred breeding sows, which are expected to gradually and gently at each . jolt, and nOt SUd- 



produce six hundred pigs in March and April. These I de 

 sign to fatten by January, 1849, spaying the old sows 

 and killing tliem at the same time as the pigs, reserving 

 one hundred young sows, (also a few extraordinary old 

 ones) to stock the farm for another year. This mode of 

 farming enables me to gather my rent from distant farms 

 with the least trouble and most profit, as I can notify the 

 tenant when the rent gatherers are coming, and so contin- 

 uing the collection of rent, leaving the farm nearest mar- 

 ket till the last. It may seem to eastern men incredible 



denly and violently, as in the common 



mode. 



An Excellent Plan for Preparing Glue.— To any 



quantity of glue use common whiskey instead of water. 

 Put both together in a bottle, cork it tight and set it by for 

 three or four days, when it will be fit for use without the 

 application of heat. Glue thus prepared will keep for 

 years, and it is at all times fit for use except in very cold 

 weather, when it should be set in warm water before using. 



