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THE GENTESEE FARMEK, 



Not discouraged, however, in the fall of 1857 I 

 procured from Pennsylvania two pairs of Chester 

 County Wliites. From my trial with them, I am 

 more than sati.slied. To my mind, they are not 

 only perfect models, but they possess that rapidity 

 of growth and vigor of constitution so essential to 

 the successful hog-grower. They fatten readily 

 while quite young, and with me they vv'ill weigh as 

 much again at the same age and on the same feed 

 as any other breed. They will weigh, at eighteen 

 months, with proper care, from 500 to GOO lbs. nett. 

 I have before me the weight of three hogs of this 

 breed, slaughtered on the 25th of December, 1857, 

 as follows: No. 1, sixteen months and nine days 

 old, 696i lbs. nett; No. 2, sixteen months and 

 .seven days, 648 lbs. ; No. 3, seventeen months and 

 one day, 633 lbs. Aggregate, 1,977^ lbs. 



Though this is a large breed of hogs, they are 

 very far from being coarse. A coarse hog is to me 

 like any other coarse animal, unfit to breed from. 

 They are comparatively a fine, short-boned hog, 

 very long in the body, broad on the back.^ with 

 very short legs, head, and neck. "With me they 

 have been the admiration of all who have seen 

 them. 



"When we consider that two-thh"ds of all the meat 

 consumed in the United States is pork, acd that the 

 nicest care and judgment ara necessary to make 

 pork-raising a profitable business, we see the im- 

 portance of eecruring the best breed of hogs ; and I 

 believe that it is the duty of those farmers who 

 have ti-ied the diflferent breeds, to give their expe- 

 rience, unbiased by a disposition to make the most 

 of a bad bargain. Then the careful reader will 

 soon be able to select such a breed as will suit him. 

 This question is much easier to settle than the horse 

 and cattle question. In them there are so many 

 ('qualities needed and represented, that often the 

 best informed are at a loss which breed to select. 

 Unlike them, the hog has but one purpose to fulfill, 

 and th*it is to make the most meat out of the least 

 feed. I have found the difference in feeding some 

 breeds of hogs as high as 800 per cent. ; and allow- 

 ing for the poorest hogs as much as the most invet- 

 erate old fogy could claim, there is yet a difference 

 too intolerable to be borne by any fanner — enough 

 to break any manufacturing company in six months. 



I am fully aware that others have raised fine 

 Suffolks ; but T believe that if the whole truth was 

 known, three-fourths of them either died or turned 

 out worthless comparatively. All of my corres- 

 pondents who have tried Suffolks are dissatisfied 

 with them. I have never been able to devise any 

 course that would prevent tl>e mange on them, 

 while not one of my Chesters has been sick or had 

 a crack on them. The reason I have said so much 

 about the Suffolks is be<;ause they are the most 

 [)opular of the small breeds and are the ones I have 

 tried. From what I had seen, in the west, of the 

 large breeds, suoli as the "Woburn and Irish Grazier, 

 I was prejudiced against them, being coarse, long- 

 legged, coarse-haired, and heavy feeders; conse- 

 quently I tried first the small breed, and with me 

 they have proved sjnull Ireed indeed. 



As you remark, the cheapness of good pigs, and 

 the ease with which they are propagated, renders 

 the farmer inexcusable who neglects to improve his 



hogs. n. L. BROWN. 



FayetU. Jlovcard Co., Mo., 1S69, 



BEABING CALVES. 



My method is this : Take them from the cow at 

 two days old, and learn them to drink new milk. 

 TVhen they have learned well, mix a little warmefl 

 skimmed milk with the new, adding more and 

 more until they will drink all skimmed, and that 

 without warming. Then I add a little sour milk, 

 and gradually increase the quantity until they will 

 ttike all sour. This they will generally do by the 

 time they are two or three weeks old. 



I have temporary stalls in the calf-pasture, and a 

 separate dish for each calf; so the hoggish glutton 

 can not rob his more considerate and sensible 

 neighbor, A little trouble, with gentle treatment, 

 will learn each calf to know his stall as well as the 

 " ox." There is another advantage in tying them 

 up ; it makes them familiar with confinement in th9 

 best possible manner. I think the stalls a decided 

 improvement upon the long trough and club sys- 

 tem, to admonish tile more greedy that they have 

 "had their share." 



Many calves are over fed for the few first weeks, 

 much to their detriment, in my opinion. I think 

 one-third or one-half of the milk of an ordinary 

 cow is ample feed for the first four weeks. The 

 quantity should then be increased, until they take 

 the whole of one cow's milk ; and if you add more 

 in the latter part of summer, all the better, 



A calf fed with sour milk until fall, will show a 

 decided improvement over the half-fed '^runt" that 

 was "weaned" at six weeks or two months old ; 

 and with equal good keep through the winter, the 

 well-fed one will buy a baker's dozen of tlie lean 

 ones, even if you succeed in getting them through 

 the winter. 



I consider uniformity in the quantity given, and 

 punctuality in the time of feeding, of great impor- 

 tance in the successful rearing of calves. 



I have tried letting a calf "run with a cow;" 

 but that is poor policy, I think : for if you do not 

 keep up high feed through the winter, you have a 

 miserable-looking animal in the spring ; and if you 

 do, you have an overgrown beast of but little prac- 

 tical utility, 



I have been awarded the first premium on native 

 heifer calves twice, by the Jotferson County Agri- 

 cultural Society," that were fed entirely on sour 

 milk ; and one year there was a very large compe- 

 tition. If any one can raise a better calf than I 

 can, with less expense, let him tell how he does it. 



Limerick, Jeff. Co., IT. Y. E. MAYNAKD. 



UNDERDRAINING AND MAITORING AT THE WEST. 



In a conversation at Mendota, the editor of the 

 Genesee Farmer asks: "Don't you think it would 

 pay better to cultivate less land and more thorough- 

 ly, and even to underdrain and manure a little?" 



Yes ; we think it would. Our soil needs more 

 thorough cultivation than it receives. Almost 

 nothing has been done in the way of underdraining, 

 which is vastly more necessary than manuring. To 

 the western farmer, no .subject is of more vital im- 

 portance than underdraining. It will aid him in 

 gettmg in crops early in spring, increase their quan- 

 tity and worth, and in many instances double the 

 actual tillable value of the land. Through tlie past 

 season, almost every wheat and corn field has ha<J 

 some portion of wet land — too wet for the growth 



