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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



FATTEN HOaS EAELY. 



We have used this caption, or its equivalent, on 

 former occasions. It has been brought to mind by 

 reading an article from a correspondent of the 

 Ohio Farmer. He first "hogged down" (in west- 

 ern parlance) forty acres of corn, between the 10th 

 of September and the 23d of October. By the 

 hogs being weighed when they were turned in and 

 when they were taken out, it was found that tliey 

 paid forty cents a bushel for the corn, estimating 

 the pork at four cents per lb., and corn at forty 

 bushels per acre. 



His next course was to take one hundred hogs, 

 averaging 200 lbs. each, which were placed in nine 

 covered pens and fed all they could eat of corn 

 and cobs grouml together, steamed, and given in 

 allowances five times a ihiy. In a week they were 

 again weighed, when, reckoning 70 lbs. of corn and 

 cob as equal to a bushel of corn, and the pork as 

 before, the hogs paid SO cents a bushel for tiie (Joru. 

 The weather was warm for tlie season. 



The same experiment was tried again the first week 

 in November, when the corn brought 02 cents, the 

 weather being colder. The third week in November 

 the corn brouglit only 40 cents, and the fourth 

 week the corn brought but 26 cents, the weather 

 continuiuir to grow colder. Another lot of hogs 

 was fed through December, which gave only 20 

 cents a bushel for the corn. A part of the time 

 the temperature was at zero, and then tlie hogs 

 only gained enough to pay Jiw cents a bushel for 

 the corn, and afterward, when the mercury went 

 down to ten degrees below zero, the hogs ou\ j held 

 their own. 



Tlie inference from these trials is, that in general 

 it is not profitable to feed corn to hogs after the 

 middle of November. The difi'erence in gain is 

 certainly surprising, and whetlier caused altogether 

 by tlie dlfiereuce in temperature or not, no person 

 of observation can doubt that hogs gain much more 

 in proportion to the food consumetl, in mild than 

 in cold weather. It seems that the hogs gained 

 much less by helping themselves to corn in the 

 field than when the corn was ground and cooked 

 •and fed to the animals in pens, under equal advan- 

 tages of weather. — Boston Cultivator. 



SETTING FENCE POSTS. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — It has been asserted by 

 correspondents of the Farmer, and others, tliat 

 wooden posts will last longer with the toj], than 

 with the butt, end in the ground. I have often 

 heard a similar opinion exi)re§sed in regard to fenc- 

 ing stakes. Now if this is so, there is undoubtedly 

 a cause for it. "What is tliat cause? 



In connection with this subject, the following 

 ideas have been suggested, which, if erroneous, can 

 be refuted ; if correct, can do no harm. 



Premised — that moisture continues to follow, in 

 a certain degree, the same course through the pores 

 of wood after death as when alive. 



Those who assume to' know, inform us the sap 

 of a living tree passes from the roots upward thro' 

 the wood of the trunk to the leaves, there to un- 

 dergo certain chemical changes, and then fiows 

 downward principally between the bark and wood 

 to the roots again — thus forming a current of sap 

 or moisture, whose course is always upward through 



the pores of the wood, and downward between the 

 bark and wood. 



Therefore, if wood after death be placed in its 

 original position — the butt end in the ground — this 

 upward movement of moisture through xhe pores 

 of the wood may still continue, although to a small 

 extent, yet still enough to keep the lower end of 

 the wood partly saturated with water — thus facili- 

 tating its decay. 



Again : if the wood be inverted, whatever influ- 

 ence is exerted in the former case to cause the 

 moisture to rise or tlow upward, the same influence 

 will be exerted in the same degree to oppose its 

 entrance into the pores of the wood. 



If, as has been asserted, the decay of wood is 

 prevented to a certain extent by placing in an op- 

 posite position from that while alive, it deserves to 

 be generally known. 



It is a subject of much importance, and all facts 

 tending to prove, or disprove, should be elicited. 



Belfast, 3Ie., Sept. 7, IsGO. G. E. BRACKETT. 



WEIGHT OF HAY FOE SHEEP. 



The question is often asked, — How much liay do 

 sheep or cattle require per day? In reference to 

 sheep of a given size, this question is well ans- 

 wered in a letter of the noted sheep-breeder, Alex. 

 Speck Von Sternbukg, of LutzsclK'na, Saxony, to 

 Hon. Jos. A. WiuGHT, American Muiisterat Eoiin. 

 He says: 



" One-thirtieth jxirt of the tceight of the live 

 animal in good hay is considered necessary per day 

 for its sustenance. According to the quality of 

 tlie fodder, and its abundance or scarcity, this may 

 be increased to one-twentieth jiart; butkss tlian one- 

 thirtieth part ought not to be given. Takhig good 

 meadow liay as the fodder standard, a r.am should 

 receive about 3i^ lbs. per day, an ewe about 2J lljs. 

 per day, yearlings, etc., in that jiroportion — taking 

 the average of a full-grown ram at 110 lbs., of an 

 ewe at 82 lbs., tlie weight of each varying, accord- 

 ing to age, size and condition, between 10.5 and 125 

 lbs. as regards the full-grown rams, and from 70 to 

 85 lbs. as regards the ewes. The weight of a 

 wether varies between 80 lbs. in lean condition 

 and 110 and 115 lbs. if strong and fat for tlie 

 butcher. One lb. of good meadow hay is consid- 

 ered equivalent to one and two-thirds lbs. of oat,. 

 pea, wlieat, or barley straw, four lbs. of turnips, 

 or two lbs. of grains in the wet state, as daily 

 delivered from the brcAvery in the winter. When 

 the time for stabling for winter arrives, the slieep- 

 master has his supplies of straw, hay and turnips, 

 alloted to hhn on t])e basis of the above calcula- 

 tion, and he is bound to make them serve out the 

 proper time, under feeding being as much guarded 

 against as over feeding and waste. — Boston Ctil- 

 ivator. 



Rats. — Noticing a communication in your paper 

 for September, entitled, '• To keep rats from grain 

 stacks," I will say, some four or five years since, 

 my cellar became musty, to overcome which my 

 wife sprinkled a solution of copperas (pretty strong) 

 over the bottom. Since that time we have seen no 

 sign of rats about the house, notwithstanding thei-e 

 has been plenty of them about the barn and other 

 buildings on the premises. — D., Gates, N. Y. 



