AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 165 



tention, and I never saw such animals before. This method, 

 as it is attended with little trouble, and leaves so small a 

 quantity of stock on hand to winter over, appears to me to 

 be more economical, in every point of view, than any other 

 which is practised."^ In the county of Kensellaer, New 

 York, some farmers assert that ' March pigs, killed abv>ut 

 Christmas, are the most profitable for pork.' Others say, 

 ' pigs ought never to come until June ; for the cost of earlier 

 pigs exceeds the profit.' And, farther, we learn that ' the me- 

 thods proposed for fattening hogs by the different farmers in 

 that county are very various. General H. Moffit, H. Piatt, Esq., 

 colonel Worthington, Messrs. J. Phillips, A. Bush, and some 

 others, recommend keeping hogs in pastures, with some slops 

 from the dairy, &c., till near the last of August; some say 

 a little later. All agree that near this time they manifest 

 a disrelish for grass. Small patches of peas, or even of 

 corn, will then be convenient to turn them into for a few 

 weeks. About the first of September begin with boiled po- 

 tatoes and pumpkins, mashed together, with a little Indian 

 meal, ground oats and peas, or other grain, stirred into the 

 mixture after it cools. From two to four weeks before kill- 

 ing time, the food should be dry Indian corn, and clean cold 

 water. Mr. Yonghans fattens his hogs in a large yard or 

 field, with a shelter in it to which they may retire to sleep. 

 But elder Turner says, hogs should never know what liberty 

 is, but should be kept close all their lives, and as inactive 

 as possible ; that with this method double the quantity of 

 pork can be produced with the same expense of feed.'t 



The practice in Scotland is to rear swine chiefly on raw 

 potatoes, and to fatten them on these roots boiled or prepar- 

 ed by steam, with a mixture of oats, barley, or bean and 

 pea-meal. Their troughs should be often replenished with 

 a small quantity of food at a time, and kept always clean, 

 and seasoned occasionally with salt.t The Farmer's Maga- 

 zine says, ' The outside leaves of cabbages, salted and let 

 stand a month, and then mixed with buttermilk, will fat a 

 hog in three weeks.' Mr. Marshall says, (Midland Counties, 

 V. p. 453,) ' Young pigs require ivarm meat to make them 

 groio. Corn and cold water will make them healthy ; but 

 warm beverage is considered as requisite to a quick growth.' 



* Memoirs of the New York Board of Agriculture, vol. i. p. 332. 

 t Memoirs of the New York Board of Agriculture, vol. ii. pp. 39, 40. 

 :j: Report of Agriculture in Scotland. 



