AGRICULTURE. 



sloping to carry off all moisture. The 

 different sorts of swine should be kept 

 separate in them, and many should never 

 be put together, and particularly if they 

 be of different sizes. Too much attention 

 cannot easily be paid to the rearing of 

 these animals. The large Chinese breed 

 is generally and justly preferred. When 

 swine are reared on a comprehensive plan, 

 crops must be sown purposely for their 

 support, and the dairy cannot be consider- 

 ed as that resource which it is naturally 

 regarded in small farms. From October 

 till May, potatoes, carrots, cabbages, and 

 the Swedish turnip, which is a most use- 

 ful vegetable for this particular purpose, 

 must be provided for the swine, and stores 

 from October till the end of May, when 

 they may be received into lucerne, chico- 

 ry, or clover, on which they will be main- 

 tained till the clearing of the stubble; and 

 thus, with the offal of the barn and the 

 corn-fields, and the plants and roots just 

 mentioned, the whole year will be amply 

 provided for. In summer, meal must be 

 mixed with water for the sows as they 

 pig, and in winter boiled roots, peas, and 

 oats, should be given to the young ones. 

 Dairy wash is a capital addition to this 

 mixture. The sows should be permitted 

 to pig but twice a year, in April and Au- 

 gust. When great with pig, they must 

 be carefully secluded from the boars, and 

 shut up about a fortnight beforehand in 

 the stye ; and while pigging, it is of ex- 

 treme consequence that no one approach- 

 es them, or is even seen looking at them, 

 as in this case they will often devour their 

 farrow. After a week from this period, 

 they should for a few hours in the day 

 have the freedom of the yard, which will 

 be a great relief from total confinement. 

 Winter pigs, if not kept with great atten- 

 tion, are found less profitable than others. 

 Milk and whey may so usefully be applied 

 to them, that perhaps no other mode of 

 their application is equally advantageous; 

 and the best process for weaning them is 

 by giving these articles to them mixed up 

 with pea-soup, though the latter alone 

 will answer well. When three or four 

 months old, nothing is better for them 

 than clover : turnips alone will not be 

 proper, but corn should be added to them. 

 Carrots and potatoes will keep them well 

 till their full growth. Malt grains, if easi- 

 ly and cheaply to be procured, are high- 

 ly to be recommended. 



With a view to fattening hogs, the corn 

 employed should be ground into meal, 

 and in the proportion of five bushels to 

 100 gallons of water should be mixed in 



large cisterns: the mixture should for 

 three weeks be well stirred every day, 

 and at the end of that period will have 

 fermented and become acid, before which 

 it should not be given. A succession of 

 vessels should be filled with this ferment- 

 ed food, that some may be always ready ; 

 and, before it is applied, it should be al- 

 ways stirred. Peas-soup is perhaps equal- 

 ly wholesome food with the above, and 

 especially if made with warm milk. The 

 preparation, however, is more expensive. 

 Fatting hogs should be constantly well 

 littered, and be kept perfectly clean. 



Poultry. 



W r ith respect to poultry, constituting as 

 they generally do part of the stock, how- 

 ever small, upon farms, a few observations 

 on them may not be thought superfluous. 

 If kept merely for domestic supply, parti- 

 cular attention is needless. When rear- 

 ed with a view to profit, however, and on 

 a somewhat large scale, they will repay, 

 as they indeed require, considerable at- 

 tention. A house should be erected for 

 them containing divisions appropriately 

 for roosting, sitting, fatting, and food. 

 The building should be constructed near 

 the farm-yard, having clear water conti- 

 guous to it. Warmth and smoke are 

 great cherishers of poultry. All, of every 

 species, must have access to gravel and 

 grass. Their cheapest food consists of 

 boiled potatoes, on which it appears that 

 they can be supported and fattened with- 

 out the aid of any corn. Where numbers 

 of them are kept upon a farm, if permitted 

 to go at large, they will often do consi- 

 derable injury both in the fields and barn- 

 yard; besides which they will be extreme- 

 ly exposed to the attacks of vermin, and 

 will lose a considerable number of their 

 eggs. A full-grown hen continues in her 

 prime for three years, and may be sup- 

 posed in that time to lay 200 eggs, which 

 number, however, by warmth and nour- 

 ishment, might be greatly exceeded. 



The quality and size of the Norfolk 

 turkeys are superior to those of any other 

 part of the kingdom. They are fed almost 

 entirely with buck-wheat, which, perhaps, 

 may account for their excellence, and are 

 bred by almost every little farmer in the 

 county. When young, they demand per- 

 petual attention, and must be fed with 

 alum curds, and chopped onions, and the 

 expense attending their management and 

 food can be compensated only where 

 broods are tolerably successful, and the 

 prices high. 



