VOL. XV, KO. 14, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



107 



CtLKANINftS IN HUSBANDRY, USEFUIi AUTS. 



Fattening Swine, — " A farmer of our acquaint- 

 ance, who is celebrated for the weight of his hogs 

 and the excellence of his pork, is in the habit of 

 niixiug oats with his com before grinding in the 

 preparation of about one fourth, and thinks that 

 if he had not the oats of his own, he should be a 

 gainer in exchanging corn, bushel for bushel, for 

 oats, rather than not have them to mix with his 

 swine feed. He thinks they eat the mixture bet- 

 ter than clear corn meal, are less liable to a surfeit, 

 and of course will fatten much faster with the oats 

 than without them. » # * 



" The fattening of hogs on apples may he con- 

 sidered as one of the successful innovations of 

 the age, it being certaiti that this fruit possesses a 

 -value for that purjiose which but a few years since 

 was wholly unknown. The success of this ex- 

 periment lias given a new value to orchards, and 

 will probably check their distruction, which in 

 some sections of ilie country had already com- 

 menced to a considerable extent. The various 

 reports from gentlemen of intelligence of the 

 practical results of apple feeding are most gratify- 

 ing, and we have no doubt the system will be 

 fully approved wherever fairly tested. Where 

 convenient let the hogs lie in the orchard from 

 the time the fruit begins to fall, till it is time to 

 gather apples for winter or cider, and they will in 

 most cases be found respectable pork. When it 

 is necessary to put them in the pen, boiled apples, 

 mixed with a small quantity of corn, oats, peas or 

 buck wheat meal, will fill them up rapidly, make 

 them lard well, and fill the farmers' barrels with 

 sweet pork, of the first quality. If any, howevei', 

 are doubtful, they can easily finish off their apple 

 fed pork, as is generally done with potato fed, 

 with corn or peas, and with similar results." — 

 " G." in Genessee Farmer. 



Seed Wheat. — To obtain good seed wheat, take 

 the bundles and shake or slightly beat them over 

 a box, and the earliest and [ilumpest kernels will 

 fall out, which will be the best for seed. This 

 method will tend to imjirove wheat, and is attend- 

 ed %ith very little trouble. — Lynn Star. 



Molasses made from Sweet Apples. — The Rev. 

 Jarcd Elliot, in his "Essays on Field Husbandry," 

 observed that "A barrel of cider of Sweet Ap- 

 l)lcs, when made into molasses will be worth three 

 pounds, abating five shillings for the making, 

 when cider made of common apples will he 

 worth but twenty shillings, exclusive of the bar- 

 rel." 



Late digging of Potatoes. — A writer in the 

 Maine Farmer of the 30th ult. with the signature 

 "Enquirer," is of opinion that the tubers or roots 

 of potatoes continue to grow after the tops are 

 killed by frost ; and wishes experiments may be 

 made to ascertain the correctness of his belief. 



Tempering Tools. — The following mode of tem- 

 pering Edge Tools is recommended in a French 

 publication. Plunge the tool to be tempered in 

 boiling fat for two hours ; then take it out and let 

 it cool gradually. 



Improvement in Machinery. — Such are now the 

 improvements made in propelling the wheels of 

 steamboats with fixed paddles, by Mr E. Gallovvay, 

 that the shocks on their entering the water are 

 now entirely done away, and no back water is 

 lifted, and thus the swell occasioned thereby is 



removed, and they likewise present no mark for 

 the waves of the ocean to strike against. Mr Ja- 

 cob Perkins has likewise invented a new paddle 

 wheel possessing similar valuable properties. — 

 He also greatly impioved the tubular high pres- 

 sure steam engines, and rendered them perfectly 

 safe, and also his steam generators, both for steam 

 enn-ines, and his powerful steam gun ; so that by 

 these improvements, togetlier with the condenser, 

 by which the water of the sea, rivers, &c. is 

 made to perform the important office of conden- 

 sation without carrying other water for that pur- 

 pose, we may now confidently expect to see a 

 steamboat communication realized with the Unit- 

 ed States of America, if not even to more distant 

 parts of the globe. It is no doubt true, and we 

 regret that it is so, that these most inqiortant 

 changes will perhaps, occasion some slight tem- 

 porary inconvenience to persons used to the i)re- 

 sent old fashioned system, and who either will not 

 or perhaps caimot accommodate themselves to the 

 new ones; but these evils are common to iimova- 

 tions, and must be submitted to, as they willsnrelv 

 be more than compensated by the blessings whicli 

 science inevitably brings in its train. And the 

 dissemination of sound jiractical knowledge so 

 widely as it is now progressing, will most certain- 

 ly enable mankind to change their employments, 

 with much greater ease than formeily. — London 

 Literary Gazette. 



Jack Frost. — On Ihursday, the 28th of Sep- 

 tember, a few flakes of snow fell. The night fol- 

 lowing was clear and cold. The morning of the 

 29th opened upon us with severe frost and dense 

 fog ; the leaves of vegetables were frozen stitT, 

 and vines killed in the low grounds. Soon as the 

 sun came out, tlie trees cast oft' drops of water in 

 great profusion, and from the elms in particular, 

 fell large flakes of ice, with drops of water ; ice 

 was not noticed to fall from other trees. Is the 

 capacity of the Elm greater than other trees to 

 produce congelation? The Chinese Mulberry 

 leaves were frozen stiff" without killing them, ex- 

 ce[)t the tops of some, which were squeezed by 

 Jack Frost ; but on the whole are more benefitted 

 than injured, by facilitating the formation of wood. 

 The last three weeks had been propitious, mild 

 and warm — precisely such as wanted for the 

 ripening of the corn crops. A gentleman from 

 an adjoining town stated, that in consequence of 

 the favorable weather of the last three weeks, the 

 inhabitants of that town would be benefitted in 

 the two crops of Indian and broom corn at a rate 

 of SlOOO per day at least, and probably more. — 

 Northampton Courier. 



We do not entirely despair of having occasion- 

 ally a " Johnny Cake," after the old corn is all 

 consumed. A gentleman from Westmoreland in- 

 forms us that he thinks he can safely calculate on 

 fortyfive bushels to the acre from his corn fields, 

 but considers it an exception of that of most of his 

 neighboring farmers. Wuile his fields remain 

 uninjured from the frosts, others near are nearly 

 destroyed. His lies U|ion a very elevated part of 

 the town. — Silk Groioer. 



Three thousand one hundred and eleven squir- 

 rels of all kinds, grey, black, red and striped, were 

 brought in by the two sides at a great squirrel 

 hunt in Swanton, (Vt.) a few days since. 



Foot Rot in Sheep. — Mr J. M. Adams of Wal- 

 pole, has communicated to us the following receipt 

 for curing the above disease, which, he says, he 

 has proved in many instances, to eflect a perma- 

 nent cure, and has never known it to fail when 

 properly appled. It consists of an ointment com- 

 posed of equal parts of sulpher, tar and tallow, 

 mixed together and applied to the parts diseased 

 after pairing oft' the loose part of the hoof. This 

 fact is worth being known by our Sheep-growers, 

 as we are told, that there is danger of the disease 

 being communicated to whole flocks, if not pre- 

 vented by some course of metlical aid Silk 



Grower. 



A few days since, while the workmen were en 

 gaged in removiug a quantity of mini, from a piece 

 of low lanil, on tlie farm of William Carr, Esq. 

 in Barringlon, they found five teeth of unusual 

 size. These teeth appear perfectly sound ; four 

 of them are molar teeth and one incisor ; they 

 are about three inches in length, nearly straight, 

 without prongs; and api)ear perfectly sound and 

 solid. They are about an inch square, the lateral 

 parts are somewhat ridged, while the indentations 

 of the upper surface, are very similar to that of an 

 ox, hut in no other respect do they resemble the 

 teeth of that animal. They appear to have been 

 inserted in the alviola processes, within 3-4ths of 

 an inch of the upper surface. They are evidently 

 the teeth of some mammoth belonging to a species 

 of granivorous animal which is now extinct. We 

 hope there will be a further discovery of the re- 

 Uiains of this monster of antiquity. These teeth 

 are well worthy the ins|ioction of the naturalist 

 and the curious. — Warren, R. I. Star. 



Great Yield. — We need not fear starvation this 

 season, if the whole of the great west yields such 

 crops as the following. Fifteen acres, on the 

 Nottawaseppi Prairie, belonging to the Hon . B. 

 Sherman, have yielded this year six hundred , and . 

 seventyfve bushels of wheal. The Constf aitine' 

 Republican says, that it will command nea x\y, if 

 not quite as great price in Michigan, as in a ny part 

 of New York, such is the immense influ?^ of em- 

 ieration..^^/it(/. 



Down Easters Outdone. — James H. Kolyer, of 

 Newtown, has a bunch of onions containing one 

 hundred, from seed sown this year, weighing 120' 

 pounds. Also thirty bushels averaging one pound 

 each, the whole raised on the farm of Benjamin 

 Denton, Esq. of the former place. — Long Island 

 Star. 



Mammoth Corn. — We measured tlie other day, 

 a stalk of corn, (of the gourd seed species, we 

 believe,) from the garden of Mr Hibbiiis of this 

 town, and found it to be ten feet and nine inches, 

 to the top of the largest ear, and about 14 1-2 feet 

 to the top of the stalk. — JVorthampton Rep. 



Figs of delicious quality have been raised in the 

 garden of Jlr Averili, of Hartford, Conn. After 

 ten years experiment, Mr Averili has succeeded 

 inbiingingthis excellent fruit to perfection. — Bos- 

 ton Courier. 



A young man in Philadelphia, returning home 

 at night from a giog shop, fell into a bed of un. 

 slacked lime, upon which water had previously 

 been poured, and was burned to death. 



