52 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



AlGl ST 23, 1838. 



From the Frankfort (Ky.) Tarmer. 



MANAGEMENT AND DISEASES OF HOGS. 



To Chii.to.v Ai.Li.v, President of the 



Kentucky State Agricultural Society. 



I have seen in a late number of the Franklin 

 Fanner, your circular address, calling tijion the 

 friends of improvement for essays upon a number 

 of important subjects relating to the agricultural 

 interests and pursuits of our state. Approving 

 heartily the noble objects of the State Society, I 

 read your address with great satisfaction ; and I can- 

 not but believe, that the action of the Society will 

 bring about the most gratifying results in improv- 

 ing the science of agriculture, and hence the con- 

 dition of the husbandmen ; for I cannot doubt, that 

 every one who desires improvement himself and 

 ■who would derive useful information from others, 

 "will hold himself bound to contribute something to 

 the general stock of knowledge. There are few 

 intelligent farmers who do not know something 

 unknown to others, and it is by an interchange of 

 sentiment and opinion as well as of experience 

 and practice, that the fanners of the country will 

 be able to see and reject the errors of their hus- 

 baildry and adopt those modes instead, which lead 

 to improvement and success. In this view, I ofler 

 an humble tribute, which at least has the merit of 

 a well meant design of benefitting others in some 

 respects. 



The commencement of our prosperity may be 

 dated from the period when our agriculturists 

 turned their attention to the raising of stock for 

 export ; and as the consumption and demand have 

 increased in a ratio witli the increase of population 

 and wahts of the people of the United States, the 

 business has become a source of wealth to Ken- 

 tucky. And no where has the improvement of 

 stock been so great and so general, nor more zeal 

 and perseverance manifested to procure the breeds 

 of horses, asses, cattle, sheep and hogs. In enu- 

 merating these descriptions of stock, the last is not 

 the least important in bringing wealth to the State, 

 and should be looked to with a fostering care and 

 attention. 



Under this belief, I humbly submit to the public 

 through you, the following observation on the man- 

 agement of hogs, with some remarks on some of 

 their diseases. 



In giving my views on these subjects, I deem it 

 important to state some of the various ways of rais- 

 ing, feeding and fattening hogs in different sec- 

 tions of the country, which, according to circum- 

 stances, soil and climate will differ ; and conclude 

 Tvith my views as to the best mode to be adopted 

 hy the farmers of Kentucky under her peculiar cir- 

 cumstances. In Europe and many parts of the 

 United States, hogs are indispensably kept in pens 

 or styes, and as the numbers raised are compara- 

 tively small, there is no groat expense attending 

 the manner of feeding them ; indeed, this is the 

 most economical, cheap and convenient method of 

 fattening that could be adopted in any country 

 where the number fed is small. In some of the 

 New England Stites large buildings have been 

 erected for raising and fattening hogs on an exten- 

 sive scale, fed almost exclusively on vegetables 

 produced on a few acres of land, which gives a 

 profit of 50 per cent, more than any other way in 

 which the products of the land could be disposed 

 of. On tliis extensive scale, the business is uncon- 

 nected with any other, having for its object, the 

 raising and fattening of hogs alone, for it requires 

 the most strict attention which daily habit and the 



most scrutinizing observation, in time reduced to a 

 perfect system, can give. It was ascertained to a 

 fraction, what each hog would eat at a meal, which 

 was meastired out to him three times a day, the 

 quantity according to age, allowing six of the same 

 age to occupy a sty, which was regularly littered 

 and cleaned out once a day. The amount of veg- 

 ' etables required per day, and' the necessity of tjie 

 I different varieties coming on in due season, would 

 require great attention, .^t the first view of the 

 subject, we would conclude that a fiiggery conduct- 

 ed in like manner in Kentucky, would be equally 

 profitable. But not so — there would be this differ- 

 ence : — The price of pork and lard in Boston is 

 more than HO per cent, higher than in Louisville : 

 and the profit accruing from the superabundance 

 of manure, which is worth from two to three dollars 

 a load in the New England States, will amount to 

 a lar^e sum, which with us would be excluded 

 from the estimate, as it will bring nothing here on 

 sale, though useful to the land on which the hogs 

 are fattened. In 200 hogs annually sold, these 

 causes would produce a difference o^erhaps three 

 thousand dollars in favor of the New England 

 piggery. 

 Say 200 hogs at 200 lbs. each, 40,000 lbs. 



pork at 10 cents in Boston, $4,000 



For their manure, 1,000 



40,000 lbs. pork at Louisville at 5 cents. 



$5,000 

 2,000 



Leaving a difference in favor of the New 



England piggery, $3,000 



In no way could an extensive piggery be made 

 profitable to us but by being connected with a dis- 

 tillery. The expenses would then be much les- 

 sened ; for it would require but a few vegetables or 

 a little meal added to the slop of the distillery to 

 make the swill highly nutritive. They might be 

 put to graze in the summer and swill given them 

 occasionally, and again put in the fall. i 



The manner of feeding and fattening hogs now 

 generally adopted in this State, seems to me to be 

 well calculated for our method of cultivation. — 

 Taking into consideration the products and the 

 great number of hogs fatted for other markets, to- 

 gether with the great number of beef cattle annu- 

 ally grazed and fed, the system is complete. In 

 winter, they are amply supplied with food from 

 the refused corn and pudding of the cattle — two 

 or three hogs to each head of cattle finding thus 

 abundant Sustenance. In the spring, when the 

 cattle alt : longer fed, the hogs are put on the 

 exuberant clover field, which was sown for the 

 double purpose of enriching the land and supply- 

 ing rich food for their cattle and hogs. In due 

 time, when the clover becomes hard, and unfit for 

 the hogs, it is given up to the earth, and they are 

 removed to the rye fields there to fatten and com- 

 plete another system of manuring, so admirably 

 adapted to our lands and our wants. So soon as 

 the rye field is consumed, the corn field is ready 

 to receive them,* and in due time they are ready 



• We presume our writer does not intend to be im- 

 derstood that the hogs arc turned into the corn field ; 

 for though this practice may be adopted by some, the 

 more general im.stoui is to put them in a large pen adjoin- 

 ing, into which the corn is thrown. If the corn is not 

 sufficiently ripe when the rye is consumed, old corn is 

 fed to the hogs ; and indeed, the feeders generally, we 

 believe, prefer beginning to feed them on old corn after 

 they arc put up— nitroducing the new rather cautiously 

 and gradually.— t'd. Franklin Farmer. 



for market, leaving the fields and pastures richer 

 than tliey were. 



Altlftnigh this arrangement is good for feeding 

 and fattening, yet tliere are other important mat- 

 ters in relation to their raising and health, which 

 in no wise should be neglected. Experience has 

 taught me, tliat no matter how many pigs a sow 

 has over six, they should be reduced to that num- 

 ber always retaining the large and healthy ones ; 

 for 1 can and will demonstrate tliat six pigs will 

 make more pork at 12 or 18 months old, than 

 eight would of the same litter — and eight will 

 make more than ten. Give to the six the food 

 which you would give the eight or ten, and you will 

 find in the result, the truth of my statemeat proven. 

 It is essential that pigs be kept fat awhile sucking, 

 and to have them so, six is a better number than 

 eight or ten. At weaning time or when sixty days 

 old, the time when the sows decline in milk, par- 

 ticular attention should be paid to the pigs, having 

 them regularly fed either with corn or swill, for at 

 this juncture, they are unaccustomed to root for 

 themselves and will rapidly lose tlieir flesh and tlteir 

 health, and their growth will be retarded, if left to 

 shifi; for themselves. If they are kept fat during 

 tlie fall, when provisions are plenty and cheap, they 

 will keep thrifty and well through the winter, on 

 very moderate feeding ; but I prefer liberal feeding 

 throughout. The food is by no means thrown away 

 as you will have more pork and not any more corn 

 consimied in the end. 



Hogs should be kept free from diseases ; partic- 

 ularly the disease of worms, which is very perni- 

 cious and a constant attendant on poor hogs. Lib- 

 eral feeding at all times, is the best preventive ; 

 but ichen it is not in the crib, brimstone, spirits of 

 turpentine, or tar mixed with their food will reme- 

 dy the evil. All hogs are more or less subject to 

 worms ; but some are so overcharged, that their 

 intestines are literally filled with them, and unless 

 they are extirpated, it is throwing away corn to 

 feed them, for in this condition it is almost impos- 

 sible to fatten them ; they will consume twice as 

 much, as a hog will not troubled with them, as the 

 nutritious juices are taken up by the worms, and 

 their fetid excrement is all that is left as a raiser- 

 able substitute for sustenance. 



The most fatal disease of hogs is the swelled 

 throat or quinsy. This too, is easily prevented. 

 I have long been of the opinion that it proceeds 

 from indigestion, caused by feeding on hard grasses 

 or clover in their declining state ; and my suc- 

 cessful practice as a preventive for the last eight 

 years is a strong confirmation. Yet it matters not 

 concerning the cause, provided there is a remedy. 

 The disease in the last stage, is highly inflamma- 

 tory, but at no time infectious. It is an accumula- 

 tion of matter formed between the glands of the 

 jowl, which continues to inflame till tlie hog dies 

 of suffocation. The disease may be cured before 

 and after the matter begins to form ; but as it may 

 be more satisfactory to state my experience and 

 knowledge on the subject, I will give an instance 

 as coining under my observation, and conclude 

 with ray practice as a cure and preventive. In 1830, 

 I discovered the disease among my hogs by the 

 death of one of my fattest. As soon as possible, I 

 had them removed from the clover field, and put in 

 a spacious pen, where they were fed with as much 

 corn as they would eat after it was glazed with tar 

 and as much ashes put on as would adhere to the 

 grains. They still continued to die till I lost to 



