Sf^Si^^^l) ^^^HJ^MJ, 



■^ 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AGBicuLTunAL Warehouse.) 



VOL. XVII.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 3, 1839. 



[NO. 26. 



AGRICULTURAL 



MR TNGERSOLL'S PIGGERY. 



V ... 



■',' "Honor and shame from no condition rjse, 

 Act well your part, there all the honor lies " 



.[We have the satisfuction to publish the follow- 

 ng account of the most perfect system of breeding 

 wine, that has fallen under our observation. We 

 lavc visited the establishment which it describes, 

 ind heard with pleasure the explanations of its in- 

 ellio-ent owner, u^on the different parts of his plan. 

 \nd from our desire to profit by his experience, 

 ve subsequently requested him to give us a written 

 lescription of his Piggery, and the management 

 hereof, which he promptly furnished, in a letter 

 hat invited us to pursue our inquiries, and these 

 irocured for us the more ample details contained 

 n his second letter. It was our wish to publish 

 .hese communications so»n after they were receiv- 

 id, but we could not obtain his express permission 

 ,0 make that use of them ; therefore, we have 

 vithheld his letters from the press until the present 

 noin.-nt, when we arc assured tliat the cause of his 

 ■eluctance has ceased to exist ; and that his plan 

 nay now be made public, without any prejudice 

 his intere.sts, or violation of his v/ishes. This 

 ivstem challenges our admiration, and we cheer- 

 ully vender it to his head and heart. How few of 

 IS take equal care of superior animals ! And there 

 ire not many who carry equal method into their 

 nost important avocations — errors, which may justly 

 )e ascribed to defective education. It is easy_ to 

 )erceive in every part of Mr Ingcrsoll's proceeding, 

 .hat confidence whicit merchants feel in the em- 

 )loyu;ent of capital at some risk-, and heavy char- 

 ges, tor the production of a probable and fair, al- 

 .liough remote profit, through a definite channel. 

 iVitii such hopes and calcu>?ions, education had 

 Inade him familiar, whilst it gave him habits of 

 i:ritical investigation that must ever secure to their 

 bossessor eventual success in any occupation to 

 Lhich he may devote himself. As a farmer, we 

 laerccive that he has derived a handsome livelihood 

 ironi the cultivation of a few acres of land, and the 

 employment of a small capital, in connexion there- 

 .'with; whilst there are many proprietors of princely 

 'estates, who can scarcely contrive to banish want 

 from their domains. We have pointed to the chief 

 cause of such painful deficiencies — it remains for 

 parents to diminish their number in future times, 

 by taking present and suitable means to qualify 

 their children to pursue their respective occupations 

 ■with benefit to their families, and advantage to 

 society. And whilst we are zealously laboring to 

 amass property for our offspring, let us not bo un- 

 mindful of their intellectual treasures, but remem- 

 ber always that the improvement of these can alone 

 teach them how to enjoy and augment the wealth 

 that we may give.] — Edit. Am. Far. 



Brookline, Oct. 30th, 1821. 

 Dear Sir, — 



I have this evening, received your favor, 



dated 1st inst., inclosing some valuable seeds, and 

 two numbers of your publication, for which I beg 

 you to accept my acknowledgments. I sliould feel 

 mortifie'i that your interesting journal should have 

 been published near three years, without my avail- 

 ing myself of its information — the fact i.s, I have 

 been a subscriber through our mutual friends, 

 i\!essrs. AVel!.« and Lilley, from the beginning. 



1 am happy to hear of the safe arrival of the 

 pigs, a-.Ml more gratified that you are pleased with 

 them. Tt will give me great pleasure to semi the 

 boars you wish in the spring ; and llify shall, as 

 you desire, he of different p.irentage from those 

 you already have. I am fully sjitisfied, from re- 

 peated trials, that a fine race of animals cannot be 

 kept up by breeding in and in ; and I have both in 

 my sheep and swine, two distinct families, wliich 

 are crossed with each other. And except to sup- 

 ply the number of each kind I want to bree 1 from, 

 the individuals of the same family are never allow- 

 ed to coine together. By attention and strict ad- 

 herence to this plan of crossing, where both kinds 

 are good, I have a fine healthy stock. The an''- 

 ma^i aio ii.iproved, both in size and symmetry, and 

 their disposition to get very fat, at an early age, 

 has been increased. At twelve month old, the pigs 

 you saw in my viijious pens, averaged 280 lbs. ; 

 and many of them exceeded 300 lbs. each. This 

 weight as they were fed almost entirely upon veg- 

 etal' ■ , ^^,' i very satisfactory. A larger race has 

 been often recommended to me by^ my <ieighbors. 

 But a large race would not only require more food, 

 but it must also be of tnucli richer, and of more 

 expensive quality. Boiled cabbages, turnips, and 

 other vegetables, whose ar.rcable produce is large, 

 and which constitute the principal sustenance of my 

 own breed, would make but poor returns when giv- 

 en to a larger framed animal. - My establishment 

 consists of twelve breeding sows and two boars, 

 that are kept as long as they bring fine litters of 

 pigs — tailing in this, they are fatted, and their 

 places supplied by others of one year old, before 

 they are put to the male. The ^ws are put with 

 the boars the 1st of April, and^the 1st, of October, 

 and farrou' twice a year. Tlieir inside pens are 

 eight feet by five, and their outside pens are three 

 by four feet. About the time they are expected to 

 bring forth, the styes are littered with straw cut 

 into chaff, very fine, that the little pigs may be dry 

 and warm, without being entangled with long straw, 

 anS thus destroyed. The litters are always regu- 

 lated, so as to leave not more than eight pigs to 

 any one sow, either by changing their mothers^ 

 when necessary, soon after their birth, or by re- 

 moving supernumeraries. I have always found a 

 family of eight pigs at a month old, worth more 

 than one of twelve ; their growth being so much 

 greater. From each outside pen the pigs liave ac- 

 cess through a small hole, to a common yard, which 

 is always kept well littered ; in which they play — 

 and where dry corn is placed in shallow troughs 

 to induce them to eat as early as possible. Each 

 party knows their mother, and they find their re- 

 spective pens without difficulty. These pigs are 



always weaned the 1st of October, at six or eight 

 weeks old, that the sows may be again in the way 

 of their duty, and my system progress. From these 

 p:gs I select seventy -two, ar.d dispose of the rest. 

 They are put into twelve pens, containing six each,, 

 and are fed with the he.-'l food my swill trough- 

 afiords, six times per day, for the first month, and 

 threa times per day afterwards. The inside pens 

 are si.v feet square, and the outside four feet by six, 

 both planked, with a quick descent for the dirt, &-c. 

 to be carried off. ?t\nc\i, indeed, everything depends 

 upon their sleeping dry and'^warm, and being well 

 littered, and kept perfectly clean. In these pens 

 they remain six months, or until October and April, 

 when they are all transferred to the fatting [lens, 

 and their places supjiliod by the newly weaned pigs. 

 The fatting pens are planked — there is a cellar 

 under them, and each pig is allowed an area of 

 about twelve square feet to live in ; for these there 

 are no oiitrtide pens. The fatting pens are cleaned 

 out every morning, and fresh litter given. For 

 tliree months the pigs in them are fed from the 

 swill trough as store pigs; at the end of which 

 time, say January and July, their fatting commences, 

 which consists in adding, for each of them three 

 quarts of cracked corn to their daily allowance of 

 vegetables, for three months, when they are killed 

 as near tlie first of October and the first of A-ril 

 as may be. Thus you will observe the 1st of 

 October, and the 1st of April are busy days in my 

 Picgery, o? the littjw >.gs are Ih'-n weaned, the 

 sows again put to the boars, the fat hog.s sold off, 

 the Ffore pigs removed to the fattening pens and my 

 systi'tn completed. 



To fe{;d this stock, consisting of 

 72 pigs from one to six months old, and 

 72 pigs from six to twelve months old, and 

 12 old sows, and 

 2 boars ; in all 



153 mouths — we boil a ];ettle of vegetables, con- 

 taining six bushels, to which is added one bushel 

 of cracked corn three limes a day, and after putting 

 this mass into the swill trough and mixirig it inti- 

 mately, we add as much water as will make 112 

 gallons, or for each bushel of vegetables and corn 

 sixteen gallons. This swill is then distributed 

 sweet and warm to the stock, morning, noon and 

 night, with great regularity, in the following pro- 

 portions, viz : 



In October, November, and December — to each 

 of 72 pigs, from one to three months old, one gal- 

 lon ; and to each of 72 pigs, from six to nine 

 months old, three gallons. 



In July, February and March— -to each of 72 

 pigs, from three to six months old, two gallons ; 

 and to each of 72 pigs, from nine to twelvemonths 

 old, 2 gallons, with 3 quarts of corn. 



In April, May and June — to each of 72 pigs, 

 from six to nine months old, 3 gallons ; and to 

 each of 72 pigs, from one to three months old, one 

 gallon. 



In July, August and September — to each of 72 

 pigs, from 9 to 12 montlis old, 2 gallons ; and to 



