YOh. XVI'.r. IVO. 19. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



160 



ey answcrt'd tlieir several dates in littering, tlip 

 ■rioJ of <restatioii beinij about sixteen weeks. If 

 lu stint your sows to tlie boar only one time and 

 i)u keep lior in a lot to prevent other males, and 



10 stands, she "'ill be very sure to briuij forth 

 Jen from 111 to 11:? days; but if permitted to run 



ath the boar when she is in season until she is 

 one, I have >reciirdt'd a n>ni)ber of instances and 

 ates where tliNy have varied from tlie set time of 



11 to IIG days. This convinces mi; of the injury 

 ic boar sustain.', and the sows receive no benefit, 

 ''rom his masterly strength she is constrained to 

 o what nature does not desire, therefore the great 

 iscrepancy injhe supposed period of gestation. 



Piftii^ilnr feeding I liave always given my 



ows dish-water slops, when practicable, throtigli 

 he winter, in a trou;Th, sufficiently long, tha'. they 

 lay all feed out of it without scufiling, with a pole 

 onlined on each end of the trough, and also to 

 :eep their feet out of the slop and keep them from 

 ighting and slipping over the rotundity .of the 

 rough. The ammonia in the dish-water will suit 

 iiipregnaled sows nmch better than strong salt I 

 lad twelve head last winter in the severeU weath- 

 •r and deep snows ; I never gave but three ears of 

 orn to each head, morning and evening, and when 

 he snow was off, my feed was from one to two 

 ■ars to each head, morning and evening. 



Trentment. — When in some two or three days of 

 heir littering, I always separate my sows and put 

 hem in sheds or houses by themselves ; I prepare 

 caves for their beds, if practicable, as I prefer theni 

 () straw or hay ; they are light and warm, and 

 here is no danger of the young pigs getting en- 

 angled, as they do sometimes in straw; being very 

 iveak, they die before they get to the teat; now 

 whilst confined before littering, give them two ears 

 if corn morning and evening, and a plenty of water 

 until Ihcy have farrowed. Aftar they ha'fe Htt ftd 

 give nothing but water for 24 h.,urs ; then give two 

 )r three ears of corn night and morning, for some 

 four or five days — never give rich slops for some 

 four or five days before littering, for they are not in 

 good health, but feverish, &c., and rich food will in- 

 crease the fever and swell the teats, so that the pigs 

 annot draw them, more especially in warm weather. 

 I have known instances of the milk entire- 

 ly drying up from fever, and the pigs die for the 

 want of it. Our affection frequently takes prece- 

 dent of reason, by giving into supposed calls of 

 nature, therefore many feed their sows on the rich- 

 est f od iinmediately after liltoring. It also pro- 

 duces that very injurious disease among the pigs — 

 scours. 



Trtalmmt after the pigs are some, five or ten days 

 old. — The sows should be kept separate from each 

 otlierat least ten days after littering, to secure the 

 pigs' affections to their own mother, and to prevent 

 them in large herds of pigs from this evil, which is 

 so common when the sows are permitted to run and 

 litter together. The strong |)igs will suckle all 

 the sows, for their superior strength will force the 

 weaker and younger from their teats, and conse- 

 quently soon become puny and weak, which if kept 

 as I have described, has a good bearing to prevent 

 them. I can say from e,\perience, that every pig 

 will have their own teat, and regularly as the sow 

 calls or permits them to suckle, they will return to 

 their own, unless forced away by the stronger. My 

 practice is, after they have arrived at the age be- 

 fore mentioned, to put them in a lot of grass suffi. 

 cient for their grazing and exercise, with a plenty 



of shade and water, if practicable, and always keep 

 other .stocks of hogs awiy from- them of any size, 

 for the purpose V)f keeping the sows from fighting, 

 and running ov^r and crippling the young pigs, 

 which is pretty generally the case if tliey are pi.-r- 

 uiitted to feed with the sows and pigs. I feed my 

 sows while suckling with as nmch corn as they will 

 eat up clean, and alway.'^ if possible put the corn on 

 smooth and dry ground for them. As for ecimomy, 

 from experience, I can SMy I am well paid for my 

 husbandry, to have houses and sheds for winter 

 feeding. My summer and fall feeding of slops to 

 my sows while suckling their pigs, is done in the 

 following described manner : have two barrels or 

 tubs placed convenient to the troughs, then put in- 

 to each barrel two pecks of rye and one peck of 

 corn meal, one of wheat bran, then fill the barrels 

 with kitchen slops and soapsuds; when notenough 

 of this, make up the deficiency witii water, frequent- 

 ly stirring it with a paddle, and in 2-1 hours by a 

 summer heat it will be about as acid as common 

 still beer. Commence slopping out of one tub the 

 first day, leaving some of the slop in the tub to re- 

 tain the acid for quick fermentation ; the same eve. 

 ning fill up this tub again for the third day; now 

 commence slopping the second day out of tlie tub. 

 and re-fill in the evening as you did the first; now- 

 yon have both your tubs fermented and a body of 

 acid in them, you must keep it up by filling one ev- 

 ery day ; renew the meal and bran every two or 

 three days by putting in one peck of the three kinds 

 mi.xed together in each tub, in the same proportion 

 to the firs; put in. From this quantity i fed five 

 aged sows and thirtyone pigs three times every 

 day, which took about twenty gallons altogether, 

 leaving in the tub about 12 gallons to fill up on. I 

 continued slopping them in this way for 'seven 

 weeks, which was about weaning time. In this 

 time they consumed about twenty bushels, and at 

 an average cost of 50 cts. per bushel, they cost $10, 

 expended in meal and bran. From these pigs I 

 sold S3i0 dollars worth, leaving me some five or 

 six pigs on hand. 



Description of the Russia hogs.-^Their color is 

 generally white, with long coarse hair, their head 

 is long and coarsely featured, their ears are not so 

 broad as the common variety of the country, yet 

 longer and narrower, and come regularly to a point, 

 projecting forward, and they do not appear to have 

 so much command of them as other breeds ; they 

 have fine length and height, their bone is large 

 and fine, they stand w.-ll upon their pastern joints 

 and trackers ; quite industrious ; they are thick 

 through the shoulders, inditferently ribbed, (or sud- 

 denly inclined down,) their plate or kidney bone 

 rather narrow and ovaliug than otherwise, hams 

 pretty good, though not so good as the Irish, Bed- 

 ford or Berkshire, yet preferable to the variety ; 

 they do not graze so well as many others ; they 

 want more time to bring them into market than the 

 above named breeds. Give them from 18 to 20 

 months age, they will make very large hows; they 

 are quite prolific, their usual number is from nine 

 to twelve pigs a litter. I have found their cross 

 With the named breeds to be a valuable acquisition 

 to their grazing, aptitude to fatten, and rapid growth 

 at the same time. 



Rearins;, treatment and management of thorough 

 bred male hogs — To ensure good size, form and 

 fulness^ in their hams,' straight in their stifle joints, 

 and to give a good and regular growth, I seldom 

 or ever suffer iny boar to serve a sow until he has 



arrived at the age of 8 or 10 months, and older if 

 po-ssible. I give them a lot sufficiently large fur 

 exercise, and give food enough to keep them in a 

 high state of flesh while growing; by so doiii'r, I 

 have no fears, from past experience, of injuring 

 their libidinous propensities as so much objected to 

 bv aged men, who pretend to be hog growers in 

 Kentucky. By this mode, I am satisfied that you 

 will have stronger, more vigorous, active and roo-u- 

 lar sized pigs in every litter ; and furthermore, you 

 will find your sows in littering are not so apt to 

 produce pigs dead, fiti; and feeble, as when got by 

 a young or pour boar. In this way I breed them, 

 and, according to my former view, never sufl\;rinT 

 them to run at large with spayed sows, &c. I be- 

 lieve by this treatment they will be good producers 

 for ten or twelve years, if not lunger. They are 

 dangerous animals, and should not be permi t d to 

 rLjn with horses and CEttlc. 



This i.^ tlie practice that I liave adopted and shall 

 follow, unless I see some further information from 

 the pen of some other writer upon the subject. I 

 am always open to conviction, and willing to re- 

 ceive instruction, and will not spare time, trouble 

 and expense to procure correct principles. I should 

 be pleased to see some writer who has the weight 

 and benefit of years and experience on his side, 

 that 1 might look up to as a son to a father, for fur- 

 ther information, as I am but yet in the morning of 

 life. I feel much delicacy in coming out in the 

 columns of a public agricultural work, but still, 

 from solicitation, and as a friend to the cause of 

 agricultural pursuits, I have ventured. We find 

 recorded in the book of Genesis, chapter .3d, verse 

 23d, one of the first commands that God gave to 

 man — " to till the ground from whence he was ta- 

 ken." JAS. E. LETTON. 



Milkrshurg, Kij. 



RUTA BAGA AND THE GARDEN FLEA. 



Mil Editor — I believe it is a principle at com- 

 mon law tfiat no man shall profit by his own mis- 

 doings; but laws are not always just, and there 

 are few principles which do not admit of excep- 

 tio:is. 



Last spring I planted about half an acre of Ruta 

 Baga, on land that was manured with long manure 

 from the barnyard, and befiire the plants got fairly 

 started the weeds got ahead of them, and being 

 busy about other matters, I neglected to hoe tliein 

 until they were completely overrun with weeds, and 

 seeing my neighbors' plants entirely devoured with 

 the garden flea, I felt but little disposition to neg- 

 lect otiier work to weed mine, from the impression 

 they would meet the same fate. One day I dis- 

 covered a few straggling plants making their way 

 through a thin spot of weeds, which induced me to ' 

 e.xamine the piece. I found the plants to be per- 

 fect and entire, not one having been molested by 

 an insect of any description. I hoed and thinned 

 them out, and in ten days I had the handsomest 

 and forwardest yard of turnips in the town, and I 

 have UM doubt that by my negligence in not hoeing 

 them, I have gained over one hundred bushels of 

 fine roots, fdany of my neighbors will not have 

 forty bushels from a piece as large as mine, while 1 

 shall probably get two hundred. I would therefore 

 suggest whether neglecting to weed turnip plants 

 until the 20th or 25th of July, will not prove an ef- 

 fectual safeguard against the depredations of those 

 insect intruders. Circs Slack. 



