420 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



KAISING PIGS. 



First. In selecting the pig to raise for a breed- 

 er, count the teats. One with twelve fully devel- 

 oped teats will infallibly be prolific and a good 

 nurse — good for milk and careful of her young. 

 Fourteen teats should be preferred ; but never try 

 to raise pigs from a sow with less than ten good 

 teats. I risk my swinish character on the correct- 

 ness of this rule. 



Secondly. We come now to one of the most im- 

 portant points in the rearing of all animals, es- 

 pecially the hog, viz. : education. I do not mean 

 that it is absolutely necessary that your swinish 

 breeder should be taught to read — though I am 

 not prepared to say she is not capable of learning 

 even that ; but I do mean to say, that she should 

 be so potted as to become fond of the person who 

 has the care of her, and thus lose the natural fe- 

 rocity of her kind, and not be disturbed by his 

 presence when she brings forth her young. 



Thirdly. It now remains to offer a few observa- 

 tions on keeping. The provident wiU make the 

 animal earn half her living in manufacturing ma- 

 nure. At all events, she should have sufficient 

 space and exercise to insure good health and the 

 use of her limbs. If she can occasionally have an 

 out-door run, and a chance to root the ground, it 

 will be beneficial. Give a sufficiency of food to 

 keep in good flesh and growing, a sufficiency but 

 not an excess of salt, and an abundance of drink. 

 Keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer. 

 A pailful of cold water, occasionally dashed on to 

 the animal on a hot day, is very reviving and con- 

 ducive to good health. The hog goes with 3'oung 

 sixteen weeks. They seldom vary 24 hours from 

 that time. The feed should be gradually increased 

 as much as eight weeks before they bring forth. 

 For two days after, she should have no food ex- 

 cept a little thin warm gruel, not to exceed half a 

 pint a day of meal. She should have all the warm 

 water she will take, which will sometimes be two 

 pailsful in a day. This is very essential, as it 

 helps the flow of milk and prevents fever. You 

 may now gradually increase the feed till the 

 pigs are two weeks old, when she should be full 

 fed. If you have no better feed, good Indian meal 

 mixed with milk will answer very well, if you 

 give enough and feed regularly. The pigs should 

 be taught to eat with their mother as young as 

 two weeks, which may be done by having a broad 

 shalloAV trough, and gently putting them into it 

 ■when the mother is eating. 



By pursuing the foregoing course, I have not 

 failed once for the last thirty years, when I have 

 tried, in raising a healthy litter of pigs. Some 

 years of the thirty I have not kept a sow, but have 

 often raised tv.'o or three litters in a year. I am 

 considered one of the lucky kind. By trying this 

 plan, and avoiding breedmg in-and'in, some of 

 the unlucky ones may possibly change their luck. 

 • — J. II. Willard, in Maine Farmer. 



Seeds from Syria. — The Patent Office is in 

 the receipt of a very large and fine assortment of 

 seeds and cuttings from Syria, at the very modcr- 

 ate expense of ^1000. They were collected by 

 the Rev. Dr. Baixlay, missionary there. There 

 are varieties of wheat, barley, grape-cuttings, ol- 

 ives, scions of fruits, vegetable products and use- 

 ful plants. The' scions, cuttings, &c., will be sent 



to the propagating houses for experiment and in- 

 crease, and no distribution of the remainder will 

 be made before the fall. Among the interesting 

 plants is the lessaban, from which it is said the 

 crown of thorns was plaited. It is very orna- 

 mental, and makes excellent hedges. There are 

 also seeds of melons, squashes, camels' food, dates, 

 walnuts, equal to the English, and probably well 

 adapted to the Southern or Middle States. The 

 seeds of the mais tree, which is esteemed as me- 

 dicinal or prophylactic, were procured from the 

 inclosure of the Temple of Solomon. 



The next Patent Office report is to contain di- 

 rections as to the proper manner of sowing seeds, 

 as it is known that many of the failures to repro- 

 duce from the seeds distributed by the Patent 

 Office arise from ignorance of the proper methods 

 to procuring germination. — Washington Letter. 



NEW BOOKS. 



Natukal History. For the use of Schools and Families. By 

 Worthington Hooker, M. D. Illustrated by nearly 300 engi-av- 

 ings. New York : Harper & Bros., 1860. For sale by A. 

 Williams & Co. 1 vol., 12mo. Price $1. 



There are few things that aff'ord us more pleas- 

 ure, than to find well analyzed and well-printed 

 books upon natural history, philosophy, chemistry, 

 agriculture, or upon any of the useful arts or 

 sciences, taking the place of the exciting and mis- 

 erable works of fiction which have been paraded 

 before the public for the last twenty years. 



Illustrated works on natural history are always 

 attractive and acceptable to the young, and the 

 one before us cannot fail to find its way into thous- 

 ands of schools and families, and exert a most 

 happy influence there. It contains a mass of mate- 

 rial, which every well informed person ought to 

 know, "but the grand practical benefit to be de- 

 rived from the study of Natural History, is the 

 discipline which it gives the mental powers. It 

 cultivates the perceptive and reasoning powers to- 

 gether, thus forming that habit of intelligent ob- 

 servation, which makes its possessor, as a matter 

 of course, a person of extensive general informa- 

 tion, and is an essential element of success in al- 

 most any pursuit in which he may engage." The 

 book is printed on large type and good paper, 

 and illustrated with fine engravings of the animals 

 of which it treats. 



The Hand Cooe ; or, Annual Rscord of Horticultural and Ag- 

 ricultural Statistics, compiled from \arious sources. By Wm. 

 r. Sheppard, New York. 



This work treats of some of the general prin- 

 tiples of farming and gardening, and gives a de- 

 scriptive catalogue of culinary vegetables, and 

 other garden plants. It has, also, a list of new 

 plants, and sonie useful tables of statistics. 



The CiTTLE Disease.— There is nov/ every rea- 

 son to believe that the wise and energetic precau- 

 tions taken by the authorities of Massachusetts 

 have operated as an eff'eclual check upon the pro- 

 gress of the terrible disease which at one time 

 threatened contagion and death to the cattle herds 

 of New England.-— il/awe Farmer, 



