114 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



ing that there are a great many blunders commit- 

 ted in the feedin"; and management of hogs, we 

 are pretty sure that the writer of the article un- 

 der notice is laboring under a mistake if he sup- 

 poses, as he seems to do by his use of the phrase 

 "usual process," that the majority or generality 

 of farmers feed boiled potatoes and pumpkins 

 alone, without any admixture of meal, bran or 

 some other more nutritious ingredient, even at 

 this season of the year, when potatoes and pump- 

 kins do most abound. We should say, from 

 , our own ol)scrvations, that these articles are not 

 very frequently — far from "usually" — fed alone, 

 and that an addition of bran or meal was the 

 more usual process. But even if these watery 

 vegetables were fed alone, without any addition 

 of meal or other less watery and more n-itritious 

 elem.cnts, there Avould not be much danger of 

 enlarged stomachs and pot-bellies, if the water in 

 which they were boiled were pretty thoroughly 

 drained off and the potatoes and pumpkins served 

 to the hogs nearly dry or undiluted. 



Our readers will have discovered by this time 

 what we consider the error of the article under 

 notice. It is attributing to a certain convenient 

 and common kind of food — specially convenient 

 at potato and pumpkin harvest — injurious effects, 

 which are produced much more commonly from 

 mere bulkiness or over-dilution of all kinds of 

 food, than from any special quality of any particu- 

 lar kind. 



The over-dilution of hog-feed, to which Ave have 

 been endeavoring to direct the attention and the 

 thoughts of our readers, is, we are persuaded, 

 a frequent and a pernicious mode of mismanage- 

 ment. The evil consequences already referred to 

 in the commencement cf these remarks are not 

 the only ones which flow from this not uncom- 

 mon blunder. There can be no doubt, with those 

 at least who have been witnesses of the thin slops 

 which some of their neighbors, perhaps, carry out 

 to their hogs, that one reason wdiy some hogs do 

 not thrive, is, that they get too little nutriment, 

 that whole pailsful of thin slop have to be swal- 

 lowed in order to get as much nourishment as 

 might be put into a quart or pint bowl. The con- 

 sequence, in a few cases which have come under 

 our observation, is, that these feeders of slops 

 never have any "luck" with their hogs until they 

 husk their corn and feed their hogs almost exclu- 

 sively on that, and even then it takes them long- 

 er than some of their neighbors, who feed less 

 liquids and more solids in the earlier part of the 

 season, to get their hogs decently fixt by Christ- 

 mas or New Year's day. 



The very decided success with which Mr. L. 

 Long, of Ilolyoke, practices feeding meal in the 

 dry state to his hogs, and giving them their slops 

 or other drink separately, may be taken into con- 

 sideration along with our remarks. Mr. Long's 

 report may bo found in last year's volume of this 

 paper, on page 4G2 of the monthly edition. Those, 

 we are confident, who duly consider Mr. Long's 

 report and these remarks, and who frame their 

 hog-feeding accordingly, will feed less liquids and 

 more solids, and these, perhaps, separately, and 

 will be very unlikely to have their hogs either 

 pot-belliod or poor. 



Porlable Grist Mill. — In the Farmer of Dec. 

 15, S. W. SouTliwoRTlI, of INIiddletown, Ct., 

 writes that he wants to get some reliuble informa- 



tion in regard to some portable grist mill which 

 he had seen advertised in the columns of this pa- 

 per. He states that he has from three to five 

 hundred bushels of grain to grind every year, and 

 as he has to haul it two miles to get it ground, 

 and frequently has to go the second time after it, 

 which is no small job when the roads are muddy, 

 he, naturally enough, would like to do his own 

 grinding, but, like a sensible man, would like to 

 know hov/ fast these advertised mills can grind, 

 how durable they are, what they cost, &c., before 

 purchasing one. 



As no information has as yet been given in re- 

 ply to Mr. S.'s inquiries, and as there are, doubt- 

 less, several others of your readers to w'hom in- 

 formation as to the points named would be of 

 considerable value, I will here, for the benefit and 

 satisfaction of Mr. S. and others similarly situa- 

 ted, give an outline of a communication by S. Ed- 

 wards Todd, in a recent issue of the Country 

 Gentleman. ■, 



Mr. Todd states that as he lives five miles 

 from a good grist mill, he has been trying for 

 eighteen years to get a good farm mill with which 

 he would be able to grind coarse grain for feed. 

 He says he has expended a great deal of time and 

 money in getting such mills, and in experiment- 

 ing with them, and that he has thrown them all 

 aside as non-paying, profitless machinery, prefer- 

 ring to haul his grain five miles to have it well 

 ground rather than to attempt to grind it in such 

 worthless pepper-mills, as he calls them. 



The details of Mr. Todd's experiments with 

 several of the advertised and highly-puffed grist- 

 mills are very interesting. Those who wish to 

 acquaint themselves therewith, will find them in 

 full in the Country Gentleman of Nov. 15, 18G0. 

 They may save some of your readers from much 

 waste of time and money. Moke Anon. 



Essex County Transactions. — The transac- 

 tions for 1860 are befr>re us. The first paper 

 they contain is the address of John L. Russell. 

 Then follows a report on Floioers, by C. M. Tra- 

 cy, occupying fourteen pages — both are excellent 

 papers. Reports upon Fruits, Vegetables, Stock, 

 Farms, &c., follow, and are more valua'ole than 

 are usually found in similar Transactions. The 

 officers of the Society for the year 18G1 are, — 

 President, Allen W. Dodge, Hamilton ; Vice 

 Presidents, Lewis Allen, South Danvers ; Jer- 

 emiah Colburn, Newburyport ; David Ciioate, 

 Essex ; Jeremiah Spofford, Groveland ; Treas- 

 urer, William Sutton, South Danvers ; Sec- 

 retary, Charles R. Preston. 



Remedy for Garget in Coavs. — I had, a few 

 days since, a new milch cow whose bag was very 

 badly caked — so much so that the usual remedies 

 of cold water, soap-suds, spirits camphor, Szc, 

 had no effect ui)on it. I asked our family physi- 

 cian for a prescription, who gave me this : 



1 part aqua ammonia, 



2 parts sweet oil, 



well rubbed in, twice daily. In two days a cure 

 was effected. — W. J. Pettee, Salisburv, Ct. 



