1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



93 



For ttte New England Farmer. 

 METHODS OP ENRICHING- LANDS. 



I noticed an article in one of your late papers 

 on the best method of enriching land, recommend- 

 ing plowing in green crops as perhaps the best. 

 There are two methods the farmer may practice to 

 enrich the soil. One is, to plow in green crops, as 

 recommended in the Farmer, the other is to raise 

 hogs, and I am rather in favor of the latter. With 

 good management in raising swine, you can gener- 

 ally get their cost, and sometliing more, but not 

 always ; some years there will be a loss. Notwith- 

 standing this, the farmer should pursue a steady 

 course, year after year. 



I have, in my day, had considerable experience 

 in raising hogs, and my practice was to select the 

 best breeds, raise my own pigs, feed well, and give 

 them a dr)-, clean bed. Cooking their food is a 

 good practice. Some forty years since I read in 

 an agricultural work a description of the method 

 practiced among the best farmers in Pennsylvania, 

 of having two vats for fermenting the meal — one 

 to use after it had fully fermented, the other while 

 it is fermenting. I have tried it but partially ; I 

 supposed the hogs would not relish it as well, but 

 found they seemed to like it the better. This 

 fermentation should be conducted on the same 

 plan as distillers adopt, carrying it to the same 

 point. I am inclined to think this is the cheapest 

 method of cooking their food. 



Those who make cider may use sweet pomace 

 to advantage — the pomace is made worth more 

 than before after the cider is pressed out, by boil- 

 ing it and mixing meal with it. 1 mean for shoats 

 that are from four to six months old. 



One word or two on plowing in green crops. 

 Any green substance is worth double put in the 

 ground green than it is after drying. For this 

 reason, I cover up all weeds when I hoe in the 

 garden, or in the corn or potato field ; I always 

 cover all my potato vines as I dig them, it is con- 

 siderably less work than to collect them and put 

 them in the hog's pen, as many farmers do. 



If you get a large crop of weeds in your garden 

 about the middle of August, commence on one 

 side, make a hole four or five inches deep, pull in 

 the weeds and cover them two or three inches 

 deep, and you almost destroy your crop of weeds ; 

 the seed Avill all sprout but none will ripen, and 

 you will find your garden enriched by your great 

 crop of weeds. But if you suffer them to ripen, 

 your land is greatly impoverished. 



By raising hogs and attending to them, giving 

 loam, horse dung, weeds, and any and all substan- 

 ces that can be made into manure, you can go on 

 increasing the value of land, I think, cheaper than 

 in any other way. Daniel Lel.\nd. 



East Holliston, Jan. 1, 1862. 



Composition to Stop Leaicage. — A corres- 

 pondent of the Lynn News gives a recipe for a 

 cheap composition with which leaks in roofs may 

 be effectually stopped. Having a leaky "L," he 

 says: 



"I made a composition of four pounds of resin, 

 one pint of linseed oil, and one ounce red lead, and 

 applied it hot with a brush to the part where the 

 "L" was joined to the main house. It has never 



leaked since. I then recommended the composition 

 to my neighbor, who had a dormer window which 

 leaked badly. He applied it, and the leak was 

 stopped. I made my water-cask tight by this com- 

 position, and have recommended it for chimneys, 

 windows, etc., and it has always proved a cure for 

 a leak." 



For the New England Farmer, 

 PLEURO-PNEUMONIA. 



Gentlemen : — As an article is being published 

 by the press, under the above caption, it seems 

 proper that the facts in the case should be stated. 



Mr. C. C. Barnes, of Squantum, a farmer, called 

 Jan. 7th, at the office of Ex-Gov. Brown, stated 

 that he had a disease among his cattle, and re- 

 quested him to visit his farm, accompanied by 

 some one qualified to judge of the nature of the 

 disease. Accordingly, he called upon Mr. Secre- 

 tary Flint, inviting him to go with him, but he 

 being unable to go, immediately addressed me a 

 note, requesting me to "give it a full examina- 

 tion." The next day, Gov. Brown and myself vis- 

 ited the farm of Mi". Barnes, from whom Ave re- 

 ceived the following statements : 



One of his qows was taken sick the last week 

 in April, and died in May, between the 1 2th and 

 16th ; upon opening the thorax considerable fluid 

 was present, and the lungs diseased. Another, 

 taken sick the latter part of November, died the 

 first Aveek in December. On the same day that 

 the last one died, a butcher came for a fat cow ; 

 while there he witnessed the diseased lungs of the 

 one that died, and afterwards stated to Mr. Barnes 

 that the fat cow's lungs were as bad as the lungs 

 he saw Mr. B. take out of the one that died. The 

 above is nearly the language used by Mr. Barnes. 



I then examined four of the herd, consisting of 

 nine head ; one of which had been sick six weeks 

 since, and partially recovered, though she coughs 

 much ; a portion of one lung is solidified. Anoth- 

 er had acute disease in an aggravated form, the 

 left lung entirely useless, and the right also dis- 

 eased ; in breathing, every expiration was accom- 

 panied by a grunt, or moan. Another, with acute 

 disease, coughs much, has quickened respiration, 

 with loss of appetite. The remaining one I did 

 not like to give an oiiinion of, as she was far ad- 

 vanced in gestation. 



As Mr. Barnes was satisfied that the second one 

 mentioned above could not recover, he desired to 

 have the lungs examined. Accordingly she was 

 killed. On opening the thorax, from six to eight 

 quarts of serum was present, and the left lung had 

 adhered to the costal pleura and the pericardium 

 by the intervention of exuded lymph. In cutting 

 into the lung, nearly the whole of it was solid, 

 presenting the peculiar appearance always found 

 at that stage of exudative pleuro-pneumonia. The 



