212 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



we wipe our mouths and say, "We are innocent." 

 It is true that people can live ujion vegetables 

 alone for a length of time, but whether to the 

 prolongation of life is a question. The requisite 

 quantity of carbon, or fat, to sustain the body in 

 a healthy condition extracted from a vegetable 

 diet, must overburden the digestive organs and 

 retard their power of action, more than obtaining 

 the requisite amount of carbon directly from good 

 meat. The carbon or fat is a necessary ingredient 

 in the formation of the blood, and the rounda- 

 liout way of extracting this ingredient from vege- 

 tables alone, in some constitutions, will overbur- 

 den the stomach and result in dyspepsia. Vege- 

 tarians derive the same nutritive elements from 

 vegetables that the flesh-eater does from meat ; 

 the vegetarian eats more in quantity than the 

 meat-eater, to get the necessary material to be 

 changed into chyle, blood and flesh ; the meat- 

 eater's food is more concentrated, and less in bulk 

 is required to furnish the same amount of nutri- 

 tive prrnciple ; the grass and vegetables which 

 the ox eats are of the first organization, and there- 

 fore he has to eat enormous quantities of them to 

 derive a sufficient quantity of oil from such innu- 

 tritions food to be converted, through the process 

 of digestion, into fat to cover his ribs to fit him 

 for the shambles. 



He that eats the ox eats the product of the sec- 

 ond organization, and he gets precisely the same 

 constituents from the beef that the ox derives 

 from the herbage, but in a more direct way. Phy- 

 sicians prescribe cod liver oil to scrofulous pa- 

 tients that cannot eat fat meat, in order that the 

 lungs may be supplied with a due proportion of 

 carbon. In the Arctic Regions, the rice-eater of 

 India or the Jew of Palestine who would loathe 

 swine's flesh at home, by the instinct of appetite, 

 would greedily devour the oil of the "beloved 

 seal," on being transferred to those regions. The 

 appetite, in any country or climate, is the most 

 reHable indication of what the system requires 

 for sustenance. Silas Bkown. 



NoHh Wilmington, Jan., 1863. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PROFITS FROM PIGS AND POULTRY. 

 Mr. Editok : — "More Anon," in his "Retro- 

 spective Notes" of March 21, makes some very 

 just observations respecting the unprofital)leness 

 of feeding pigs with swill too much reduced, or 

 diluted. His remarks reminded me of the story 

 of a certain farmer who was told he could fatten 

 his hogs upon sawdust by mixing some meal with 

 it; but he soon ascertained that his swine in- 

 creased in size, and grew fat just in proportion to 

 the amount of meal mixed with the sawdust. It 

 is probably pretty much the same with "dishwa- 

 ter ;" it will make the pigs thrive in proportion to 

 the milk, meal, or other nutritious food which is 

 mixed with it. I suppose, however, there may be 

 danger, (though not as much) of making swill too 

 thick as well as too thin. It seems to me that 

 pigs which are so fed as to gain one pound or 

 more per day, and thus weigh from 300 to 400 

 pounds when ten months old, will not be disposed 

 to take sufficient exercise to be healthy themselves, 

 or to promote the health of those who may con- 

 sume them ; nor will they be much inclined to 

 turn over and mix together the muck and other 

 materials which may be furnished them for the 



purpose of making manure, which is the principal 

 source of profit ; for I suppose it is generally ad- 

 mitted that if persons in this part of the country 

 are obliged to purchase everything upon which to 

 feed their i)igs, so far as pork is concerned, they 

 may about as well buy as raise it ; but the ma- 

 nure, if rightly managed, is nearly so much clear 

 gain. This, however, like the food upon which 

 the swine are fed, may be too much adulterated 

 to be profitable. 



But enough of pigs, at least for the present, for 

 I wish to refer to "Mr. Ives's" account of his i)oul- 

 try, which appeared in the paper of the date above 

 mentioned. 



He calls it his yearly account, commencing the 

 first of March, 1862, and, of course, should have 

 closed the last of Feb. 1663, but it will be seen 

 there is an item of $2 24 as the expense for March 

 of the present year, and also another of $11 69 as 

 the income from 46i- dozens of eggs for the same 

 month. Now it is said we should not count our 

 chickens before they are hatched, but this can cer- 

 tainly be called counting eggs before they are laid, 

 for the account was published the 21st of March, 

 and was probably sent to the printer several days 

 previous to that time. Either Mr. Ives, or "the 

 wicked type setter," must have made a mistake. 



As 85 dozens of eggs were sold for $1 per do- 

 zen, it is fair for Mr. Ives to average his at 25 

 cents, but if I am not mistaken, the "market 

 price" the past year, as reported in the Fanner, 

 has not averaged more than 20 cents. Judtfins^ 

 from the number of eggs laid in the month of 

 May, I infer that the hens which set in April did 

 not bring up their chickens, but that they were 

 raised by hand, or after the fashion of those 

 hatched in Egyptian ovens, and they must have 

 grown like young giants. I believe the farmers in 

 this vicinity think it is doing pretty well if they 

 can obtain $1 per pair even for their early chick- 

 ens, but with the exception of 12 young roosters 

 sold to the butcher, it seems Mr. Ives received 

 that sum for each of his, and unless the average 

 price of poultry the past year was more than I2.3 

 cents, they must have weighed eight pounds apiece, 

 or about twice as much as common fowls, 



I was led to examine Mr. Ives' account some- 

 what carefully, (perhaps he will call it critically.) 

 because it seemed to me the net gain or profit, 

 $139 18 was very large ; for I have known several 

 persons who have engaged in the poultry business, 

 and after a year or two of trial, gave it up, as be- 

 ing unprofitable. But "circumstances alter cases," 

 and results will vary accordingly, and we cannot 

 be surprised that persons come to different con- 

 clusions upon the same subject, when some of our 

 Legislative Scions stand up in the State House, 

 and gravely inform the farmers of Massachusetts, 

 that sand which is used for jUteri/u/ is as valuable 

 as muck, for the purpose of absorbing liquid ma- 

 nure ! A. c. w. 



Leominster, May, 1863. 



GOOD TILLAGE IS MANURE. 

 The Ocrmantown Telegraph says farmers do not 

 generally realize the fact, that good, clean tillage 

 is about equal to an apj)lication of manure to lands 

 cultivated slovenly. We all know how much 

 larger crops we realize in the garden than upon 

 the farm, just from the superior attention paid to 

 it in cleansing the ground of all noxious vegeta- 



