440 



NEW ENGLAOT) FARRIER. 



Sept. 



for the purpose of having their young at hand to 

 initiate into their most questionable practices. I 

 am not sure if another season's experience should 

 correspond with the past, but I shall have recourse 

 to what is said to be the tirst law of our being — 

 self-defence. K. 0. 



Broad Brook, Conn., July 20, 1867. 



■WOOD FOR PIGS TROUGHS. 



What liind of wood is best for a hog's trough, 

 and for the flooring of their pens ? My hogs, in at- 

 tempting to make improvements in their pen, not 

 having any great mechanical skill, liave nearly de- 

 molished it. It must be reconstructed soon. I 

 should 1)6 glad to receive an answer to the above 

 questions before I commence the important opera- 

 tion. 



Suppose an animal's left eye should be diseased, 

 I sliould like to know whether Mr. Breed would 

 apply the butter to the left, or right ear. I don't 

 know what he means by "opposite." e. b. 



Derry, N. H., 1867. 



Remarks. — A feeding trough for hogs properly 

 made of chestnut or wliile oak plank, and set up 

 from the ground so that the air will pass around 

 it, will last many years ; how many we do not 

 know, for we have not had one decay yet under 

 the above conditions. Our pig troughs are always 

 under cover, and as the swine are fed liberally, 

 and always come to the ground when they wish to, 

 the trough that was made ten years ago, is as 

 smooth now as the day it was made. It was made 

 of oak. 



The treatment which swine give to their troughs 

 depends in a great mcrfsure upon the circumstances 

 wliich surround them. If they can always retire 

 to a dry bed when they wish to, are fed plentifully, 

 and can come to the ground as they please, they 

 will remain quiet and grow rapidly. As long as grass 

 and other juicy plants continue, they should have 

 them every day, and two or three times a day they 

 would be eager for tliem . 



RAISING TURNIPS. 



At this time, (July 20), wise farmers are think- 

 ing about tlie turnips for next winter. I have 

 tried many ways to raise them, and tindahnost un- 

 varied success in the plan of my lastadoption. Wlien 

 my haying is a little out of the way, I select a plot 

 of ground as much as I think I can manure well, 

 and turn itl>ottoui up, usually usingNourse's Iron 

 beam Swivel plow with the subsoil attachment. 

 The soil is well turned, and ihe siibsoil is well 

 broken. With a good share harrow, the ground 

 is thoroughly pulverized and levelled. Twenty 

 loads of 40 bushels each of fine manure are put to 

 the acre. This is thoroughly mixed with tlie soil 

 by harrowing or cultivating. I then mix one 

 pound of purple-top strap-leaf turnip seed Avith 

 sufficient hertls grass aiul red top for the acre, sow 

 it and l)rush it in, with a light brush. The roller 

 is then passed over it, and the turnips are left to 

 take care of themselves till they are in danger of 

 being frozen. They are then pulled and put into 

 the barn cellar and barn floor, tops and all. Boys 

 are hired at two or three cents \)vv bushel to top 

 them an<l put them into the root lellar. I can find 

 a use for them in large quantities during winter. 

 My hogs eat them, my cows eat them, my sheep 

 cat them, and my horses are fond of them. Sown 

 the tirst of August, they are sweet and hard, 

 and will kiep so nearly all winter. For earlier 

 use, they sliould be sown the first of July. By 



this arrangement no crop is lost. The first season 

 we get two crops, one of grass and one of turnips; 

 tlie second season a better crop of gi'ass than has 

 gr(,'*vn before ; the third season, a crop as good as 

 need lie, I would recommend this method to all 

 farmers. It is a cheap and sure way of raising 

 turnips, which are very desirable in the winter. 

 And it is a cheap way of making a worn out piece 

 of land into good grass. This may appear too late 

 to do much good this season. I have known good 

 turnips raised from seed sown as late as the tenth 

 of August, here in New Hampshire. My neiglibors 

 are following' my example, which may lie good 

 evidence in my favor. Z. Breed. 



IVeare, N. H., 1867. 



deer and hogs to keep off the curculio. 



Your correspondent, Thomas Ellis, Esq., of 

 Rochester, Mass., writes so feelingly on tlie sub- 

 ject of that sneaking curculio, that I cannot re- 

 frain from giving him my experience, which, like 

 that of a great many others, may cost more than 

 it will come to. 



Some twenty years since, I was at the house of 

 a friend at the season of the plum, and was invited 

 to partalvc of some, wliich were very nice. I in- 

 quired how he succeeded in raising perfect plums, 

 and he at once told me the secret. "See that tub 

 of water ? I throw the plums that fall into the 

 water, and that prevents their going into the ground 

 to again come forth to do their work of mischief." 

 Years ago, I had an orchard of about thirty trees, 

 mostly of the Rhode Island greening variety, 

 which did well and bore abundantly, until the 

 curculio came for liis share, which proved to be 

 the whole. I believe he did not leave me a sound 

 apple. At this time I had an opportunity to get a 

 pair of deer, which I inqiroved, and after protect- 

 ing every tree against tlieir gnawing propensity, 

 and building a picket fence six feet and a half 

 high, I put them into the orchard, and by the sec- 

 ond v'car I had no more trouble from tlie curculio. 



If Mr. Ellis does not like the luxury of deer- 

 keeping, a few hungry hogs will produce the same 

 efiect. Alfred Baylies. 



Taunton, Mass., July, 1867. 



SELLING POULTRY. 



Farmers are selling tlieir poultry too cheap. 

 The middle men, wlio are traversing the country 

 and buying up lots of poultry, get tlie best end of 

 the bargain. They grind the faces both of the 

 producer and the consumer. At the present re- 

 tail prices for beef and poultry, the latter is the 

 cheaper of tlie two, and fanners sliould hesitate 

 before tluy sell for about onu-lialf the price which 

 the consumer is obliged to pay. Besides, poultry 

 is regarded as more of a luxury than either veal, 

 jiork, or beef, and farmers should therefore de- 

 niaiul for it relatively a higher jirice than tliey 

 usually obtain. A Loveu of Folltry. 



W'althwm, Mass., July 24, 1867. 



Remarks. — Both among the producers and 

 consumers of poultry there are some veiy fastidi- 

 ous i)eopl(!. And if the farmer and his wife, and 

 his sous and his dangliters, or the consumer and 

 liis A\ife, and his sons and his daughters, happen 

 to dislike the job of dressing a lot of poultry, we 

 do not suppose that Mr. I.over-of-Poultry, backed 

 by the editorial force of the Ni:w England Far- 

 mer, can prevent them from employing somebody 

 else to do it for them. Still the questions raised 

 by our correspondent are iiertinent and forcible. 

 The "art and science" of marketing is not suffi- 

 ciently studied by farmers, or by consumers either, 



