144 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



Piatt of Clinton, knew two dairvnien in his vi- ( There is one thing that is very important: 

 cinity, having the j^anie number of cows, whose We should know exactly when we ai-e to ex- 

 bill of delivery of milk, on August 1, showed ' pect the arrival of the little ones, and make 

 a dill'erenceof ;3,oU0 pound. One of them fed due provision for their comfort beforehand. 

 his cows sowed corn after that period, and the Pigs are remarkably sensitive to colli winds. 

 other did not. The former, whose bill was They nuist have warm, dry, well-ventilated 

 the smaller on August 1, gaineil tiie J3, 500 j quarters ; and my rule is to have the pens 

 ponds and 500 more before Sei)tember 19. I cleaned out every day, just as regularly as Ave 

 He considered the experiment a detinite one. | clean out the horse stable. Why should they 

 Other testimonv bearing in the same di- i not be.'* "It is too nnu'h trouble, and will 



not pay." Tiiisis a great mistake. In the first 

 place, if done every day, it takes only a few 

 minutes' time to remove tiie soiled litter and 

 shake up the bed ; and if it pays at all to raise 

 pigs with the present average rate of mortal- 

 ity, it will certainly pay if we succeed in sav- 

 ing the entire litter. I am inclined to think 

 that, taking the country through, from one- 

 third to one-half of the pigs die — and this 

 through sheer neglect and mismanagement. 

 One of my neighbors, ivho is a very good far- 

 mer, and takes capital care of his cows, keeps 

 his pigs in a pen covered at one end with some 

 straw, thrown on rails. This is very well. 

 Though o])en in front, it does afford some shel- 

 ter. But the pen is built on the side of a 

 building, and all the rain from the roof comes 

 ■poiiring into the pen. He "did not believe it 

 ])aid to feed jngs any way," he said, and I pre- 

 sume he spoke from experience. — /. Harris, 

 in Am. Ayrieulturist. 



rection was given by various members, 

 and finally, on motion of Mr. Arnold 

 of Tompkins, it Avas "resolved (and this 

 resolution Avas passed with scarcely a dis- 

 senting voice), that in the opinion of this 

 Convention, corn is a valuable product for the 

 dairy farm, and that Ave commend it as a for- 

 age ci'op." 



KAISUNTQ PIGS. 



A farmer in Holt County, jNIo., favors me 

 with a description of his piggery and his mode 

 of feeding hogs. He is young in the business, 

 but seems to have embarked in it with much 

 spirit and energy. He says: "In 1860, I 

 bought and tried to fatten 300 hogs. Gave 

 them all the corn they Avould eat, broad wal- 

 lowing pool, and free access to clear Avater. I 

 sold them at 5^c. per lb., net. I bought them 

 too fat. The corn fed to them netted me 17 

 cents per bushel, Avhile I sold the balance of 

 my corn at tlie crib for 50 cents per bushel. 

 This 'salted' me from hog feeding until Octo- 

 ber, 1869." 



Without knowing the fact, I should suppose 

 the trouble Avas not in buying them too fat, but 

 in paying too much per lb. for them. 



"In October, 1869," he continues, "I went 

 into the business again. I bought 20 soavs, 

 and 60 pigs and shoats. During the Avinter, 

 60 pigs were born. In the spring I had not 

 80 left, all told ! In JNIarch and April, 60 more 

 ■were dropped, of Avhich 30 remain — balance 

 dead. Have had 80 pigs within six Aveeks — 

 20 dead, and dying daily. I intend to try 

 f urtlier. Will have 40 sows to drop their pigs 

 next spi-ing. 



This seems bad luck, but I am glad he is not 

 discouraged. When 1 tirst conmu'iued to turn 

 my attention to Jjigs, I had, though on a much 

 smaller scale, ([uite as "bad luck." I iiad 3 

 sows that droj)ped their litters one night in the 

 yard, and lost nearly every pig — as 1 deserved 

 to do. 1 have noAV some 50 Jiigs, and l)y giv- 

 ing them careful attention, ])lenty ap})ropriate 

 food, Avith Avarm, dry and clean pens, I antici- A HEKKiMEr: Dairymax. — The Utica Her- 

 pate no trouble. The last three soavs pro- aid says that Nicholas Smith, of Herkimer 

 du(;ed 30 pigs, and I saved every one. I knoAV county, N. Y., has made as high as 1-1,200 

 that it is a general im])ressi^n that you cannot lbs. of cheese, shi])ping weight, in one year, 

 keep a large number of lireeding soavs on one from a herd of twenty coavs. He makes his 

 farm ; but I cannot see Avliy,;;r(n'/'/td each S(nv i milk up at home, and sells for the highest 

 <'ets as good treatment as she Avould if she Avas ' prices paid in Herkimer market. He sells 

 tlie only pig on the farm. If tliis cannot be 1 every fortnight, thus saving shrinkage. He 

 done, then do not attemi)t to keep them, for, ] also keeps the best coavs and none but the 

 as a rule, farmers who keep only one or tAVO best ; and slops them a little in tiie spring and 

 sows, do not treat them any too Avell. ' at times of drought, and does not overstock 



Does Su}$.soiling Pay? — In ansAvering 

 this question, the Bural Carolinian, among 

 other things says : — 



"Some soils Avill hold Avater like a pan, some, 

 the water Avill percolate through and go out at 

 the base of the hill. Not only the kind of soil, 

 but the peculiarities of locality should influ- 

 ence our decision on this subject. There are 

 localities where the surface soil has been ex- 

 hausted, when eight or ten inches beloAv, you 

 may strike a soil as good or better than the 

 original mold on the surface. Here, I say, by 

 all means, subsoil, and not only subsoil, but 

 bring a portion of the subsoiV to-the surface, 

 if possible ; but if you have two inches of soil 

 and a pipe-day substrata, subsoiling can do no 

 good, for in a Avet season itAvillhold too much 

 water for the crop, Avithout subsoiling. What 

 you noAv Avant is thorough draining, close and 

 deep, with main truidi as an outlet." 



