December 19, 1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
477 
because we object to the usual feeding path inside, it being un- 
reasonable to expect that the sow can farrow in comfort and 
quietude when the feeding trough is a fixture in the apartment 
or lair, and some sows when disturbed at such a time will destroy 
their little ones in consequence, nor do we approve of any inter- 
ference whatever with the lttle pigs or the mother at farrowing 
time, hence the care we always take to keep the inner apartment 
completely private. 
The feeding of the sow must now be considered. It is best to 
give cooked food for a few days or a week, first with bran or 
sharps with skim milk, afterwards with boiled cabbage, carrots, 
Swedes, or small potatoes mixed with bean or barley meal, and a 
little milk added when it can be obtained. With this food the 
supply of milk will be good. The little pigs will require to be 
fed separately when about fiteen or twenty days old in this way : 
Feed the sow first, and then shut her into the inner apartment 
whilst the little pigs receive their food in the front division, which 
food should consist of skim or butter milk and bean or barley 
meal; to this may be added as they increase in growth boiled 
roots of some kind as before named. At about six weeks old 
they may be castrated and spayed, except those required for 
breeding purposes, and in reserving sow pigs take care to save 
only those which have at least twelve teats. As the pigs should 
be weaned and taken from the sow at about ten or eleven weeks 
old they should be fed up to that time with a liberal allowance of 
cooked food. Any kind of roots with meal will answer the pur- 
pose except mangolds; and in case they are to be kept on for 
store stock only, after being weaned they should have beans or 
peas to eat twice a day ; this will enable them after being weaned 
to live upon the coarser food—such as roots with maize, beans, or 
peas—to keep them in a growing state. 
We must now refer to the young sow pigs intended for breeding. 
These may be fed with the store pigs as just stated, for we do not 
approve of high feeding for breeding sows, nor do we approve of 
their being put to the boar until they are eleven or twelve months 
old. They will then at farrowing time be able to sustain and rear 
up a full number of pigs at the first birth. This is really a matter 
of much more importance than is generally supposed, because 
when sows are bred from at too early an age they are more likely 
to bring a short number of pigs at the first birth ; and it must be 
remembered that so many teats as suckle pigs at the first birth, 
just that number will furnish a full supply of milk at future 
births. For instance, if a sow rears up seven pigs only at first 
birth, and she brings ten pigs in the next troop, three out of the 
ten will be poor weakly animals, because they rust be reared by 
those teats which were not in use by the first farrow of pigs. 
This circumstance has always induced us to defer breeding until 
the sows are of full age, besides which they become larger 
animals, and have greater resources both in body and constitu- 
tion for sustaining their offspring. After the little pigs are 
weaned, which should be done by taking the sow from them 
instead of taking the pigs from the mother, we recommend that 
the sows should have plenty of liberty and exercise, for we have 
noticed that sows kept entirely in the pen will bring but few pigs 
at a litter; but when kept as we recommend—that is, to have the 
use of a small yard where dung is stored, and be fed there with 
roots, &c., all their dung will then be added to the manure heap, 
and if they haye a small hovel to lie in they will do well. The 
fencing may be of iron hurdles. 
(To be continued.) 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Horse Labour.—Wheat-sowing will be continued on all dry soils 
where roots are being fed off, particularly in those cases where 
the quantity already sown is not up to the average usually sown 
upon the farm. Managers of a home farm need not be deterred 
from sowing wheat after this time at every opportunity when the 
weather is open and the land can be worked,so as to drill the 
seed and insure its being coveredin. Werecollecton various occa- 
Sions when we have sown wheat about this time, and when frosty 
weather has set in immediately and prevented the wheat germi- 
nating, that we have never known it take injury on that account, 
although it may have lain in the ground for six weeks. Wheat 
is very hardy, and when frost sets in when the seed grain is only 
just sprouted even then it does not injure but only delays its 
appearance above ground. Some farmers object to sow wheat in 
the month of January, and we have always fonnd it to answer 
best to sow as soon after Christmas as the state of the land would 
admit, as the land settles down much firmer and the crops grow 
more like autumn-sown wheat than when sown in February or 
March. The crop is always more infested with weeds when sown 
in the latter month, and in consequence it should be drilled at 
9 or 12 inches apart in order that the horse hoe may be freely 
used. We have been over much land in different districts during 
the past few weeks, and the complaint is very general that women 
and lads are not to be obtained as formerly to do the weeding 
upon the corn crops. This of itself is a strong reason why wide 
drilling for all sorts of corn should be adopted, particularly upon 
those soils infested with the deep-rooted thistles. Should frost 
| sale. 
continue manure and chalk may be drawn on to the clover. This 
is advised, because on the home farm generally the farm-made 
manure should be drawn out whilst fresh and new, as it goes 
so much further than when allowed to remain in heap for a con- 
siderable time, for it is certain that it loses some of its value by 
heaping, besides the extra expense of a second carting. The odd 
horse will find constant employment in carting hay for the sheep 
and other kinds of cattle, also roots for the stock in the yards 
and boxes. 
Hand Labour,—Corn may now be threshed and delivered; hay 
may also be sold, trussed, and delivered, as labour is of less im- 
portance at this time of year, and if these matters are delayed 
until the spring of the year they are sure to displace work of 
more value. There is sure to be a considerable quantity of straw 
required as fodder for the young cattle, for the furnishing of 
which threshing must be continued. It is only in a few districts 
that the flail is found in use; but still it is in use, and some prefer 
barley threshed with the flail, the corn being less damaged for 
malting purposes. It is, however, quite impossible to recommend 
it in preference to the threshing machine for many reasons which 
will occur to the mind of every experienced home farmer. Chalk 
may now be brought to the home farm in all the loamy land 
districts, and placed in a dry situation, such as a barn mow; and 
as soon as it is sufficiently dry it should be screened and got ready 
to drill with the turnip crops of next year instead of ashes, it 
being found to prevent the clubbed roots in both Swedes and 
turnips, also cabbages. The young cattle now coming two years 
old if they have been liberally fed from birth will soon be ft for 
They will usually make about 20s. per month from the 
date of birth. At this rate, if they have been fed under cover 
winter and summer with judgment and economy, by having no 
more food than they can assimilate, they must be considered to 
have paid for feeding. In the southern and home counties the 
lambs from the horned Dorset ewes will soon be fit for sale, 
and it is reported that the early Dorset downs have com- 
menced lambing with good results. The weather is now such 
that a lambing fold must be got ready, and if possible near to 
the cottage of the shepherd ; if not those shepherds’ houses on 
wheels, particularly those with a stove fitted inside, should be 
used, because in hard weather when the lambs fall fast many of 
them, especially in the case of twins, will often be lost if they 
cannot be placed near a fire or warmth of some kind, and to assist 
the young lambs cow’s milk also ought to be available for use 
when the ewes happen to be short of milk. 
VALUE OF WOOD ASHES AS MANURE. 
THE experiments carried on with leached wood ashes in America 
continue to be favourably reported on, and to win more friends 
every year. They have been used for many years by the farmers 
and market gardeners of Long Island, and later by the same 
classes in the seacoast towns of Connecticut, and also on the tobacco 
farms farther inland. Leached ashes contain considerable quan- 
tities of potash and phosphoric acid, which have a wonderfully 
invigorating influence upon exhausted soils. The onion growers 
make large use of ashes, buying them sometimes by the thousand 
bushels. Fruit-growers are much pleased with its effect upon the 
growth of trees and shrubs, and upon their productiveness. Their 
effect is said to be immediately visible in old pastures and meadows, 
sown broadcast as a top-dressing ; but they act still more satisfac- 
torily if applied to the crops at the time of seeding down. They 
not only largely increase the crop with which the grass seed is 
sown, but their influence is visible for many years afterwards in 
the increased yield of grass. A farmer who has used ashes freely 
for twenty years upon a hard, worn-out gravel soil says they will 
give an increase of hay upon a meadow newly stocked for eight 
years ; and then, if the field be ploughed again, they will show the 
effect of the ashes for six years longer. He applies about o 
hundred bushels to the acre on land thathe designs to keep 
permanent meadow, and about seventy-five bushels to pasture 
land. It is particularly satisfactory as an application to a rye 
crop, even in so small quantities as twenty bushels to the acre. 
He has reclaimed‘a large breadth of old fields given up to the 
growih of bushes, briars, and brakes, and made it a fine pasture 
by taking rye crop manured with ashes. He considers leached. 
ashes his most efficient helper in transforming an exhausted worn- 
out farm into one of great productiveness, giving a fair reward for 
his capital and labour. In commenting on the value of wood 
ashes, Professor 8. W. Johnson, of New Hayen, Connecticut, says, 
in the Country Gentleman, that wood ashes are a good fertiliser is 
well proyed; that they often do well on all kinds of crops and a 
great variety of soils is a perfectly authenticated fact; that they 
often show no perceptible influence on this or that crop, on this 
and that soil, is another fact no less thoroughly established ; that 
jn a multitude of cases wood ashes would give good crops, but 
some other fertiliser would give better ones at less cost, may fairly 
be inferred from the recorded experience of careful experimenters. 
In the face of these uncertainties local experience of the nature of 
the soil crops, &c., is the best guide in their application ; and if 
