$68 



NEW- YORK FARMER AND 



lock is the general term for any lull grown cattlt», 

 male or female, fat or lean. 



The natural duration of life with the bull and cow- 

 may be stated at upwards of twenty years, to nearly 

 the end of which the latter is useful with her milk, 

 but the former usually looses his vigor, consequently 

 his use, many years sooner. 



(To be continual.') 



ART. 1G(> — Remarks upon the treatment of Swine, 

 read before the Fanner's Society in the town of Flo- 

 rida, JV. Y. November, 182S, by Dr. S. Reynolds. 

 [Communicated for the N. Y. Farmer and Horti- 

 cultural Repository.] 



The man who undertakes farming as a profession, 

 with a view of maintaining and securing a compe- 

 tence for his family, should keep constantly in mind, 

 that his profits are made up of trifling items, which 

 he must assiduously attend to, and collect in their 

 proper season. In no part of his businoss is this fact 

 more evident than in raising and fattening swine. 



In this town, where grain of every description al- 

 ways brings a good price, I have been long ago con- 

 vinced, that we cannot advantageously make pork for 

 the Albany or New-York markets. The farmers to 

 the West, where Indian coin is cheap, can now, as- 

 sisted by the canal, afford to undersell us. let not- 

 withstanding this, we must raise many hogs and make 

 large quantities of pork, for our own use, and that of 

 the mechanics who reside among us — and the great 

 question is, how is this to be done with the least ex- 

 pense, or with the greatest neat profits ? 



To be able satisfactorily to answer this inquiry, we 

 must be well acquainted with the nature and habits of 

 the animal we are about to fatten — for that treatment 

 which would be proper for any other domestic ani- 

 mal, would not be so for the hog. They bear con- 

 finement better, and furnished with a dry bed and 

 sufficiency of food, very soon become reconciled to 

 their prison, however narrow the limits. 



There is no class of animals which abound with 

 greater or more distinct varieties, than the hog. — 

 They have become naturalised to all the climates of 

 the globe, 



" Differing in all and yet in all the same." 

 Every where offering to man a salutary food and a de- 

 licious repast, upon the most reasonable terms ; for 

 they ask nothing more than that we should 



" Feast well the animal we doom our feast, 

 " And 'till we end the being make it blest." 

 In accordance to this, the skilful farmer will never 

 permit his hogs to complain of hunger, or languish 

 for want of drink. While the pigs are small and ob- 

 tain their sustenance from the sow, ho takes care that 

 she is well fed with milk and other nutricious food. 



and when they become larger, should they grow cla- 

 morous or unruly, he will not starve them in the sty, 

 or punish them with yokes. 



Of all the expedients for keeping swine out of mis- 

 chief, to which slovenly farmers have recourse, that 

 of yoking them, is certainly the most absurd and un- 

 profitable — to say nothing of the cruelty that usualh 

 attends it. If the yokes are loosely put on, they arc 

 \ <iy soon oil', and all the labour and noise expended, 

 without the least benefit. On the other hand, if tfaej 

 arc heavy and tightly put on, the poor animal is doom- 

 ed to perpetual distress ; ho can neither walk or lie 

 down with ease ; his neck is galled, becomes infla- 

 med and swells, and although he may for a while eat 

 his scanty allowance, it is quite impossible for him to 

 grow — pain and want of rest occasion a fever, and 

 the fever emaciation, and unless the yoke is season- 

 ably removed, the death of the ill-fated animal soon 

 follows. 



If the yokeing of swine is a needless cruelty, and 

 improper, so is the practice of worrying and tearin" 

 them with dogs — but this is attended with such im- 

 mediate and evident injury, that very few farmers per- 

 mit it upon their own hogs, reserving this dreadful 

 severity for those which are turned into the highway 

 for the purpose of living and preying upon their neigh- 

 bours. This alone, if there were no other reasons, 

 should deter every prudent man from permitting his 

 hogs to run at large in the streets. But this is not 

 all, here they are constantly exposed to be bruised, 

 run over, and killed, by horses and carriages ; but 

 should they escape, they can derive very little benefit 

 from the scanty pasture afforded in the highway ; tin- 

 natural grasses which grow here, are usually short 

 and always hard and wiry, and quite unfit for this spe- 

 cies of animals, for as they cannot ruminate or chew 

 their food a second time, their digestive organs act 

 feebly upon it, consequently the labour of procuring 

 a meal, is scarcely compensated by the nourishment 

 it affords. 



Hogs (like all other creatures) require a certain 

 quantity of food to supply the constant wants and 

 wastes of animal life — all that they eat beyond this, 

 is converted into fat, and neatly and securely laid up 

 in the adipous cells, for their own and our future be- 

 nefit. Why should we then stint them in their meals 

 or compel them to labour that is worse than useless? 

 Their almost insatiable appetite will cause them to 

 eat and thrive upon the coasest garbage, if that can 

 be obtained with ease and abundance. But if we 

 would fatten them, they must be supplied with clean 

 nutricious food. Filled with this, all their wants are 

 satisfied, they lie directly down and sleep soundly, 

 until a desire for food awakens them ; this they should 

 find without delay or much labour. Only notice for 

 a moment their form and peculiar organization, and 



