THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



43 



morning, they take their natural rest ; then urged 

 out by hunger as soon as the sun is up, they 

 travel and labor hard all day, taking a much 

 wider range, and as they are formed for rooting, 

 perhaps roots may act as a medicine for them, 

 as I have never known wild or forest hogs die 

 by eating mushrooms. By night, ihey are pret- 

 ty well supplied ; then being called up and re- 

 ceiving their allowance, in addition, they lie 

 down contented, and lying together and still, 

 sleep warm, aided by the additional warmth 

 naturally derived from food. It is well known, 

 hogs fatten best when still, and in warm weather. 

 It is my opinion, that one ear of corn, each, to 

 hogs at night, with a tolerable chance to range the 

 forest or graze in pasture, is equal to two in the 

 morning, or one at night and one in the morn- 

 ing. Such has been my experience for nearly 

 forty years, and I have often imparted it to my 

 acquaintances, who have adopted the plan, much 

 to their advantage, as many have told me. Hogs 

 raised about a mill, should be treated in the same 

 way, saving al! the sweepings until night, and 

 they will go off in the morning and cease to be 

 troublesome. I think it injudicious to raise any 

 pigs that come between 1st September and 1st 

 March. I know it is said hogs fed at night are 

 more apt to ramble and be lost. That is a mis- 

 take ; be punctual to your hogs and they will 

 meet you at the time to receive their allowance, 

 and if it is given at night, they will sleep near 

 where they are fed; if fed in the morning, after 

 taking their morning's nap, they ramble until 

 night overtakes them, and having no inducement 

 to return, they lie down to rest, and in the morn- 

 ing, are out of hearing, being too cold to rise 

 early ; if they return at all, it is after the time of 

 feeding, and they perhaps miss their allowance. 



W. TlMBERLAKE. 



Family Mills, Albemarle, Dec. 21, 1842. 



We understand that Mr. Timberlake is an old 

 miller, of great experience and reputation for his 

 management of hogs. 



BEESWAX. % 



The neatest way, says the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 to separate beeswax from the comb, is, to tie it 

 up in a linen or woollen cloth or bag with a 

 pebble or two to keep it from floating ; place it 

 in a kettle of cold water, which hang over the 

 fire ; as the water heats, the wax melts and 

 rises to the surface, while all the impurities re- 

 main in the bag. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 DURHAM CATTLE AND BERKSHIRE PIGS. 



Messrs. Editors, — If in this age of improve- 

 ment in stock and all the apparatus of farming 

 it be not absurd to revert to the virtues of stock 



of the olden time, I should like to call up the 

 memory of u Bergami, v that justice may be done 

 his family, and that his descendants wherever 

 found may be properly appreciated. " Bergami" 

 was a Teeswater bull, sent to Virginia by John 

 S. Skinner, Esq. about the year 1823, when your 

 correspondent was a little boy. The late Henry 

 S. Turner, Esq. of Jefferson county, purchased 

 him and bred from him for a number of years 

 upon selected cows from the South Branch, by 

 which he greatly improved his breed of cattle 

 in the requisites of that valuable race. 11 Ber- 

 gami" subsequently came to this county, where 

 he sojourned for a few years, dispensing his fa- 

 vors most liberally amongst our cow-pens, and 

 was a few years ago, when advanced in life, 

 carried hence to the far west, leaving behind him 

 not only a most enviable reputation, but a most 

 numerous progeny to attest it. Such is the es- 

 timate in which his race is held now by those 

 who have tried it that it would indeed be difficult 

 to find one who would be willing to admit that 

 the " Improved Durham Short Horns," valuable 

 as they are, are in any essential superior to the 

 descendants of "Bergami." I have myself a 

 cow, now ten years old next grass, whose dam 

 and grandam were both by "Bergami." She 

 herself was by Meade's Durham Short Horn, 

 " Frederick." She has brought me ten calves, 

 having had twins twice — is among the most 

 abundant milkers I ever saw and has never been 

 dry but once since she brought her first calf. In 

 color she follows her Short Horn ancestry (be- 

 ing white, with some little mixture of red) — in 

 weight, fine bone, round barrel, long frame, deep 

 chine, &c. &c. She exhibits the leading cha- 

 racteristics of the Bergami race. I have seen 

 many other cows of this particular breed of cat- 

 tle, but have yet to lay my eyes on one of them 

 that is not above mediocrity, most of them would 

 compare favorably with the latest and most fash- 

 ionable importations of British cattle. 



Now, Messrs. Editors, I will leave my cow, 

 Io, to her ruminations awhile, and give in, in as 

 few words as possible, my experience of Berk- 

 shire pigs. I have given them a fair trial, and 

 find that the cross upon our common hog is a 

 decided improvement, but not. sufficient to justify 

 by any means the exorbitant prices that are 

 paid for them. I have sold some of the young 

 pigs at ten dollars ahead but have not been able 

 to get that price for any of them when grown 

 and fatted. I have no disposition to ridicule 

 either the raisers or praisers of Berkshires, nor 

 yet the hogs themselves. Were I to attempt 

 that, every grunter I have would curl his tail at 

 me — for I have no other kind — but the truth I 

 will tell about them, and the whole truth. 'Tis 

 true " they live on less than any hogs in the 

 world," and, therefore, I think it a pity to kill 

 them. 'Tis true that "they come to maturity 

 early," and 'tis equally true that they rarely 



