THE SOU THE 



as much water on it as possible ; he sows two 

 bushels to the acre and reaps ten, so that it takes 

 a fifth of his crop to seed his ground ; his corn 

 land had never any help from him, but bears 

 just what it pleases, which is from thirty to 

 thirty-five bushels, by measurement ; though he 

 brags that it is fifty or sixty. His hogs, if not 

 remarkable for fattening- qualities, would beat old 

 Eclipse at a quarter race ; and were the man 

 not prejudiced against deep ploughing, his hogs 

 would work his ground better with their prodi- 

 gious snouts, than he does with his jack-knife 

 plough. His meadow lands yield three-quarters 

 of a ton to a whole ton of hay ; which is regu- 

 larly spoiled in curing ; regularly left out for a 

 month, very irregularly stacked up and left for the 

 cattle to pull out at their plasure and half eat and 

 half trample under foot. His horses would excite 

 the avarice of an anatomist in search of osteolo- 

 gical specimens ; and returning from their range 

 of pasture they are walking herbariums, bearing 

 specimens in their mane and tail of every weed 

 that bears a burr or cockle. But oh, the cows ! 

 If held up in a bright day to the sun, don't you 

 think they would be semi-transparent ? But he 

 tells us good milkers are always poor ! His 

 cows get what Providence sends them and very 

 little besides, except in winter, then they have a 

 half peck of corn, the ears a foot long thrown 

 to them, and they afford lively spectacles of ani- 

 mated corn and cob crushers ; never mind, they 

 yield, on an average, three quarts of milk per 

 day ! and that milk yields varieties of butter 

 quite astonishing. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 THE FIG. 



Mr. Editor, — An Inquirer, in the last Planter, 

 wishes to get information as to any successful 

 method of protecting the fig and making it fruit- 

 ful in our climate. I have long known the art — 

 practiced it successfully in one of the most frosty 

 positions (Bremo, Fluvana county,) in middle 

 Virginia, and take pleasure in making it known 

 through your widely circulated periodical. 



Nothing more is necessary than to bend the 

 branches down to the surface of the earth as 

 near as they can be brought without breaking, 

 and covering them with the adjacent soil fifteen 

 or eighteen inches thick. This process ought 

 to be performed soon after the leaves have been 

 killed by the frost, and the covering should be 

 removed in the spring after decided indications 

 of the sap being in motion in other trees. The 

 fig will not live one year in five, through the 

 winter in the open air at my place, but by the 

 above course of proceeding, I have an abundant 

 crop every year. 



John H. Cocke. 



November, 1846. 



RN PLANTER. 263 



From the Farmer and Mechanic. 

 FATTENING HOGS. 



Friend Starr, — As this is the season for fat- 

 tening pork, a few remarks upon the subject 

 may not be uninteresting to your numerous agri- 

 cultural readers. 



To fatten a hog or an ox where there is plenty 

 of corn and potatoes requires no great skill, but 

 to do it in a manner that will render the animal 

 more valuable to the farmer, when fit for market, 

 than the substance consumed in fattening would 

 be, besides paying for the trouble of doing it, is 

 a matter worthy of consideration. 



The summer of 1836 being very dry, my 

 corn and potato crop came in light, and com- 

 pelled me to try an experiment, which I found 

 to work so well that 1 have since followed it to 

 my entire satisfaction. It was this, I adopted 

 the feeding apples, of which I had an abundant 

 crop, mixed with pumpkins, a few potatoes, and 

 a small quantity of meal prepared in the follow- 

 ing manner. For convenience I set in my swill 

 house, adjacent to the stye, a large iron kettle, 

 holding about nine bushels, and then had a 

 wooden cylinder made that held from twelve to 

 fifteen more, and hooped with iron bands, just 

 large enough to set upon the arch outside of the 

 kettle, and by putting a little clay or mortar on 

 the arch before setting on the leak, (as I called 

 it,) I made it perfectly tight, I then had a cover 

 or lid fitted to the top, which was also made 

 tight or nearly so, by laying on a piece of cotton 

 cloth or canvass underneath it, before putting it 

 on. 



Into this kettle I first put about three bushels 

 of potatoes washed clean, then filled to the curb 

 with cut pumpkins, and filled the curb to the 

 top with apples, adding two or three or more 

 pails of water, in proportions to the quantity of 

 meal that I intend to mix with it after mashing. 

 After letting this boil awhile I remove the cover 

 and fill again with apples, and again make 

 tight. 



The apples and pumpkins, you will notice, 

 are steamed by this process, and when all are 

 sufficiently cooked, they are taken out, well 

 mixed, and a half bushel corn meal or a bucket 

 of ground oats and peas, or of buckwheat and 

 rye, instead, added to the mixture while hot, 

 and thus rendered more valuable for being cooked 

 with the mass. I think that sweet apples fed 

 in this way to hogs are worth nearly as much 

 as potatoes, and sour ones more than half as 

 much. 



I never made pork with as little expense or 

 less trouble than since I have practiced this 

 method. 



I now prepare most of my feed in this way 

 for fattening my beef and mutton, and find it 

 equally advantageous, indeed I believe that I 

 get the best profit from feeding sheep in this 



