318 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
persons who contcmplnto exliibitin.ij, will make applicn- 
tion forstallM without delay, and if necessary at a later 
day, sucli applications can be amended. Inquiries may 
be addressed tn tlic Cliief of the Bureau of Agriculture, 
International Exhibition, Philadelphia. 
•-# ^«^^ 
"Walks and Talks" Correspondence. 
PASTimiNG Pigs.—" G. C," Va., asks: ''Do you give 
yonr pio:s the run of a pasture, or do you keep them pen- 
ned all the time ? "—I give my breeding stock as much 
exercise as possible, winter and summer. In the sum- 
mer all the breeding stock over nine months or a year 
old, have nothing but pasture aud water. In warm 
"weather they remain in the field night day. I kept 
forty breeding sows last summer and ] *. summer before 
in an old pasture which has not been plowed for eight 
years. There is a little white clover in it, but the pas- 
ture consists principally of the common grasses. There 
are a few acres of woodland attached to it, and a living 
spring of water. These sows had nothing but this pas- 
ture for four or five months. If any of the hows get very 
tliin from suckling, or from any other cause, we let them 
run with the younger pigs. These are in a better pas- 
ture, and fed twice a day besides. 
"Do You Rmo the Pigs?"— Yes. But if I hsid 
pasture that I was going to plow, I would let them root 
all they wished, and have a good time generally. 
Oats and Peas.—" When labor is scarce and land 
cheap, would it not be a good plan,'' a>;ks G. C, '■ to sow 
oats and peas together in May, and turn the hogs in when 
ripe '■?— I think not. I cut this crop with a Johnston 
reaper, and the straw alone, if it is a luxuriant crop, well 
cured, is worth two or three times the cost of harvesting 
and thrashing. 
DiEHL Wheat. "N. P. T." sowed half a bushel of 
Diehl wheat on 64 rods of land in the fall of 1873. *' I 
got," he says, "13 busht and 3TJ lbs. of splendid 
wheat."— This 34 bushels per aero. He Gowed six 
acres of it this fall. In this section many of our farmers 
have abandoned the Diehl and gone into Clawson. There 
eeems to be no reason to doubt but that the Clawson is 
a hardier variety, that will yield better under ordinary 
treatment than the Diehl. But I still hold on to the 
Diehl, thinking it of better quality. 
Sowing Timothy with SIillet.— "E. A. W.," Or- 
land, Ind., writes : "Do you think it will do to sow tim- 
othy seed in the spring with millet. My clover froze 
out and the land has been cropped enough— too much— 
and I tbo'jght to sow millet and seed with timothy, pas- 
turing the millet/'— I have had no experience on this 
point. I should think the pasturing would injure the 
young timothy. If the land is a strong loam, I should 
be inclined to try summer-fallowing it and seeding it 
down heavily with timothy, say half a bushel per acre, 
in August or September. If you get the land in fine 
tilth, you will be likely to secure a good catch and obtain 
a large crop of hay the next season, and a fair meadow 
or pasture for years to come. If the land was sandy and 
clean, I would sow timothy and clover alone this spring, 
and as early as the land could ho got in fair mellow con- 
dition. Sow a peck of timothy and a peck of red clover 
and two lbs. of white clover per acre. Go over the land 
two or three times with a fine harrow before sowing the 
seed. Then sow the seed, harrow lightly and roll. Ev- 
erything will depend on getting the land in good order. 
Mangel Wurzel at the South. — " T. K.," Winona, 
Miss., writes : 1. " Do you think mangel wurzel will suc- 
ceed here in the south?"— I should think you could 
grow a large crop, but probably not of the best quality, 
and the advantage of raising mangels in the south can- 
not be so great as here, where they are specially valuable 
in spring before grass starts. 2. " Give me your method 
of planting, cultivating, and saving the crop."— Plow in 
the fall, manure heavily in winter or spring with well- 
rotted manure. Harrow it repeatedly, so as to mix the 
manure with the soil. Plow Ihe manure under. Harrow. 
In a week or two, if there is time, plow again, harrow, 
and roll. Drill in the seed at the rate of 6 or 8 Ihs. per 
acre, in rows ^ feet apart. Thin the plants to 12 or 15 
inches in the row. Cultivate between the rows with a 
hand hoe, repeatedly. Go over the crop again with the 
hoe. Leave only one plant in a place and keep out all 
weeds. I sow in May, and harvest in October. Pit in 
the field, or put the roots in a cellar. You would proba- 
bly not need to sow before July, and harvest just before 
severe frost. 3. " Which root do you think preferable 
for cows when milk is the object ? "—Taking into con- 
sideration the cost of raising the amount of produce, and 
the care of keeping, I think there is no root equal to the 
mangel wurzel— certainly none superior. 4. "What 
•would be a fair yield per acre on land that will produce 
40hushelsof shelled corn per acre? ■" — They never ought 
to be sown on land which is not rich enough to pmduce 
75 bushels of shelled corn per acre. I think land that ig 
rich enough to grow 75 bushels of shelled corn, ought to 
produce 750 bushels of mangels per acre. 
A Good Corn Crop.— F. K. Adams, Waukesha Co., 
Neb., writes me that his corn last year yielded 92;^ 
bnsliels per acre on 20 acres, and all hard. I suppose 
this means shelled corn or its equivalent. If so, it is a 
grand crop. Mr. A. cultivates his corn very thoroughly- 
doing it with a two-horse '* Black Hawk" Cultivator, 
made at Rock Island, 111. lie recommends me to get one. 
Canada Barley.-" J. A. C." aiks why Canada barley 
commands a higher price than N. Y. Slate barley. Be- 
cause Canada farmers take more pains with the crop, and 
have secured a good reputation for their barley. We can 
raise just as good l)arley on the east side of the Niagara 
or St. Lawrence river as on the west side. There is little 
or no (litlerence in soil or climate. We can raise good 
barley if we make our land clean, mellow, dry, and ricli. 
It is vain to hope fur a good crop on poor, half-worked, 
weedy, wet land. It requires the best of soil and culture. 
How TO Use a Roller.— If it is a plank roller, saturate 
the planks with petroleum. It will not only preserve it, 
but the damp earth will not stick to it. Put a seat on to 
the roller, and let the boy ride. Let him go around the 
field, and keep going around, working towards the cen- 
ter, lie will not only do more work, but do it better, 
as there is no dan^'cr of scraping up the soil, as is 
sometimes the case when you turn short at the ends. 
Keep the axles of the roller well oiled. 
Randall's Grain Separator, made at Auburn, N. Y., 
touches me on a weak spot. I have been accused of hav- 
ing " weeds on the brain." And there is some truth in 
the accusation. Weeds run away with half our profits. 
We are improving in our treatment of weeds, but we are 
still very remiss in one particular. We do not always 
sow clean seed. We suinmci'-fallow a piece of land for 
wheat, and take pains to get every weed seed to germi- 
nate, and then kill the joung weed plants. But we are 
not alwayi^ able to get clean seed to sow upon it. On 
our own farm we often run our seed three or four times 
through a fanning mill, in hopes of blowing out every 
foul seed, and all of the lightest grain. But from a 
slight examination of Randall's Separator, we deem that 
with this machine the work can not only be done with 
far IcFS time and labor, but we maybe sure of getting 
nothing but the heaviest and best matured kernels for 
seed, with not a single weed seed in the sample. After 
harveijt we shall probably have a better opportunity of 
testing this machine, but in the meantime we arc suffi- 
ciently satisfied of its good merits, to recommend it to 
the consideration of our readers. 
Buying a Farm.— "F. H.," of Mass., writes: "If you 
were to purchase a farm again, where would you advise 
a person to go to buy, and how old had he onglit to be 
before buying, and how many acres would you buy?"— 
This is somewhat mixed, but the meaning is clear. If I 
had to buy a farm again, I should certainly buj' it in tlie 
United States- but what part of it would depend on cir- 
fumstances. I should probably buy in Ihe neighborhood 
ft'hore I happened to he. I have very liitle respect for 
people who arc always longing to be anywhere, except 
where their lot and work is cast. I would advise "F. IL" 
to buy a farm in Massachusetts. If he was in Iowa, I 
would advise Inm to buy one in Iowa. If he was in Mis- 
souri, I think he would be wise to stay there. In regard 
to age, much depends on experience. I was born on a 
farm, and my father taught me to do all kinds of farm- 
work, as soon as I was able. I think I could plow as 
well as I can now, when I was twelve years old. At six- 
teen I had a good deal to do wilh the general superin- 
tendence of the farm. At twenty-two I was left alone. 
Twenty-five years later I could see where I had made a 
great many mistakes, and could feel the force of are- 
mark once made tome by an old friend. "The truth is," 
said he, "a mnn wants to live one life, before he knows 
how to live."— If "F. n." is a farmer's son, and thinks 
he knows how to manage a farm, and has the money to 
buy one, let him purchase in the neighborhood, and go to 
work with a good heart. "How many acres" he had better 
buy, will depend on his capital. I would not lock it all 
up in land. Leave enough to work it and stock it proper- 
ly. Recollect that we do not make our money from haul, 
but from the labor, skill, and money we put into it. 
Land gives us a chance or opportunity to work ; and we 
get our money from the work. As to wlietheryou had bet- 
ter spend the work on 5. 50, or 500 acres, depends on 
circumstances. If your farm is small, you must grow 
crops which require much labor and manure per acre. 
Breeding Long-wool Sheep.— " R. S. T.," who says 
he has never kept sheep, asks me several questions about 
long-wool sheep and tlieir grades. lam not sure but he is 
quite as likely to succeed witli thorn, as a farmer who has 
hitherto kept only Merinos. I have known many fanners 
who used to keep a flock of common Merinos, and let 
them pick np a living as best they could, fail entirely 
when they undertook to raise the long-wool mutton 
breeds. They made nothing by keeping Merinos, an4 
they made still less by keeping long-wools. But to the 
questions.— 1st. At what age should they be allowed to 
breed ? "—As a rule, not until they are two years old. I 
have bred them at one year old with good success. For 
instance, a ewe-lamb that is born in February might be 
allowed to take the ram the following December.— 2nd. 
" How old should the ewes be kept as breeders ? "—In an 
ordinary flock I should not keep them after they were 
four or fi\e years old. It is better to sell them to the 
butcher when fat, and breed from young ones. In rais- 
ing choice, pure-bred sheep, breeders often keep good 
ewes as long as they will breed. I h^ve a Mapleshade 
Cotswold ewe, " No. 70," 8 years old, that had three good 
lambs this spring, all now living and doing well. She is 
etill in vigorous health, and weighed at shearing time 
this spring 178 lbs., and sheared lOX lbs. of wool.— 3rd. 
" Would you have the lambs come early when the object 
is noi to raise lambs for the butcher?" — If you have 
plenty of roots for the ewes, or can "slop" them with 
bran or malt-combs, and have dry, comfortable quarters, 
I should decidedly prefer to have the lambs come early, 
say February and March. Y<}u have then plenty of time 
to attend to them, and the fresh May and June pasture 
will keep np the flow of milk, and push forward the lambs. 
Sawdust for Manure.— " G. W. C," Illinois, asks 
if it " will pay to haul rotted sawdust five miles for ma- 
nure?" — I should think not on your rich prair4e soils. 
You can get or make manure cheaper. 
Nutriment in Pumpkins. — "J. C. C./' Huntington^ 
Ind., writes: "I have several times fattened pigs on 
sweet pumpkins and corn. I threw out pumpkins and 
corn together. The pigs would eat all the corn they 
wanted, and would then eat twice the amount in bulk of 
pumpkins. They grew and fattened much better than 
when I fed corn alone. Now, do you suppose there is 
much nutriment in the pumpkins, or was the good effect 
due to the pumpkins keeping the stomach and intestines 
properly filled ? "—Anything which will enable a good 
pig to eat and digest more food will induce a more rapid 
growth. In 100 lbs. of pumpkins there is 82'/4 lbs. of 
water. Green clover contains 75 per cent of water. If 
you were feeding 25 large hogs, and they ate 200 lbs. of 
corn-meal a day; and if you should mix water with it 
until it was as " sloppy " as green clover, you would have 
to make a mixture of 200 lbs. of corn-meal and 600 lbs. of 
water. Now if, instead of giving water, you give pump- 
kins, to get the same amount of food and water, you 
would have to give 700 lbs. of pumpkins and 147^2 Ihs. of 
corn-meal. It must not surprise any one, therefore, to 
see a lot of pigs, which had just had all the corn they 
would eat, make away with a good sized pumpkin each 
after evei*y meal. The pumpkins furnish water and afford 
a little easily digested food. And when the pigs have all 
the corn they will eat, and all the pumpkins tliey will eat 
arterwards, I can easily see why they should grow and 
fatten faster than on corn and water alone. 
"How often should Pigs be Fed?"— Young pigs 
could be fed five or six times a day to advantage— say the 
first thing in the morning ; then as soon as you have done 
milking. As soon as y«u come home at noon feed again, 
and again before going to the lot in the afternoon. Then 
again when you come home to tea, and finally the last 
thing at niglit. The pen of five pigs under six months 
that I showed at the N. Y. State Fair last year were fed 
in this way. They were fed little at a time and often. 
They had a little corn-meal and fine middlings mixed 
with, and allowed to soak (or several hours in, milk and 
slops from the house. The food was not cooked. The 
pigs were always ready to eat— never quite satisfied and 
never really hungry. They would always come running 
to the trough and eat up clean all that was given thera. 
Salt as Manure.— A Pennsylvania farmer wants to 
know if it will pay him to use salt at $1 50 to $2.00 per 
barrel for manure, and how he had better use it. — 1 have 
not much faith in salt, and yet it sometimes hasa wonder- 
ful etfcct. For wheat sow a barrel per acre broadcast, 
and harrow it in thoroughly before drilling in the seed. 
Never drill in the salt with the seed. Several of my 
neighbors killed their seed corn this year by puttiug re- 
fuse Syracuse salt iu the drills or hills. 
Stone Underprains.— '* G. W. W.," Bedford Co., Pa., 
has plenty of stones on his farm, but cannot get tiles.— 
Use the stones fur drains. Put stones on each side of the 
drain, and cover with a flat stone. If well laid, they will 
work well and last for many years. You cannot make a 
good tnain drain by throwing in stones or gravel promis- 
cuously. With me an underdraiu of this kind has never 
worked satisfactorily. 
Crossing Cotswolds with South Downs.— A gentle- 
man iu Pennsylvania has a pure bred South Down ram, 
and he projioses to buy some pure bred Cotswold ewes 
to breed to liim.— My advice is " don't."— Beltrr get good 
common grade ewes, that will not cost one-tenth what a 
pure bred CotswoUl ought to be worth. Breed these 
to your pure bred South Down, and you will Inive nearly 
as good lambs as if you crossed hira with pure bred Cots- 
