1872.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
55 
back of the fore legs, 4 ft. 3k in. ; length of nose, 
9 in. ; weight, 307 lbs. 
"Old Adam," 15£ months old; length, 5 ft. 
5i in'. ; girth, 4 ft. 1 in. ; nose, 8 in. ; weight, 
285 lbs. 
" Willie's Favorite," a boar pig, 4 months and 
10 days old ; length, 3 ft. 3 in. ; girth, 2 ft. 81 in. ; 
nose, 7 in. ; weight, 92} lbs. 
I also measured and weighed a couple of my 
bleeding sows. 
"Sunflsh," the sow which took the first prize 
at the State Fair; length, 5 ft. 3 in. ; girth, 5 ft. 
4 in. ; nose, 9 in. ; weight, 348 lbs. 
A four-year-old sow, that looks to have a far 
longer body than " Sunfish," was found to mea- 
sure exactly the same length, or 5 ft. 3 in. ; 
girth, 5 ft. ; nose, 9 in. ; weight, 391 lbs. 
"Suufish" has produced more litters of pigs 
than any other sow I have. She is as thin as I 
can keep her. Neither of these sows gets any- 
thing but coarse bran, and a short allowance at 
that. The two boars are merely in fair working 
order. They have nothing but bran, with a few 
peas occasionally to keep up their vigor. " Wil- 
lie's Favorite" is a square, fine-boned, well- 
formed pig, inclined to fatten rather than to 
grow. There is no waste timber about him. 
The Deacon claims that he has better pigs 
than any of mine. He had a part Chester 
White sow that he crossed with a thorough-bred 
Essex, and he had a litter of black-and-white 
pigs, that are certainly remarkably well formed, 
of good size, and almost as fine-boned as the 
Essex. One of my men gave the Deacon 
seven dollars for a pair of them when two 
months old. Common pigs at the time were 
selling at a mere nominal price; and a German 
who works for me had one given him for no- 
thing. But as soon as he saw the pair bought 
from the Deacon, he concluded that his pig was 
dearer as a gift than the others were at $3.50, 
and he immediately bought one from the Dea- 
con. These are facts. And I think they 
prave all I have claimed. If a grade pig at 
weaning time is worth only one dollar more 
than an ordinary common pig of the same age, 
how much is a thorough-bred boar worth in 
any neighborhood where the farmers avail them- 
selves of his service ? 
I do not say that the Essex is the best breed. 
I believe it will make comparatively little differ- 
ence what breed is selected, provided the ani- 
mals are pure-bred, highly refiued, with small 
bone and offal, quiet disposition, with the hams, 
shoulders, and other valuable parts well devel- 
oped in proportion to the rest of the body, and, 
above all, that the individual animal is healthy, 
and comes from a herd which has always re- 
ceived the best care and attention, and has nei- 
ther in himself nor his ancestors ever been 
stinted in food when young. Iu other words, 
if he inherits the quality of converting all the 
food he eats into growth, and has not been 
taught by experience that he must "lay up 
something for a rainy day." If he has suffi- 
cient "prepotency" to impress his qualities, 
disposition, and characteristics on his offspring, 
such a pig, of whatever name or breed, can be 
used with great profit by any farmer who will 
bestow the necessary care on his stock. 
Depend upon it, no discovery in science, or 
mechanical invention, or improvement in the 
breed of animals, will ever do away with the 
necessity of mental or physical labor. They 
may change the character of our work, but " in 
the sweat of thy face shak thou eat bread " will 
be the condition of man until the end of time. 
There is to-day, in this latter part of the glori- 
ous nineteenth century, as much need of care, 
patience, thought, energy, and perseverance, as 
in the darkest days of any preceding age. In 
fact, we probably work harder now than ever 
before. What, then, have we gained ? It would 
take a far abler pen than mine to answer that 
question. It is perfectly clear, however, that a 
given amount of mental and physical labor 
now gives us more of the comforts, necessities, 
and luxuries of life than at any previous period 
with which we are acquainted. 
But do not dream that when we get the 
steam-plow or any other mechanical invention, 
we shall have little or nothing to do. We 
shall need a higher class of workmen than such 
as can only use the spade or the plow. It has 
required years of patient thought and perse- 
vering endeavor to produce the steam-plow or 
any other valuable invention, and it will require 
an extra amount of intelligence to manage it. 
And so with improved breeds of animals. They 
are the result of no less energy, care, intelli- 
gence and perseverance, and they require a no 
less extra amount of intelligence to manage 
them. There are men who had better stick to 
the scythe and the cradle, than undertake to run 
a mowing-machine or a reaper ; and there are 
farmers who had better keep only the common 
kind of cattle, sheep, and hogs, than to intro- 
duce improved blood into their stock. 
But it is as great a loss for an intelligent farm- 
er to keep nothing but common stock as it 
would be for him to stick to the flail in thrash- 
ing, or to the sickle in reaping his wheat. He 
is wasting his energy, skill, and intelligence. 
Such men as Thomas and Barry sometimes 
assert that it is just as easy to raise the choicest 
as the commonest variety of fruit. And in their 
grounds such is the case, for the simple reason 
that their usual treatment and cultivation arc 
fully up to the requirements of the most im- 
proved sorts. For them to plant inferior varie- 
ties would be a great waste of good opportuni- 
ties. But it will not do to assert that it is as 
easy to raise choice fruit as poor fruit. It is not 
true. There are many men who could raise the 
Choke-pear that could not raise the Sheldon. 
And it is equally true that there are farmers 
who can keep Texan or native cattle that could 
not keep Alderneys or Shorthorns. The aim 
of agricultural and horticultural writers should 
be f and I believe is, to elevate the general stand- 
ard of management and cultivation to the point 
where it is "just as easy to raise good stock 
and good fruit, as poor stock and poor fruit." 
There is pleasure and profit in raising the best. 
I am always pleased to hear from farmers in 
different sections of the country. But it is im- 
possible for me to answer all the letters I re- 
ceive; I should have to write a Cyclopaedia of 
Agriculture to answer some of them. I have 
letters from several Northern farmers who have 
gone South, asking how they had better pro- 
ceed in renovating their farms. My plan would 
be to find the best and most experienced farmer 
in the neighborhood and ask his advice. There 
may be reasons for certain practices that you do 
not understand — such as the character of the 
labor, climate, soil, and market. It is not wise 
to attempt sweeping measures of reform at 
once, or on an extended scale. Feel your way. 
Renovating a farm is slow work at first. There 
is no royal road to improved agriculture. You 
must learn to labor and to wait. But with the 
right use of means the end is sure to be satis- 
factory. Study principles. These are the same 
everywhere. It is their application only that 
varies. We must get rid of stagnant water, kill 
weeds, and develop or apply plant-food before 
we can get good crops of either corn, cotton, 
clover, grass, or wheat. This is true every- 
where. The land may be of such a poor, sandy 
nature that it may be cheaper to buy phosphates, 
potash, and nitrogen, iu the form of artificial ma- 
nures, than to try to develop them from the 
soil. One farmer in the South asks me if it will 
pay him to apply gypsum at $40 per ton. I 
think not. Superphosphate at $50 would be 
far cheaper. There is a grand opportunity for 
some man or company, with sufficient capital, 
science, and honesty, to embark in the manufac- 
ture of artificial manures. Give us available 
phosphates, nitrogen, and potash, at the cheap- 
est rates at which they can be produced, and 
hundreds of thousands of tons will be used. 
I do not care for " testimonials " as to the 
value of this or that artificial manure. Give me 
the right kind of an analysis from some reliable 
chemist and tell me what the manure is made 
of, and, so far as the value of the manure is con- 
cerned, I do not care for a catalogue of testimoni- 
als from the best farmers in the world. Farmers 
must insist on having a guarantee of the condi- 
tion and composition of the manures. Until 
this is done, testimonials are an impertinence. 
Several farmers have written me that they in- 
tend to try white mustard. I think they will 
not regret it. But they must recollect that the 
soil must be made as mellow as possible. It 
will not do on rough, cloddy land. It is a reno- 
vating crop, and the soil must be thoroughly 
prepared for it. Plaster, ashes, superphosphate, 
or guano have a great effect in stimulating its 
growth. The crop must be fed while green and 
before it goes to seed. It can not be made into 
fodder — at least I have never heard of its being 
so used. It ia generally fed -off 'Oil the land 
where it grows, but I cut a good portion of 
mine with a reaper, and use it in the yards or 
on grass lifcid as a soiling crop for cows, sheep, 
and pigs. If the land is iu good condition, half 
a peck of seed, sown broadcast and harrowed iu 
with a light harrow, is sufficient. It can be sown 
at any time after all danger of spring frost is 
past, and in this section will mature a crop, 
sown as late as the middle or end of July. The 
better way would be to sow it in succession. In 
the Southern States three or four crops might 
be grown on the same land in a season. 
Brick-Making. 
In brick-making the most important item is 
the clay. This should have a certain proportion 
of sand mingled with it, which, unless naturally 
mixed, must be supplied artificially. The clay 
should be of a dry, loose texture, rather than of 
a sticky, greasy character, and should break 
into fragments easily iu the hands. The pro- 
cess of tempering reduces it to a plastic and 
adhesive state. This is performed in the mill, 
which is sometimes called a clay-mill, but more 
commonly a "pug "-mill, represented at figure 
1. This is a cylindrical tub of planks, strongly 
bound with iron hoops, set upon a platform of 
timber. In the center of the tub is an upright 
shaft, armed with projecting knive3 or cutters. 
This is worked either by au armor sweep, fixed 
to the top of the shaft and turned by a horse 
which travel's round the mill, or by means of 
bevel wheels beneath the platform turned by a 
tumbling shaft from a horse-power placed on 
one side. The clay fed into the top of the mill 
