SOUTHEUN cultivator. 
209 
detai]) of Col. Cannon, who utterly repudiates the idea of 
any ditch whatever, or the least possible inclination of the 
rows. “Who shall decide when doctors disagree T’ This 
much, however, seems to be a “fixed fact,” that the water, 
which may, at any time, fall upon an acre, if it be permit- 
ted to run off, either by open drains or on the surface of 
land, will, most assuredly, carry with it no inconsiderable 
portion of soluble matter as well as fine light particles of 
the soil itself, held in suspension in the water. And here 
a question presents itself ; — How long should the waters 
be detained in the ditches for the deposition of those sol- 
uble and highly fertilizing matters, together with the fine 
particles, mechanically suspended in the water 1 | 
I have written more than I intended when I took up my 1 
pen. I am really seeking information upon this all-im- 
portani subject of preventing the best portion of our soils 
being carried, by every heavy fall of rain, into the nearest 
brook. There is, in my humble opinion at least, a four- 
fold greater loss of fertility on broken lands, from this j 
cause alone than from the crops grown upon them. Hence 
the enormous labor of manuring such lands to keep them i 
up to a remunerating condition of fertility. To do this, 
we have not only to supply enough to meet the wants of 
the crop to be grown, but also to meet the still greater 
waste from washing. Col. Cannon’s method, I hope, will 
fully meet every difiiculty, E. C. 
Texas, Aprii, 1856. 
HOG RAISING IN THE SOUTH. 
Ati Address delivered before the ^-Becch Island Farmers 
Chib of South Carfdna, June 1th, 1856. 
BY WN. .T. EVE, OF AUGUSTA, GA. 
ZvIb. President, and Gentlemen; 
In accordance with the Constitution of this Club, I rise 
to address you. Were it not that the rules are impera- 
tive, I should most assuredly be a silent member ; for my 
avocations have been among my vrorkers rather than at 
my desk or upon the stump— to which so many of our 
planting brethren have gone in these days of political ex- 
citement, to the hindering, I suspect, of their agricultural 
success. For in no walk of life is the old maxim— “Attend 
to your own business ; if you wish it done well,”— so appli- 
cable as in planting, and, perhaps, in no branch of the 
agricultural domain so much realized as in the raising of 
Stock. 
A good Overseer is a very good thing ; far be it from : 
me, who know so well their value, and have felt so bitterly j 
the inefficiency of an incompetent one — to detract from 
tneir merit or depreciate the estimation in wdiich they 
should be held : but I believe it is a generally acknowl- 
edged fact that they rarely take much interest in the stock. 
To make a good crop is the object of their ambition ; and 
the heisht of it, to pick out more clean cotton to the hand 
than any overseer in the State. But this, gentlemen, | 
though desirable, is not the true andflegitimate ambition. It 
should be nobler than the mere number of bales of cotton 
or bu-shels of corn. It should be, first, comfortable, clean 
houses for our negroes and these negroes weM fed and well 
clothed ; it should be good fences and clean fence corners ; 
neatness generally throughout the plantation, and, which 
brings me to tlie subject of this day’s discussion, abundant 
and well kept stock. 
Stock raising has been too much neglected by us in the 
South, particularly in the sister States of South Carolina 
and Georgia. We go to old Rip Van Winkle for our beef, 
for if the old gentleman did take a long nap, he either left 
directions to have his stock attended to, or woke up in 
time to see to it himself. And to Tennessee are we in- 
debted for our pork. Now, fellow planters, is not this a 
burning and a crying shame I (to parody a stereotyped 
sentence in obituary notices) — we cannot copy it— for in- 1 
! stead of this practice making us shine it takes the shiners 
j into out neighboring States and leaves darkness and deso- 
i lation behind — the darkness and desolation of empty 
j pockets. And how easily is this to be avoided. No ani- 
mal can be raised with less outlay than the hog. The 
offal of the plantation, scorned by other stock, is to him a 
luxury, and this is why I say this animal is reared with 
less expense. But still he must have attention if you 
j wish him to thrive. Do not be satisfied with giving an 
order that the hogs are to seen to — make itportion oCyour 
weekly business while it is the rteiZ?/ business of the stock 
minder. I, perhaps, have more cause to content myself 
with bought meat than most of you, because the situation 
j of my plantation renders it necessary for me to have miles 
of damming and ditching, and all know the habit of this 
animal — their rooting propensities, which ruin ditches and 
dams. And I confess sometimes I have been strongly 
tempted to expel them from the premises. But the ques- 
tion would arise, would this be good policy! I was com- 
pelled to answer, it would not ; and so I raise rooters and 
repair their damages. And, although there is great 
room for impi’ovement in my management of hogs, I am 
happy to state that I have been for some years in the habit 
of selling rather than of buying pork and bacon. It is 
true I bought meat last fall and the fall before, but it was 
because I had sold out too closely the spring preceding, 
and, as I sold at higher prices than I bought, I made by 
that operation. 
Hog raising has always been neglected — the manner has 
been careless. “Root, little pig — root or die,” seems to 
have been the motto of our fathers and grand-fathers and 
has descended to us. But, while in these ancestral times 
there were mighty forests in which batallions of hogs 
could have found provision, there are now in our posses- 
sion but a few acres of wood, yielding, I grant, mast to as- 
sist in his feeding, but not giving him that sufficiency of 
nourishment which brings to the knife the well fatted, 
well meated hog. 
How to bring about this most desirable end with the 
least expense of corn feeding, is a knowledge that we all 
covet, and which we hope this discussion will give us. 
The bringing in of each man’s quota of experience, will; 
we hope, raise up for us a system of hog culture which 
will make our animals equal those of Tennessee ; and I 
know of no one to whom we can go for more or better di- 
gested information than my friend and neighbor, Jona- 
than Miller, who, even when a boy, knew his father’s 
hogs by name, and, who, in his turn, willdiscuss this sub- 
ject con amore. 
But to proceed to my method of hog culture; and to give 
you some of my ideas with regard to improving our 
stock. First, in reference to the breed of hogs most de- 
sirable I should select well shaped sows of a thriving and 
shifting habit. I do not, perhaps, lay sufficient stress 
upon the names of the breeds. I am not certain but what 
it is best to mingle breeds so as to get the good points of 
several breeds concentrated in the hybrid. The boar 
should be changed every two or three years to prevent 
the deterioration, w’hich in-and-in-breeding inevitably pro- 
produces in animals as well as human stock. I think my 
own stock is now suffering from my carelessness in this 
particular. At first view this frequent change may seem 
expensive and troublesome, but can we not adopt some 
plan which would obviate both these objections ? Could 
not several of us get good boars of different breeds, each 
getting one ! At the close of the first twelve months 
could not my next neighbor and I change! and so on, 
till each member had had the use of each boar twelve 
months. By that time our stock would have no affinity 
to the first boar and each one could commence anew 
with his own, and the same rounds go on ; and thereafter 
selections from our own stock would, perhaps be as fine 
as any imported boar. 
