76 
TO IMPROVE PEAR TREES.-SWINE RUNNING AT LARGE. 
from his barn-yard 230 loads of manure on the 10th 
of May, which was made in the preceding six months. 
On the 10th of November, from the same yard, he 
carted 236 loads more, averaging 30 bushels per load, 
made within the six months following the 10th of 
May. Five cows only were kept, which thus made 
466 loads of good manure in one year. During the 
summer, leaves, straw, &c., were constantly thrown 
into the yard, and occasionally covered with charcoal 
dust Each cow voided in six months 6,000 lbs. of 
urine, which was absorbed by the refuse, and its 
strength retained by the charcoal dust, gypsum, &c.; 
the manure, therefore, was intrinsically worth the 
New York city price, viz., $1 the wagon load, or 
$466. 
In addition to making this great quantity of manure, 
the other advantages of soiling are: 1. No cross 
fences are required on the farm. 2. The cows give 
twice as much milk as when running at large. 
3. They are fit for the shambles in the fall, being fat. 
4. They are always ready to be milked. 5. They 
are never worried by being driven to and from the 
pasture. 6. They eat all the refuse grass, which 
would otherwise be lost. 7. Eight acres will keep 
them longer and better than 40 would depastured. 
8 . The fields are always in order, not being poached 
by their feet in wet weather. 9. The person is not 
much longer in cutting their food and giving it to 
them, than he would be in driving them to and from 
their pasture. 10. Manure enough is saved to pay 
the interest on a large farm. Numerous other good 
reasons might be given if the above are not considered 
sufficient. 
The above experiment of Mr. Pell, showing the 
superiority of the soiling system, is strongly corrobo¬ 
rated by others made in Europe, though probably un¬ 
known to Mr. P. when he commenced his. We 
quote from a speech recently made before a meeting 
of the Larne Farming Society, in Ireland, by Mr. Do- 
naghy, Superintendent of the Agricultural Depart¬ 
ment of the Larne National School. 
“ Mr. Smith, of Deanston, a gentleman, whose 
scientific and practical knowledge, as an agriculturist, 
has placed him in the first rank of the improvers of 
the soil, is no mean authority in support of the soiling 
system. In the summer of 1841, he made an experi¬ 
ment on a dairy of twenty cows, pasturing the one- 
half and house-feeding the other. He selected them 
as equally as possible, in point of carcase, condition, 
and milking quality. The result of his experiment 
was, that the cows house-fed gave their milk more 
uniformly, and more plentifully, and continued 
throughout in excellent health, and improved in con¬ 
dition from 305. to 405. per head over those at pasture. 
The cows house-fed were kept on three-quarters of a 
statute acre each, whilst those that were pastured re¬ 
quired one and a quarter acre of pasture, and a quar¬ 
ter acre of cut grass and vetches, making one acre 
and a-half for each; so that, upon the whole, about 
the one-half of the extent of ground necessary for the 
keep of cows at pasture, was sufficient for those kept 
in the house. I could adduce abundance of other 
proof, from equally respectable gentlemen, in support 
of the superiority of this system to that in general 
practice ; but I shall content myself with merely say¬ 
ing* that if, according to Mr. Blacker, a gentleman 
irho deserves the best thanks of the agricultural com¬ 
munity, three cows could be kept on the same extent 
of ground as is at present required to keep one—and 
I have not the slightest doubt but that, by proper 
management, they could—the benefit thus resulting to 
the farming interest would be immense. But the in¬ 
crease of milk and butter consequent on its adoption, 
would not be the only resulting advantage—the in¬ 
crease of the manure heap would be equally advan¬ 
tageous. No farmer, I care not how good his prac¬ 
tice in other respects may be, can farm profitably, 
without a plentiness of manure. Now, it has been 
calculated, on an average, that cows are not kept in 
the house, at present, more than eight hours each 
day, throughout the year. If such be the case, and 
I have no reason to question the correctness of the 
calculation, would not a cow, which is house-fed 
summer and winter, produce three times as much 
available manure as one pastured ? If, then, accord¬ 
ing to Mr. Smith’s opinion, two cows could be kept 
in the place of one, six times as much manure could 
be made—if Mr. Blacker’s views be correct, nine times 
as much manure could be realized. I contend, there¬ 
fore, that the general adoption of this system would 
do away with a great deal of the poverty, privations, 
and misery, with which the small farmers are at pre¬ 
sent beset. And how ? By increasing the means of 
subsistence. If we look at Belgium, with a popula¬ 
tion of 321 to the square mile (and an inferior soil to 
ours), and compare the condition of its inhabitants 
with that of the inhabitants of our own country, in 
which the population does not exceed 263 to the 
square mile, the contrast, on our part, is melancholy. 
But the Belgians pursue a regular rotation of crop¬ 
ping, house-feed their cattle, keep urine tanks, &c.; 
and, by superior management, are in the enjoyment 
of a degree of comfort and happiness to which the 
lower classes of Irishmen are utter strangers.” 
Swine running at large. —We know of no 
practice more to be reprehended among farmers, than 
to let their hogs run at large and congregate about 
their doors when they are fed. Here they stir up a 
deep mortar bed of mud with their beastly feet and 
snouts, and add to it the droppings of their odious 
filth, and the decaying heaps of corn cobs from which 
they have shelled their food, making the approach to 
many farm-houses dirty and disgusting in the extreme. 
A pig of a fine breed, clean, and in good condition, 
is, like other stock, a pleasant sight enough when 
kept in his proper place; but brought out in bold re¬ 
lief near the house, he is extremely disgusting ana 
filthy. By letting hogs run at large they are for ever 
in mischief, and put the farmers to much extra ex¬ 
pense in fencing; they glean little abroad, and sadly 
waste their flesh in roaming; and what is quite as 
important to many, they also wuste their manure. 
Keep them up in pens or close fenced fields, suffi¬ 
ciently distant from the house to prevent their odor 
reaching it, let the wind blow as it list. It is best to 
let swine run in orchards; here they are kept out of 
harm’s way, and thrive well on the fruit. 
To improve Pear Trees and their Fruit.— 
When planted in a clay soil, mix sand and lime to¬ 
gether at the rate of one of the former to two of the 
latter, and apply a bushel or so round each tree 
Sea sand found mixed with shell fish is admirable for 
this purpose, and we presume tnat shell marl womld 
be equally good. 
