366 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
A Log Root-House. 
It is not well to delay the building of a 
root-house until the time for harvesting the 
roots. The essential points in a good house 
for the storing of roots are ; protection from 
the frost, dryness, and proper ventilation. 
For those who live in a wooded locality, a 
house built of logs is cheap and very satisfac¬ 
tory. Such a root-house is shown in the en¬ 
graving. An excavation about three feet 
A LOG BOOT-HOUSE. 
deep is first made, and the log walls built 
around it. The walls should be double, at 
least a foot apart, between which earth is 
placed; the roof is made of timbers, with earth 
above, thick enough to keep out the frost. 
Pigs for Profit. 
BY COL. r. D. CURTIS. 
The care of pigs in summer can be made 
less troublesome and more profitable than 
is usually the case. Unless confined in res¬ 
tricted quarters, pigs are liable to break out 
and do mischief. They are not adapted to 
being kept with other stock, as no animal 
likes to feed after pigs, and while this dislike 
is so marked that animals will not eat out of 
the same vessel from which pigs have been 
fed, or in which they have “ mussed,” they 
may be forced, from hunger, to eat the grass 
in the pasture where they run, but it is not 
wise to compel them to do so. For these rea¬ 
sons, farmers generally keep pigs shut up in 
pens, where they must be supplied with all 
the food they require. Sometimes this con¬ 
dition is improved upon by allowing them a 
small range on the ground. This is better 
than close confinement in the pen, as it makes 
them more comfortable and healthy, but it 
does not lessen very much the amount of care 
they require, as the supply of food is soon 
exhausted. It is a better plan to have the en¬ 
closure so large that the pigs cannot readily 
consume all the grass and make it bare of any 
kind of vegetation. When pigs are not rung, 
to prevent their rooting, they will soon spoil 
a small enclosure, and also damage a larger 
one. This injury to the pasture can easily be 
prevented by inserting in their snouts two or 
three rings made of malleable wire. Care 
should be taken to have the ends of the 
wires straight, so that they will not pull out. 
Every farm should contain a pasture for pigs, 
set apart for their exclusive use. It should 
be large enough to afford them ample space, 
so that while they are feeding off one portion 
the grass will grow on the rest of it, to afford 
continuous feed. The size of the pasture 
must be regulated by the number of pigs to be 
kept. An acre is sufficient for three or four 
hogs, especially if the ground has been seed¬ 
ed with Orchard-grass, which starts the 
quickest and furnishes more feed than most 
other grasses. The manure from the hogs will 
increase the growth. The fences should be 
of a substantial character, so that the pigs 
will not break out. An unruly hog is the 
hardest kind of animal to confine, hence the 
importance of good fences, to prevent them 
becoming breechy ; a board fence, or a stone 
wall is the best calculated for this purpose. 
There is no ground so well adapted for a per¬ 
manent pig pasture as an orchard, and no 
grass so well suited to it as Orchard-grass, 
which grows freely in the shade. In no other 
way can a crop be obtained so well under the 
apple-trees; the orchard is kept in a vigorous 
condition with little labor. I am not sure but 
the pasturing of hogs in an orchard will keep 
the trees in a more flourishing condition than 
tillage. The trees will not be bruised and the 
roots broken off, as when the ground is culti¬ 
vated. The fine roots can come nearer the 
surface, and consequently feed on the richer 
soil than when the ground is plowed, as they 
are then tom away and destroyed. Tillage 
is not necessary for the vigorous growth of 
trees, nor is it essential for bountiful yields 
of fruit. But for an abundant fruit harvest 
richness of soil is of far more consequence. 
Pigs solve the off-year problem the best of 
any plan I know of, by making the land so 
rich that a crop of fruit may be had every 
year. I have a small apple orchard which has 
not failed in an annual yield for years. Dur¬ 
ing this period it has been used exclusively 
as a pig pasture. No manure has been put on 
it other than that made by the pigs. My faith 
in this remedy for off-years is so strong, that 
another apple orchard, embracing about five 
acres has been prepared for a permanent pig 
pasture. The pigs will undoubtedly improve 
the quality of the fruit by devouring all of 
the apples which fall prematurely, thus des¬ 
troying the worms that would injure the ap¬ 
ples. There is no mode of treatment which 
will cause breeding sows to be so healthy and 
to bear better pigs than when allowed to feed 
on grass. They are not delirious or ferocious 
when they have their young, as frequently 
occurs when confined in a pen. The losses 
which farmers often suffer on this account, 
would equal the cost of preparing a perma¬ 
nent pig pasture. When pigs are kept con¬ 
fined and fed entirely on grain, their profit is 
often a doubtful question. But fed on grass 
their growth can be made so cheaply that 
there is no question about profit in hog rais¬ 
ing. Under the system stated above, pigs 
are made valuable aids on the farm in pro¬ 
ducing other beneficial results. 
Trine Value ol' A sites.— Coal-ashes do 
not contain much plant-food, and their value 
is mostly mechanical. Wood-ashes are rich 
in potash, one of the three substances the 
most frequently lacking in poor soils. This 
potash is very soluble, so that fresh ashes is 
a quick-acting fertilizer. Leached ashes has 
the larger part of the potash removed, and 
they are of much less value The following 
figures express the percentage of valuable 
ingredients in unleached and leached ashes : 
Potash. 
IAme. 
Phosphoric 
Acid. 
7 to 10 % 
32 % 
2 % 
Leached. 
1 to 2 V„ 
25% 
H% 
It will be seen that the loss of 6 to 8 lbs. of 
potash per hundred is the leading difference 
between the unleached and leached ashes. 
Making Straw Roofs. 
For twenty years I have been making roofs 
of temporary shelters with rye-straw. The 
straw should be cut when fully ripe, kept 
straight, and threshed clean by hand with a 
flail. All the grain must be removed from 
the straw, or rats and turkeys will make sad 
havoc with the roof. I do not make the 
building more than 20 feet wide. Any 
kind of soft-wood poles will do for rafters, 
as small crooks will not show in the roof. 
Make the pitch very steep, at least half¬ 
pitch, or the ridge-pole 10 feet higher than 
the plates of a 20-foot building. The raft¬ 
ers may be cut to project 1 foot, or if poles 
are used for rafters, small poles, say 2 inches- 
in diameter, may be cut 2‘/ 2 feet long, flatten¬ 
ed at the upper end, and nailed to the rafter 
resting on the plate, thus making the desired 
projection. Nail a good solid small pole, 
say I*/, inch in diameter, on the end of the 
rafters, all around the building, splicing 
when necessary, then use inch poles for 
sheathing, nailing them on about 9 inches 
apart. The roof should be hipped at the 
ends, as it saves gables and looks better. 
Commence the roof with a loose bunch of 
straw; compact it in the hands. Let the 
butts project about 3 inches over the outside, 
and tie it to the outside pole and to the one 
next above. This front row must .be doubly- 
secured, to prevent the wind from lifting it. 
Lay on another row of bunches, letting the 
butts come down even with the first, but se¬ 
curing with but one tie to the third row of 
poles. Put on the third row of bunches, let¬ 
ting the butts come about 9 inches up on the 
two front rows, and proceed shingle fashion 
until the roof is completed. Finish the roof 
ROOF SHOWING THATCHING. 
by binding a good supply of straw across the 
comb, running one or more wires along on 
each side, and sewing through with wire. 
For this one will need an assistant on the 
underside to return the wires through the 
straw. The corners, also, would be better 
secured with a little wire. Trim off the 
eaves with a knife. I have always used wil¬ 
low ties to fasten on the straw, but one can 
use twine or the kind of wire used by the 
binders. An expert hand may make a good 
roof and tie it with straw. I have a shed 
made in this way 30 by 20 feet, used for stor¬ 
ing machinery, the whole cost of which was 
fifty cents for nails, and four days’ work for 
two persons ; the posts, poles, straw, and 
ties, were home products. A roof thus made 
and not disturbed by stock, rats, or poultry, 
will last twelve or fifteen years. But if used 
for stock, it must be put up high enough, so 
no animal can reach the eaves on a cold 
winter night. If for storage, and away from 
stock, the sides may be closed up the same 
as the roof, only not so thick. Kentuck. 
