56 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Febhuahy, 
apod care of them. He wants to raise and fat 
a few pigs to sell and to eat. There is in his 
neighborhood thorough-bred Essex, Berkshire, 
■Suffolk, Small Yorkshires, Large Yorkshires, 
Chester Whites, Jefferson Co., and Magie pigs, 
which shall he use ? I should have no hesita¬ 
tion in replying, Essex. 
I do not claim great size for the Essex. They 
ielong to the class of “small breeds.” They 
sire the largest of the small breeds. They are 
larger than the* small Befkshires, larger than 
i&e Suffolks or the small Yorkshires. What I 
oMm for them is high quality of meat, a large 
fKoportion of flesh to fat, and lard remarkably 
vrMte and firm. They are the most gentle of 
all pigs; good breeders, careful mothers, and 
gssod sucklers. They have a minimum propor- 
Sbn of offal, are good graziers, arid will grow 
■apidly in proportion to the food consumed, and 
as© fit for the butcher at all times—can be sold 
aiSmree to four months old, and afford the most 
dSsEcibus of fresh pork, or can be kept till four¬ 
teen months, and then dress over 400 lbs. And 
last and best of all, our American bred Essex, 
assported from the late Fisher Hobbs, by such 
sjam. as Morris and Thorne, and bred by them 
iipl others who know the value of pedigree, 
ss% of unquestioned purity of blood, and will 
afesmp their form and characteristics on their 
rJspring, even from common sows, with the 
strength of a steel die. 
I am fattening a pen of live cross-bred Essex 
and Berksliires. There may be larger pigs of 
■&sir age, but I have never seen handsomer. I 
fed two of them weighed to-day (December 23). 
They are spring pigs, not quite nine months old. 
She of them, a sow, weighed 370 lbs., and the 
■ether, a barrow, 374 lbs. The man also weighed 
see of the young thorough-bred Essex sows, six 
jsonths and eleven days old, and designed for 
feeding purposes. She turned the scales at 
111 lbs. A young sow, four months and one 
week old, weighed 110 lbs. I think these 
fgures speak well for their early maturity. 
Ihere is not one of these pigs, unless it is the 
ysung sow, that would not dress 85 per cent on 
9Ms live weight, and there is no better test Ilian 
this of good breeding. I should also state that 
Ssmgh the Essex are entirely black, they dress, 
a®but the hoofs, perfectly white, and the lard 
sbc! fat is whiter than those from any white pig I 
ferve ever seen killed. 
Dyking Swamp Land. 
Mr. Clias. Bradley, of New Haven, has 5 
aseres of meadow land which is more or less 
even-flowed by tide-waiter at times, but is hard 
and smooth enough to be mown with a ma¬ 
chine without clogs on the horses feet. It has 
Seen dyked, but has been supposed to run 
dkjwn, owing to the persistent ravages of musk¬ 
rats. He asks whether he shall undertake its 
improvement, either by rebuilding the old dyke, 
®r by making a new one. There is a dyke on 
the river below which keeps off ordinary sum¬ 
mer tide, but is only an insufficient protection ■ 
to the 200 acres of meadow lying above it. He 
asks what is the best material to build the dyke 
®f t stone being too costly, and musk-rats burrow¬ 
ing through earth, loose stones, shells, and every 
material that has been tried, except stone laid 
fe mortar. He suggests the following plan: 
Dig a ditch 2'| 2 feet by 3 feet, and then set a 
tight, hemlock fence close to the wall of the 
ditch, on the meadow side, 2 feet above the 
level of the meadow, which will be out of the 
way of tide-water; the fence above the meadow j 
to be banked with earth, to make it tight. He 
thinks the musk-rats might go under the fence 
at the bottom of the ditch, and so they might. 
We know of but one way to protect a dyke 
against the ravages of musk-rats, and that we 
believe to be effectual. It is to have it some 
distance, say at least from G to 10 feet away 
from the ditch, and to have a ditch only on one 
side of it. If Mr. Bradley will dig a ditch 3 
feet wide at the top and 3 feet deep, wheeling 
the earth 10 feet from it toward the water side, 
and will then make a dyke 3 feet high, covering 
it as soon as possible with a good turf, he will 
probably find the job satisfactory. Musk-rats will 
only burrow into a dyke when they can crack 
it from below the surface of the water, and 
they will not intentionally burrow through it; 
if they want to get to the other side they will 
go over the top. The mischief is generally 
caused bj^ two different colonies burrowing from 
opposite sides and meeting within, or from ac¬ 
cidentally making their holes so near to the out¬ 
side of the dyke as to enable the water to force 
a way through. The plan here recommended 
will be much cheaper, and we think better, 
than to use boards, as proposed. 
Poultry Yard Appliances. 
Under the term of “Poultry Appliances,” we 
notice that poultry fanciers and premium lists 
include all those little conveniences which make 
up the furniture of a good poultry house and 
yard. It is certainly 
more correct than “fix¬ 
tures,” for many of 
them are movable, and 
it is more compre¬ 
hensive than “fittings” 
or “furniture,” so it Fig. 1.— nest-box. 
is probably best to adopt it as applied. 
The late show of the N. Y. State Poultry 
Society brought out a number of new affairs of 
this kind, some of which, we think, it may be of 
use to our readers to know something about, j 
Galvanized Iron West-box —(Figure 1.)—This 
consists of a plain box, twelve inches wide 
by fourteen inches in length, with an alight¬ 
ing step in front, having its edge rolled over 
a wire, to give a secure footing. It affords no 
harbor for lice, is inaccessible to rats, if hung¬ 
up, and is easily shifted into the sitting apart¬ 
ment whenever it is desired to set a hen. 
Suspended Feed-hopper —(Figure 2.)—This is 
also of galvanized iron, and is made of various 
sizes. It is adapted to feeding dry grain of any 
kind, and may be hung against a post or parti¬ 
tion out of the reach 
of rats and mice. It is, 
besides, light, easily 
cleaned out and re¬ 
filled when necessary. 
Suspended Water- 
fountain — (Fig. 3.) — 
This article is made of 
the same material, 
galvanized iron, and 
of such size only as 
may be dipped in an 
ordinary water-bucket, 
for filling. It is adapt¬ 
ed to hang against a 
partition of a small 
house or of a coop, 
thus occupying no 
room upon the floor, and not being liable to be 
much dirtied by any thing thrown into it by 
the scratching of the fowls, like open troughs. 
FEEDING HOPPER. 
Folding Coop. —Figure 4 represents an excel¬ 
lent folding coop for exhibiting poultry or for 
other uses. It is made 
other wood not liable 
of clear 
pine, larch, or 
[Vjlf 
to split, and capable of 
■ • M 
Hl'l' 
being worked smooth. 
si# 
The top,two open sides, 
ends, and bottom, are 
each one piece, and the 
six pieces are hinged to- 
(MI 
jp®ll 
It' - li i 
in mi 
getlier, so that they can 
be quickly and com- 
'Uni 1 
pactly folded up, as 
1 
shown in figure 5, and 
II M IJIi 
If;*If 
in this state stored or 
!- v ! .: 
shipped. When set up, 
, | 
the bottom is level with 
11 
the frame of the lids in 
front and rear, hence is 
easily cleaned out. It is 
Pff 
firm and substantial, 
and lighted from above, 
Fig. 3. - 
- WATER-FOUN¬ 
TAIN. 
and took^he first prize at the show above named. 
All the above-named articles were exhibited 
by their inventor, Mr. A. M. Halsted, of Rye, 
who, although expecting to profit by their manu¬ 
facture and sale, places no restrictions upon 
those who wish to make them for their own use. 
Feed and Water Trough for Show Coops .— 
The most convenient arrangement we have 
seen for providing feed and water to fowls con¬ 
fined during several days in show coops, is 
shown in figure 6. It consists of a tin or gal¬ 
vanized iron box, or trough of such a size, that 
it will slip through between the bars of the 
coop if desired, and provided with a socket, 
soldered on, which will slide ov^r an iron pin 
in the frame of the coop or cage, and thus sus¬ 
pend the trough within or without the coop at 
pleasure. The trough may be divided by a 
tight partition, and feed placed in one side and 
water in the other, if desired; but it is prefer 
able to use two troughs, and always best in ex¬ 
hibition coops, except in the case of very wild 
fowls of some sorts, to hang both feed and water 
vessels upon the outside of the coops. With 
water-fowls this is imperative, as ducks and 
geese make a great dripping and splashing of 
Fig. 4. —folding coor*. 
water if they have the opportunity to do so. 
When coops are made with wire netting, 
through which large-combed fowls cannot get 
their heads, of course some other plan should 
be followed—Mr. Halsted’s, for instance, as 
shown in figures 2 and 3, just described. 
Cleeton's Sectional Coop lias been lately intro¬ 
duced, and ought to be mentioned in this con. 
nection. It is chiefly excellent, because its low 
price brings it within the reach of all, being 
quite as cheap as an equalty good coop could 
be made to order. It can be packed in very 
