178 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[May, 
boars. We believe this opinion is indorsed by 
all who have tried the cross. A letter just re¬ 
ceived from Mr. Richard Richards, of Wiscon¬ 
sin, an experienced breeder of Chester White 
and Berkshire pigs says: “I agree with you 
fully in regard to crossing a fine-b*ned boar on 
large sows. When I first got a Berkshire boar 
there was none of my neighbors that wanted 
to use him. They would bring as many as a 
hundred sows, some seasons, to my Chester 
White boar. My Berkshire boar, the first sea¬ 
son, was small, and as many of them had small 
sows they were obliged, much against their 
will, to use the black pig. And the consequence 
was it opened their eyes, and now these farmers 
will use nothing else than the black breed. 
And I think they are right. A fine-boned boar 
on large sows gives the produce plenty of size 
and fine form, and such as will fat readily at 
almost any age. I agree with you, too, in think¬ 
ing that the better bred the boar the better the 
cross will be.” 
Our Iowa corresponde»t says: “If your 
prominent ‘ Western Farmer’ is a sporting man, 
I will wager forty pigs, that I can take my 
Chester Whites or Magees and beat his Berk- 
shires, both in weight and form, at any time, 
and all the time, from two weeks to two years 
old.” “Western Farmer" is not a sporting 
man—he is a gentleman—and this species of 
argument will have no more weight with him 
than it has with us. It is a poor cause that 
needs a wager to sustain it. “ Western Farmer” 
is not a Berkshire breeder, but we hazard little 
in saying that he is as good a judge of the rela¬ 
tive merits of the different breeds of pigs as 
any man in the country; and furthermore, he 
has made more accurate, more thorough, and 
more conclusive experiments in regard to the 
fattening of pigs of different breeds than any 
other man in the United States. His opinion 
on a question of this nature is entitled, at any 
rate, to respectful consideration. He thinks the 
Chester Whites and Magees too coarse, and it 
is no answer to say, “They will weigh more at 
two weeks or at two years ” than the smaller 
breeds. This is not denied. But will they at 
six months or a year old give as much pork , and 
of as good quality, in proportion to the food 
consumed, as the more refined, small breeds? 
Will the grades, from common sows, be as good 
and as profitable in these respects? These are 
the questions at issue, and they should be met 
with candor and courtesy, with arguments and 
with facts, and not by assertions or wagers. 
Mess Pork.— Several ask what part of the 
hog is manufactured into “mess pork,” and 
how it is made. Cut off the head, the should¬ 
ers, and the hams; and the sides that remain 
make mess pork. Sometimes the shoulders and 
the cheeks are also included. The tenderloin 
and spareribs are usually taken out and eaten 
fresh, but the ribs are not uufrequently cured 
with the sides without being taken out. The 
method ©f curing is very simple. Cut the sides 
in the direction of the ribs into slices about six 
inches wide, and pack them round the barrel, 
commencing at the outside, and working to¬ 
wards the middle. Make tiic layer as close and 
tight as possible. Cover the layer with an inch 
of salt, put on another layer of pork, another 
layer of salt, and so on until the barrel is full. 
Then cover the top layer with salt—and always 
keep it covered. Make a brine with boiling 
water, (cold wiki answer if not convenient to 
boil it,) putting in as much salt as it will dis¬ 
solve, and pour it into the barrel until all the 
pork is covered. The great point afterwards is 
to be sure and keep the brine at the top of the 
barrel saturated with salt. If the barrel is 
headed up, it is a good plan to turn it over, or 
upside down occasionally, as the salt is apt to 
settle at the bottom while the brine at the top 
may be too weak. 
A Cheap Two-rail Fence. 
The fence question, though more easily 
solved where stone and timber are more plenty 
than upon the prairies, is still a troublesome 
matter. A six-rail fence will do where timber 
is very plenty, and you wish to get rid of it as 
a nuisance. But where railroad ties are worth 
GO cents a piece, chestnut is too valuable to be 
put into rails. We have tried for two years a 
cheap two-rail fence, which turns cattle quite 
as well as the ordinary six-rail fence; and it 
has this advantage, that it can be made per¬ 
fectly straight, so as to make the full length of 
every rail available. It is made by driving- 
stout crotches about three inches in diameter 
on the line of the fence, just far enough apart 
for the rails to span. The crotches should raise 
the bottom rail about two and a half feet from 
the ground. Stakes are driven at the crotches, 
crossing each other in the usual style of the 
Virginia worm-fence. A rider is then put upon 
the stakes, and we have a substantial fence, 
about four feet high, which answers a good 
purpose for orderly cattle. If for any reason a 
higher fence is desirable, She crotches must be 
made higher. This fence, of course, will not 
answer for sheep or swine, but for fencing out 
cattle from wood lots, or for dividing pastures, 
it serves a very good purpose. When the wosd 
is at hand, and the cost of timber is not reckon¬ 
ed, this fence can be built for about 20 cents 
a rod, if the labor is not over $1.50 a day. 
Breachy Cattle. — “E. V.” writes with 
reference to a cow that throws down rail fences: 
“ I have seen cows with a board across their 
horns and another board extending to the end 
of the nose with nails in it (the nose did not 
have nails in it, but the board); I want to know 
how to fasten the board to her horns, or if there 
is any other way to keep her from letting down 
the fence ? ”—Bore a hole through each end of 
the board, where they will exactly fit the horns 
without stretching or pressing. Let the holes 
be small enough not to go too far down on the 
horns. Leave about an inch of the horn stick¬ 
ing through the board; drill a small hole through 
it, large enough to admit a horse-nail as a key. 
The board, reaching from this cross-piece to the 
nose, may be screwed fast to it (not to the nose, 
but the cross-piece); there will be play enough 
on the horns to give the necessary swing. If 
nails are used, they should be very smoothly 
blunted. We have never seen them used ; the 
board itself over the nose having proved effect¬ 
ive. — ~\Y. E. Harbaugh asks for a contrivance to 
keep a breachy bull from throwing down fences 
with his horns. A cross-piece may be fastened 
to the horns, as described above, or tied to the 
base of the horns, with a board or stake running 
down a few inches beyond the nose. From the 
lower end of this another stake, about a foot 
long, may be fastened at a right angle, so that 
when the animal stands in a natural position it 
will project toward the front. When he lowers 
his head to hook the fence, this projection will 
interfere with his design. A board in front of 
the eyes will sometimes effect the same purpose. 
Swedish Dairy Farming. 
Near the University town of Lourd, in the 
county of Skane (Sweden), there is a farm, 
leased by the Baron Von Toll, which contains 
1,500 Prussian acres under the plow, and 200 
acres of grazing land. It is a fine example of 
rational farming in the fertile region of South 
Sweden, being worked under a 10-year rota¬ 
tion, comprising 3 years’ pasture. The other 
crops are wheat, oats, and barley. The land is 
naturally fertile, and has a gentle slope toward 
the Baltic Sea. It is carefully cultivated, is 
thoroughly drained, and well manured. 
The well-fed English Shorthorn cattle—125 
cows and 50 oxen—are pastured during the 
summer. They are confined by long ropes, or 
“ lariats,” to stakes driven into the ground; and 
it is a strange sight to see the long, straight lines 
of cattle feeding. The clover pasture, being of 
excellent quality, is eaten off close; and each 
cow describes a perfect circle in eating, causing 
the field to look as if it had been mowed with 
a mammoth scythe. 
Most of the milk is sold in the city. That 
which is retained for the butter and clieese is 
treated as follows: The churn is an upright 
one, with a vertical beater, which is worked by 
power. The butter is worked in an English 
machine, which consists of a heavy tin cylinder, 
2 feet high and 6 to 7 inches in diameter. In 
the bottom are a number of small holes (about 
one-twelfth of an inch diameter), and after the 
butter has been well worked in the churn, it is 
forced through the small holes in the butter- 
worker by means of a close-fitting piston, which 
is slowly moved down by a screw. The small 
size of the holes, and the severe pressure, cause 
the buttermilk and other foreign matter to be 
entirely separated from the butter. This butter- 
worker is made in England, and is in extensive 
use there. 
Another farm, of which we have an account, 
is “ Hofgarden,” on Lake Wetter, which is man¬ 
aged by Mr. G. Swartz. He is the great au¬ 
thority throughout Sweden and Denmark in 
all dairy matters, having made the manufacture 
of butter the study of a lifetime. An entirely 
new system of treating milk has been the result 
of his researches. 
He lias 1,800 Prussian acres under the plow, 
and 160 acres permanent meadow and pasture. 
The rotation of crops is nearly the same as that 
followed by Von Toll, and comprises 4 years’ 
pasture on land laid down to timothy, yellow 
clover (hop-trefoil), and white clover. There 
are 160 to 170 cows, 20 oxen, and 32 working 
horses. During the summer the cows are pas¬ 
tured, but they are stabled at night. 
Four Prussian acres are assigned daily to 132 
head of cattle; the herdsmen marking with a 
scythe the bounds within which the animals 
may roam. 
It is strange to see how they remain on the 
ground set apart for them; a few sometimes 
straying off to the section on which they had 
been the day before, they being allowed to do 
so. On coming to the stable at evening, they 
receive a very strange ration, consisting of Ihorse- 
manure and crushed peas. 
Mr. Swartz had once read of the good effects 
of this sort of feeding in an old Swedish book, 
but had paid no attention to it until he observed 
a shorthorn bull, who was roaming loose in his 
barn-yard, eating the manure from the horse 
stable, although he had just eaten all he wanted 
of his usual food in the stable. 
The result of his experiments was., that he 
