1871 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
249 
Raising Pigs for Fresii Pork. 
The author of “ Walks and Talks” writes: 
“ The most profitable branch of pig raising and 
feeding is to get the pigs fat at from three to 
four months old, and sell them for fresh pork. 
If of the right breed, and well fatted, they are as 
tender, juicy, and delicious as a turkey. The 
most provoking thing about it is, that the few 
consumers who know what choice eating such 
a pig really is, cannot get it; and the few farm¬ 
ers who produce it cannot get half what it is 
worth. It is a fact almost unknown in the 
American markets. Till it is known, those of 
us who raise the article in perfection must con¬ 
tent ourselves with such prices as we can get, 
in hopes that when it becomes known we shall 
get what it is actually worth. But even now, 
sit the present low price such pork brings, it 
will pay as well as any other branch of farm¬ 
ing—which, it must be confessed, is not very 
much. Take such a pig as my young Essex 
sow, that at a little over four months old weighs 
lift lbs. She will certainly dress over 80 lbs. 
Such a pig would sell for at least $7.00, and 
ought to bring $10 or $12. A sow should 
average 8 pigs at a litter twice a year—say 10 
pigs, at $7 or $112. A good sow, weighing say 
400 lbs, kept, as she should be, in extra store 
condition, would eat food equivalent to two tons 
of clover hay per year. But much of it is food 
that she picks up, slop from the house, etc.; 
and we will estimate it at $25 per year, which 
is certainly liberal. If it is not, how much 
profit do those farmers realize who keep a pig 
two years to make him dress 400 lbs., and then 
sell him for 7 cents per lb. ? 
Now, what will it cost to feed the little pigs? 
Till they are three weeks old, they will get all 
their food from the sow, and a good proportion 
of it till the)" arc from two months to ten weeks 
old. Taking our data from Dr. Miles’ experi¬ 
ments, and bearing in mind that we must, if 
possible, induce our pigs to cat more food than 
bis did, we will estimate that the pigs the first 
month eat little or nothing more than they get 
from the sow, and the second month that they 
eat half a lb. each of corn per day, and the 
third month l'| a lb. each per day, and the fourth 
month 3 lbs. per day, the litter of 8 pigs would 
eat 20 bushels of corn; or the two litter would 
eat 40 bushels,which we will estimate worth $40. 
The keep of a sow per year is ... .$25 
The keep of the little pigs is.40—$05 
The pigs sell for.. .$112 
To pay for the trouble of grinding and 
cooking the food, etc., we have.$47 
And besides this, we have the manure, and have 
disposed of our corn at one dollar per bushel. 
The figures would have a more pleasing as¬ 
pect if we got 15 cents a lb. for the pork. In¬ 
stead of getting $47 for our trouble, we should 
then get $127 ; and that, when the article be¬ 
comes known, such pork will average 15 cents 
by the carcass I have no sort of doubt. In 
London, “large pork” is quoted at 11 cents per 
lb., and “small pork” 16 cents per lb. in gold, 
by the carcass. And New York, Boston, Phil¬ 
adelphia, and other large American cities are 
better markets for really choice meat and butter 
than London. We can no more glut the market 
with choice meat than we can with choice fruit. 
The greater the supply of such an article of 
fresh pork as I have described, the greater will 
be the demand ; for the simple reason, that it is 
intrinsically worth much more than we ask for 
it. Let us study the interests of the consumers, 
as well as our own. They do not want bone 
or rind a quarter of an inch thick, but sweet, 
tender, delicate, juicy meat; and it costs no 
more to produce it than rind and bristles. 
Country Roads and Bridges. 
BY W. J. CHAMBERLAIN, HUDSON, O. 
Travelers over the wagon roads of our Wes¬ 
tern States will agree with me that the way the 
road tax is usually expended, discloses a great 
lack of judgment on the part of the supervi¬ 
sors thereof. 
I wish to show how, with due regard to econ¬ 
omy, to keep the road hard and smooth, the 
hedges firm and durable, and give the whole 
highway a neat and tasteful appearance. To 
this end these rules should be borne in mind : 
1. Let the water have its own way. 
2. Don’t let the water have its own way. 
3. Drain the road perfectly, keep the surface 
smooth, the crown high, and sloping well away 
to the ditch on either side. 
4. Never leave a pk\.e of new turnpike un¬ 
finished, but once begun carry out rule 3d be¬ 
fore you leave it. 
Within a mile of my house a small stream 
crosses the road diagonally no less than four 
times in a length of ten rods. In all these 
places the bridge is at the wrong place. In one 
case shown in figure 1, the bridge has always 
been at the point b. So at every freshet the 
brook, impatient of the abrupt curve just below 
a, figure 1, washes away its banks in the 
direction of the semicircular curves d, until 
it rushes triumphantly across the road and 
makes itself a new channel indicated by the 
dotted lines c. For fifty years the brook has 
been emphatically showing where the bridge 
ought to be, and for fifty years the supervisors 
with commendable pluck have insisted that it 
should flow, like a law-abiding brook, in the 
course laid down for it by their forefathers. Every 
spring at least this occurs, and then the district 
turns out with plows and scrapers, and turn¬ 
pikes the road again, ready for the next freshet. 
Last year it came my turn to be supervisor 
(this burden is borne by turns) and it so hap¬ 
pened that a new bridge was required. I asked 
advice of the neighbors as to its location. A. 
said, “ Guess you better put it in the old spot; 
the brook has kind o’ got used to going that 
way.” It seemed to me that was just what it 
hadn’t “kind o’ got used to,” but I didn’t ven¬ 
ture the remark. B’s and C’s advice agreed 
with that of A. But D. bluntly remarked, “ Bet¬ 
Fig. 1. 
ter let the brook have its own way. It’s been 
a figlitin’ fifty year’ an’ more to have the bridge 
put jest so the water could shoot right across the 
road when it got its dander up, and we ’vebeen 
such a set o’ fools we couldn’t see what it want¬ 
ed. The last big freshet I had the hull idee 
kiud o’ popped into my thick old head. Look 
here, neighbor,” lie continued, walking to the 
point b, figure 2, “you jest put the bridge here, 
and you make it big enough, and you build it 
slantin’ across the road jest as the brook slants, 
and you bolt it from foundation to top-rider, 
and turnpike the road right, the hull length of 
the holler, and I'll keep up bridge and turnpike 
fifteen year ’ for what it cost the deestrick to do 
it last year alone. Once get the water across 
the road and it aint a-goin back agin to wash 
away the turnpike.” 
Well the job was done as lie suggested, and 
as represented in figure 2; and he will be safe 
in taking the contract on the terms lie named. 
In fig. 2, d is the old bridge, b the new one; c, c, 
are stones to preserve the bank. The only 
wonder is that the “hull idee” hadn’t “kind 
o’ popped ” into some one’s head before. But 
since that time I have seen many cases as bad 
as the one I have described. 
The bridge then should always be opposite 
the inlet not the outlet of the stream, and where 
practicable, should point in the same direction 
as the current, that the water may flow clear 
through, forming no eddies, which have a fatal 
tendency to undermine and wash away banks 
and abutments. Once more, the bridge should 
be constructed with its floor on a level with the 
Fig. 2. 
road each side, thereby avoiding the strain put 
upon a bridge whenever a heavy load is driven 
on it from a road at a greater elevation. Another 
important point is to afford sufficient “water¬ 
way” even during the heaviest floods, which in 
hilly districts will often swell a stream to ten or 
fifteen times its usual bulk. Finally, the bed of 
the brook for some distance from the road down¬ 
wards should be made and kept large enough 
to discharge the water as fast as the bridge. 
Otherwise the water will set back in extreme 
cases, even flooding the road. This then is an 
illustration of what I mean by the first rule. 
“Let the water have its own way.” The re¬ 
maining rules, with the structure of small 
bridges and the general maintenance of the 
highways may be treated of hereafter. 
Agricultural Societies and Fairs. 
No agricultural community should be with¬ 
out its Agricultural Society. An organization 
having for its object mutual assistance and in¬ 
struction should be of interest everywhere. To 
assist in the formation of such cooperative so¬ 
cieties, we give a few hints as to the mode of 
bringing them into existence, and some of the 
advantages which may be derived from them. 
As nothing can be done without money, the 
first business will be to interest and associate 
together a sufficient number of men to contrib¬ 
ute the necessary funds. Laws exist in all the 
States for the encouragement of these enterpris¬ 
es and it is only necessary to follow them, in 
the mode of organization and incorporation set 
forth in each instance. These societies should 
have for tlieir objects, in addition to the usual 
exhibitions', the introduction of improved stock, 
farm machinery, seeds and agricultural litera¬ 
ture. Each one should aim to possess one or 
moretliorough-bred male animals, together with 
mowing, reaping and thrashing machines, and 
a well-selected library for the use of those of 
its members who cannot afford to purchase for 
themselves. An annual exhibition should be 
held at some convenient period, to which the 
public should be invited- to bring their stock, 
seeds and specimens of fruit and crops for com¬ 
petition. The funds necessary to furnish the 
