1^4 
AMERICAN AfsbRiC ULTIJBIST. 
RURAL SURROUNDINGS, 
» NUMBER IV.—THE PIGS. 
Almost every country housekeeper, farm¬ 
er or otherwise, keeps a pig. Farmers 
proper keep many, and the tendency is to 
an overstock of them. This fact, however, 
depends much upon the locality, the mode 
of farming pursued, and the marketable price 
of pork in the vicinity. Some, however, 
breed different varieties for sale as “ stock ” 
animals—for propagation solely—with which 
the pork market has little to do, and the 
mode of cultivation pursued on the place, 
perhaps less. This latter subject, then, is an 
independent matter altogether from that of 
which we now write, not proposing to dis¬ 
cuss the pigs scientifically but economically, 
m a general farm way. 
Our suburban farmer will, if he studies a 
proper economy in his husbandry, have 
more or less pigs—we will not say how 
many, but, according to circumstances, he 
may keep from one to a dozen. The num¬ 
ber, to keep them profitably, and the profit 
is the only question we should ever consult 
in the pig line, should depend very much on 
the quantity of vegetable, or other offal, or 
pig food, made on the place, or which could 
be conveniently obtained in the neighbor¬ 
hood. For instance, if a distillery, brewery, 
starch factory, or other large producer of 
pig feed be near you, it may be profitable to 
feed several pigs ; but if the support for 
them be drawn from your own place alone, 
the number should be strictly confined to 
what you can keep well without the purchase 
or consumption of much grain, for pork fed 
on bought grain does not, in the general run, 
pay. 
These preliminaries settled, we will now 
look into the pen and see how the stock 
stands, and inquire into the mode of supply¬ 
ing that stock. As a rule, where three, 
four, or half-a-dozen pigs are kept, you 
should have a breeding sow. We are sup¬ 
posing you to live in a Christian neighbor¬ 
hood where a stock hog of a good quality is 
kept, and his serving to be had at a reason¬ 
able rate ; for, understand us, if your swine 
is not of a choice breed or variety, you had 
better have none at all. The outlandish, 
landpike, alligator, thistle-digging brutes 
that some people keep, and which usually 
disgrace our city and village streets, are 
wore than useless. Uneasy, ravenous 
brutes, they are not only a pest to them¬ 
selves but a nuisance anywhere. There is 
no thrift, profit, or grace about them, and 
they should never be tolerated on a well-or¬ 
dered place at all. Nor are we particularly 
fastidious about the breed, as to whether it 
be pure or mixed, Berkshire, China, Essex, 
Suffolk, Middlesex, or Mocha. A compact, 
quiet, well-disposed pig, is the thing we 
want; one that takes in flesh kindly, eats its 
meal, lies down and goes to sleep, as a well 
ordered pig should do, and our object thus 
far is accomplished. We would keep a 
breeding sow for these reasons : One hog 
can always be fed at small expense through 
the Winter. The wash of the kitchen, with 
the surplus milk, and a trifle of corn, oats or 
otiier meal, will carry her through the Win¬ 
ter. You can command the time for your 
pigs to come. If you have a surplus, they 
can always be sold to your neighbors at a 
good price, reserving the best for yourself, 
from which you can have the choicest lard, 
besides hams, shoulders and joints, for 
smoking, and some capital side and body 
pork for family use, the value of which eve¬ 
ry good housekeeper understands, in various 
ways. The sow should produce her litter 
according to climate, say from February to 
April, not later, for the Spring pigs, should 
be fed off in the late Fall or early Winter 
months, not exceeding ten months old at the 
longest. If the breed be good, they will be 
full, ripe and fit for slaughter at that age, 
and frequently at six to nine months. At 
six weeks to two months old they are fit to 
wean, and the sow may then bring you a 
second litter in August or September, which 
will serve for roasters, or sale as you wish. 
We would not Winter these late pigs, as, un¬ 
less there are extraordinary advantages in 
the way of food, they will not pay. A sow 
from two to six years old usually breeds 
better than a young one; therefore, we 
would prefer, if a good breeder, to keep her 
in the business, unless she becomes viscious, 
in which event she should be fed off and 
slaughtered. 
For accommodation of the pork depart¬ 
ment in its best way, if more than two or 
three are kept, a spacious, warm building, 
with a boiling apparatus for cooking food, is 
necessary,—that is, a pig house with two or 
three separate compartments, where they 
can be divided off, as age, different feeding, 
or other convenience may require ; and to 
this should be added a little paddock, or 
grassy yard, with water in it if possible, al¬ 
though this latter article may be furnished 
in a trough. If they have the run of a yard 
they should always be rung ,—anybody 
knows how to ring a pig,—and the best way 
we have ever practised, is to take a common 
horse nail, made half an inch longer than 
usual, run it up from the underside of the 
nose, and then, with a pair of pincers or pli¬ 
ers, curl over the point as compactly as pos¬ 
sible, and the job is finished. The nail, 
what is left of it, will move freely up and 
down, and prevent their rooting equally as 
well as a twisted wire, and last a great deal 
longer. In the warm season this grass yard 
is healthier, and every way better for the 
pig than a close pen, giving him exercise 
and pure air, which he needs, as much as 
any animal on your place, although in him¬ 
self a dirty creature. A warm dry bed he 
should always have, and enough to eat of 
good food. Besides the swill, and milk, and 
other slops, he is fond of grass, weeds, fish 
or other fresh animal offal—which, by the 
way, is no offence to the flavor of his own 
flesh—and a variety of food in general. 
Good well-cooked corn meal is the very best 
food to finish him off with, and if to this be 
added boiled pumpkins, and roots of any 
kind, it will be quite as well. Understand, 
the pig must be kept clean. If he be inclined 
to scurf or dandruff, an application of soft 
soap, with soft water, and a vigorous appli¬ 
cation of the brush, will add to his health 
and enjoyments. He will lie down and re¬ 
ceive the application with positive satisfac¬ 
tion ; or, if that be too much labor, sprinkle 
wood ashes on his back plentifully just be¬ 
fore a smart shower, and expose him to it 
for an hour and it will do the business. A 
clean-skinned pig will thrive far better than 
a scurvy one. Let him have a post in his 
pen to rub his sides on. 
We do not commend the pig as one of the 
companionable inhabitants of the place, like 
the noble and gentle creatures enumerated 
in our previous essays, but as a necessary, 
economical and convenient appendage to ev¬ 
ery country establishment. Your Paddy 
neighbors, sometimes, regard them different¬ 
ly, sharing frequently the domicil of the 
house, door-yard and highway, in common. 
For these we have no sort of toleration, and 
in our own way of thinking, the pig should 
be always out of sight, and only to be found, 
seen and heard, when he alone is the object 
of search, sight or hearing. 
MECHANICAL PREPARATION OE THE SOIL. 
NO. Ill—DRAINING. 
[Continued from page 102.] 
Before referring to the kinds of land need¬ 
ing draining, we will briefly allude to two 
advantages not referred to in our last. 
7. Water, air and most other fluids do not 
conduct heat. Float a dish of alcohol on the 
surface of a vessel of cold water, and set it 
on fire. Now, though heat enough will be 
produced to boil the surface of the water, 
there will not be heat enough conducted 
down to melt a piece of ice lying but a few 
inches below the fire. We boil a kettle of 
water by putting fire at the bottom. The 
lower portions becoming heated, are ex- 
pande d and made lighter, and rise up, while 
other colder, heavier portions sink down. 
In this manner heat is conveyed, or carried 
upward, and not conducted downward from 
particle to particle, as in solid bodies. The 
same is the case with air, the heated por¬ 
tions rise up. The suns rays do not heat 
the air, but the earth and the air in contact 
with the soil rises and heats the air above, or 
rather changes places with it. The appli¬ 
cation of this to our subject is this : A soil 
filled with water will only be heated at its 
surface, the water being a non-conductor of 
heat prevents any portion from being heated 
except a little of the surface. But when 
the water is removed by draining, the soil 
itself will conduct the heat down and warm 
the roots of plants. 
8. Water in changing to steam or vapor, 
secretes or hides a great amount of heat. 
Steam really contains more heat than melted 
lead, though but a small portion of this heat 
is sensible to the touch, or indicated by a 
thermometer. We can not stop to discuss 
this interesting anomaly, but merely state 
the fact to show why a little water remain¬ 
ing upon the soil, and constantly evaporating 
from its surface, is the cause of much cold¬ 
ness. Though rising merely as cold vapor 
it carries away an immense amount of heat 
