1869 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
449 
there seems to be a scarcity of pigs, and it is 
probable that pork will continue to bring a 
good price for a year to come. And if this is 
the case, how exceedingly foolish it is for a 
farmer to sell his grain at the present low prices 
and at the same time keep a lot of store pigs 
squealing about the premises for want of food ! 
I am inclined to think that, on a “grain and 
clover” firm, there is no cheaper way of mak¬ 
ing pork than to take some well-bred, well-fed 
September pigs, and keep them in a thrifty, 
almost fat condition, through the winter and 
early spring; and let them have the run of a 
good clover pasture, and plenty of fresh water 
during the summer, with a quart or more of 
corn a day. In the fall and winter they will 
pick up considerable food about the premises 
that would otherwise be wasted, and in the 
summer they will get three-fourths of their liv¬ 
ing in the clover field, and by the middle of 
October we ought to have hogs that will dress 
375 or 400 pounds. 
But let no one think he can obtain such re¬ 
sults by feeding the pigs liberally one week, and 
neglecting or half starving them the next. They 
must be kept steadily gaining every day. Feed 
sparingly at first, and gradually increase the 
allowance. Do not feed lavishly for a few 
weeks, and then get frightened at the rapid de¬ 
pletion of the corn crib and cut off the supply. 
A farmer needs pluck. Make your calculations 
in advance. "With what the pigs can pick up 
in the barn-yard during the fall and winter, and 
with the clover and waste from the house in 
summer, make calculations to give each pig 15 
bushels of grain ; and then if you have a good 
breed of pigs and keep them warm, dry, and 
comfortable, never scold or beat them, treat 
them kindly, feed regularly and with unwaver¬ 
ing steadfastness, and then do not make the 
15 bushels of grain bring in $25 and have 
a nice lot of rich manure into the bargain, it 
will be because such liberal feeding has brought 
.down the price of pork. 
Oh, yes! I understand the difficulty quite 
well. You want the money for your grain now. 
That is one reason why I said a farmer needs 
pluck. Do not be discouraged. Do not fret; 
above all, do not “mope” over the stove with 
a pane broken in the window; and the sash 
shaking in the casement; while the dear chil¬ 
dren are suffering from colds caused by the drafts. 
I have been in houses where the snow actually 
drove in between the sash and the casement of 
the windows, while the man sat smoking by the 
stove during the long winter evening. With a 
few laths, a pound of putty, a dozen shingle 
nails, and a little ingenuity, he might have made 
the room as comfortable as if it was enclosed 
with double windows. No matter how hard 
the times are, there is no excuse for having a 
cold and cheerless home. Let every window 
(except such as are necessary to open for ven¬ 
tilation) be made air-tight. A stormy day is the 
best time for doing the work, as it is then easy 
to ascertain where the wind drives through. 
Fix the windows up tight against the casement 
on one side b\ r driving, if need be, a piece of lath 
between the casement and window on the other 
side, and then nail on the side strips, and fill up 
any holes there may be with putty. You will 
be astonished at the effect. Be careful to serve 
the bed room and pantry windows the same way. 
You seem surprised that I should talk in this 
way. But I have great sympathy for a down¬ 
hearted man, and know that “hard times” are 
felt most severely in the family, I know, too. 
that if he will only arouse himself and make an 
effort, his prospects will brighten at once. Be¬ 
gin at the house. It is astonishing how much a 
little attention to a few small matters will do to 
make a house comfortable, and the inmates 
happy. A farmers first care is to his family ; the 
second should be the domestic animals. “ Be 
thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, 
and look well to thy herds.” It will not do to 
leave them to the care of hired men. Wash¬ 
ington made it a rule to visit his stables every 
morning, and put his hands on every horse to 
see if it had been groomed properly, and other¬ 
wise well cared for. One of the largest breed¬ 
ers of Short-horns in the world, once told me 
that he made it a rule, every night in winter to 
take a lantern and visit his stables at nine o’clock, 
to see that every animal was comfortable. He 
has this year sold animals at $5,000 apiece. 
There are very few ordinary farm men that 
are fit to have anything to do with domestic 
animals. They never pet them, rarely speak to 
them except in harsh tones, and like to use a 
whip better than a curry-comb. If a man kicks 
a cow, dismiss him on the spot. Better let crops 
suffer than have such a brute on the premises. 
I keep quite a number of thorough-bred pigs, 
and they are as gentle as lambs. But most 
men have been so long in the habit of abusing a 
pig, that if you ask one of them to go into a pen 
and drive up the pigs, he will look around for a 
club. And it is curious to see how unerringly 
the pigs know that he is not a gentleman. They 
will commence to bark at him, and manifest 
other symptoms of uneasiness. Beware of the 
man that a pig, a dog, or a child is afraid of. 
There is something wrong about him. 
A farmer, I say, needs pluck. Capital is very 
desirable, but pluck is worth more to a farmer 
than capital. A little capital and a good deal 
of pluck is what is wanted. “ Times are hard,” 
but what of that? People must eat and it is 
our business to raise the food. We do not raise 
any too much. It is not pleasant to find that 
wheat we expected to get $3.00 for, will bring 
only $1.00. But all business is subject to such 
fluctuations, and we are outlie whole, no worse 
off than other people. I was at the West once 
when corn was worth only 10 cents a bushel; 
and many of the wild-cat bank-bills in circula¬ 
tion were not worth over 50 cents on the dollar. 
The bottom seemed to have dropped out of 
everything. I expected to seethe farmers thor¬ 
oughly disheartened. Not a bit of it. They 
“kept right on,” working harder and faster, if 
possible, than before. In less than two years 
from that time, corn in the same place was 
worth $1.10 per bushel, and the farmers who 
went ahead got their reward. It will be the 
same again. There will be a sharp reaction in 
prices, and I should not be surprised if it comes 
before another harvest. But at any rate all the 
food we can raise will be wanted. Most of us 
will lose money this year. We have paid too 
high wages, but if wise, we can correct this 
mistake next year. For my part I have made up 
my mind not to have a single extra days’ work 
done before next May, unless I can get it done 
for a dollar. At that price I would do anything 
that needs to be done in the way of permanent 
improvement, and give any man who is willing 
to work an opportunity to do so. The country 
cannot afford to have me lie idle. But if they 
demand exorbitant wages we have no alterna¬ 
tive but to stop every kind of work that is 
not absolutely necessary to be done. 
In the meantime let us take good care of our 
stock. Instead of forcing our grain upon an 
over-supplied market, let us feed it out. We 
shall get our money back with interest. Hay is 
selling in Rochester at $8 to $10 per ton. Clover 
hay is worth that for manure. Do not sell a 
pound. Feed it out and let our fields have a 
dressing of good manure next spring. “ It is all 
very well to talk in this way,” you say, “ but 
what are we to do for money ?” That is a 
very ugly question. It is what I have asked 
myself many times during the last month, and 
the only answer I can get or give is “pluck.” 
There is light ahead. Good farming will pay 
as well in this country as in any other—and I 
think better. Let us have faith and keep working. 
We have had a “cow disease” in this neigh¬ 
borhood. The legs and teats were all covered 
with sores and blotches. As soon as we discov¬ 
ered it, I got up the cows, started a fire in the 
steamer to give us plenty of hot water, and four 
of us went to work washing and fomenting the 
affected parts with as warm water as the cows 
would bear. We also used some Castile soap 
and a little borax. The latter is a capital thing 
for cleaning and softening the skin, but I do not 
know that I should have used it only that I 
knew the men would doubt the efficacy of such 
a simple remedy as warm soft water and soap. 
I extolled the virtues of this white powder, gave 
strict injunctions to be careful of it and not waste 
it, and especially not to put any on the sores 
until they had been softened by the hot water. 
Then apply a little of the borax and rub it in 
gently with warm water and soap to form a 
lather. Then wash again with warm water and 
soap, and finally give another thorough wash¬ 
ing with warm water alone. In this way I 
succeeded in getting the legs and teats washed 
thoroughly clean. This was the real point. 
We then rubbed the legs, bag, and teats, with 
crude petroleum, and repeated it two or three 
times, and the cows got well. The disease has 
been very general and in some cases quite se¬ 
rious. We do not know what it is. Some 
thought it was the cow pox, but that I sup¬ 
pose is usually confined to the teats and udder, 
while on my cows the inside of the forelegs 
were worse affected than any other parts. I 
attributed it to mosquitos or some other insect. 
Thanks, principally to a gentleman in this 
County, we have a good drainage law in this 
State, passed at the last session of the Legisla¬ 
ture. We can get creeks cleaned out, swamps 
drained, and ditches dug where it is necessary 
for the public health, or for the benefit of agri¬ 
culture, with or without the consentof the own¬ 
ers of the land—and the cost of the work is to 
be borne by the parties benefited. A stupid 
neighbor can now no longer prevent you from 
draining your farm because his land happens to 
lie between you and the creek. If he is to bo 
benefited as much as you he must bear half the 
expense. If the ditch will be of no use to him, 
you must be at the whole expense of cutting it, 
and if it does him any damage, you must pay 
for it. If farmers avail themselves of this law, 
it will add millions of dollars to the value of 
farm property of the State. 
The Deacon remarked incidentally the other 
day: “You owe your success to underdrain¬ 
ing and fall-fallowing.”—A double compliment 
which pleased me mightily. No one, not even 
the Deacon, thought I should succeed in reno¬ 
vating the farm. And now to be told in one 
sentence that I had succeeded, and that the 
Deacon, who had witnessed the effects of my 
