4,50 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
plan of fall-fallowing, approved of the system, 
is as unexpected as it is gratifying. 
The Deacon strongly disapproves of “sun¬ 
burning” land, and he thinks the reason fall¬ 
fallowing has had such a good effect is due to 
the fact that in the autumn the soil is moist, and 
the sun does not dissipate its virtues. There 
may be, and probably is, some truth in the 
Deacon’s idea. We know that moisture is es¬ 
sential to fermentation. But a properly worked 
summer-fallow will always be moist. You can¬ 
not “sun-burn” land that is constantly stirred. 
The hotter the sun the more rapidly will the 
organic matter of the soil decompose. Take a 
field of strong land that needs draining. Under¬ 
drain half of it. Plow it in the fall, and again 
two or three times the next summer; let the 
other half of the field that is not drained be 
“broken up,” as the phrase goes, fora common 
summer-fallow in June. Then let the sun shine 
on that field with all its power. It will benefit 
the drained and well-worked half, and bake 
the other half into bricks—and that is all there 
is to “sun-burning” land. It is not the fault of 
the sun, but the negligence of the farmer. 
In fact, the more I see of this climate the 
better I like it. If you drain and work your 
land properly, the frosts of winter pulverize and 
disintegrate it, the rains of spring settle and 
mellow it, our glorious summers’ sun decom¬ 
poses it and matures the growing crops, while 
the long, magnificent autumn gives us a good 
opportunity for getting the land ready for the 
next year’s crop. But woe be to the farmer 
who gets behind with his work. This con¬ 
tinent was made for “go-ahead” people and 
the “nineteenth century.” 
The greatest trouble I have on the farm is in 
keeping things in their proper places. I am not 
naturally systematic and orderly. And “ like 
master like men.” I am sure we waste a large 
share of our time, and leave many little things 
undone, simply because we cannot lay our 
hands on the tools necessary for the work. It 
is a great evil under the sun. One of my neigh¬ 
bors, a good Methodist brother, and a success¬ 
ful farmer, has a very sensible and energetic 
wife. They are the model couple of the neigh¬ 
borhood. And I always congratulate myself 
when I can get my crops in and my work done 
as early as Mr. A. I told Mrs. A. so the other 
night, and she was evidently afraid that such 
commendation was not good from other hus¬ 
bands. “Why,” said she, “I have just been 
telling him that I was ashamed at the way he 
leaves things around. It was bad enough for a 
farmer to have old barrels, old tools, a rusty ax, 
a crowbar, and heaps of old mortar and other 
rubbish scattered about the back-yard, but in a 
professor of religion it was more than she could 
stand.”—This accomplished the object. He set 
to work and she went out and helped him. 
“The fact is,” said she, “ a man does not know 
how to straighten up things. He does not know 
where to commence !” “I don’t wonder,” she 
remarked in conclusion, “ that when God made 
Adam he went right to work and made a woman 
to tell him what to do /” 
Hog Troughs and Pig Feeding. 
We may oftener regard the profits of farming 
as the savings from little economical expedients 
and practices, than from the great sales of crops 
or stocks. We feed sheep at a loss if we do not 
reckon the value of the manure, and if this be 
true of sheep, it is ten times truer of swine, At 
the East, we may make pork, but seldom money, 
in fattening swine. They may generally be 
sold as young thinshoats for as much per pound 
as they will bring after two months feeding. 
When calculations of profits and losses are nar¬ 
rowed down to this, it is easy to see that with a 
little care and knowledge of the principles,involv¬ 
ed in the fattening of animals, we may double our 
profits, or the contrary, reduce them to nothing, 
or show a loss. Hogs to which whole corn is fed 
or corn on the ear, will do very well and fatten 
rapidly; ground corn will go a great deal farther, 
and when cooked still farther. One nervous 
or fighting hog, in a pen of ten,will be an essential 
damage to the rest, since each meal time brings 
a battle. The spilling of half a pail full of feed 
a day, by being obliged to pour it into feeding- 
troughs accessible to the swine, will count up 
in a few month's, and necessitate serious deduc¬ 
tions on what might be the profits. When swill 
is being poured into the trough, one hog will 
usually stand with his head at the spout, 
and will take it all on his head, carry off a good 
portion, besides what he causes to be spilt. All 
the thickest part is left in one spot, and must 
be distributed through the trough or each pig 
will not get his share—a serious difficulty. 
We show in figure 1 how a trough may be 
set so as to enable the food to be evenly distribu¬ 
ted throughout, even though the hogs have 
Fig. 3.— SWINGING-DOOR HOG TROUGH. 
free access to the trough. The pens, being made 
of horizontal boards, nailed to posts about G feet 
apart, the troughs are accurately fitted between 
two posts, so as to project a little outside the 
boarding, and the board above the trough is 
nailed on a little above it; so that, when the edge 
is chamfered off a little, any thing may be easi¬ 
ly poured into it throughout its whole length. 
This arrangement admits of putting partitions, 
nailed to the pen above the trough and to the 
floor, dividing the trough into narrow sections, 
so that each pig shall get only his share. The 
only objection to this form of trough is, that it 
must be cleaned out from inside the pen. 
A modification of this arrangement may be 
made, the trough coming flush with the out¬ 
side boarding, and the board above it being 
simply taken off and nailed on the inside of the 
posts, and stayed by a piece nailed perpendicu¬ 
larly, so as to stiffen and prevent its springing. 
In figure 2 Ave shoiv an old plan which after 
all is one of the very best contrivances for hog 
troughs. The trough is set projecting some¬ 
what outside the pen, and placed as in the other 
pen, filling all the space between two posts. 
Over the trough is hung a swinging door or 
lid, some 3 feet wide, and as long as the trough. 
A Avooden bolt is placed upon this lid so that 
when it is swung back and bolted, the hogs are 
shut out completely from the trough; and 
when it is swung out or fonvard and bolted, 
they have access to it again. This style of 
trough is A r ery easily cleaned out. The lid may 
have iron rods beat into a Y-shape, and having 
flattened ends turned in opposite directions 
screwed upon it, and so placed that they Avill 
entirely separate the hogs—Avlien feeding. This 
contrivance is shoivn in figure 3. Some ar- 
Fig. 3.— SWING DOOR AVITH FENDERS. 
rangement of this kind Avill be found as great a 
convenience, as it is an economy. The patented 
hog troughs are usually expensive and no bet¬ 
ter, if so good. For our oavh use we greatly 
prefer these simple fixtures, Avhicli may be easily 
made, renewed or repaired, as occasion may 
require, with the common tools Avhich every 
farmer should have and knoiv how to use. 
■-i~i ii ii iTHq r»‘ » n»-- 
The Cask Horse-Barrow. 
It is not an uncommon thing to see casks for 
water, swill, or similar uses, set upon sleds, and 
hauled about summer or winter Avherever it is 
needed. During the recent drouth, they Avere 
used to draw water for stock and family use, 
and though answering a very good purpose as 
an unusual expedient, yet it must be confessed, 
they are awkward things for steady use. We 
have employment enough for liorse-barrows in 
moving casks of water, etc., upon many farms or 
market gardens, to make it worth Avhile to have 
a good one. We represent one, the idea of 
Avhich is taken from an English iron one. It is 
of very simple construction, as seen from the 
engraving. The axles may be such as will fit a 
pair of forewheels of a common wagon; they 
are attached to the ends of an iron axle-tree bent 
in semicircular form and somewhat flattened. 
The size of this piece depends upon the Aveight 
the barrow is liable to bear. If the cask should 
ever be filled with moist earth for instance, an 
iron bar, l’| e inches wide and s j 4 inch thick would 
be none too heavy. Light wheels would of 
course be preferable, unless an old pair being on 
hand, make such desirable from motives of econo¬ 
my. A pair of shafts having an upward curve 
in them so as to keep the barrow frame hori¬ 
zontal, are bolted to the semicircular axle-tree, 
close to the axles, and a cross-piece is morticed 
into them, and also bolted to the axle-tree, as 
shown in both of the accompanying figures. 
Just in front of the axles on each shaft, an 
