500 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 4, 
SWINE. 
The first farrow of pigs of a young sow is not usually so 
numerous as those which follow it, yet many closely approach the 
average of ten pigs. Three well-bred Suffolk sows have had their 
first farrows during the last four or five weeks, and they amount 
to a total of twenty-six pigs, two sows having each had eight, and 
the other ten pigs. The first farrow will soon be weaned, and 
though the sow is somewhat low in flesh she is by no means 
down to the bag of bones level, or anything like it. Judicious 
breeding and feeding both tell in her. She has suckled her pigs 
thoroughly well, and now takes rank among our most valuable 
sows. The pigs are sturdy, thriving, and healthy. They have had 
a low shallow trough outside the sows’ sty, in which they have had 
milk thickened with meal regularly, milk alone being given at first 
for a few days, the meal being added gradually. 
Each of these sows has its own sty, of a uniform size of 8 feet 
square, with front courts a little larger. Stys and courts are made 
quite clean every morning, while the first meal is being consumed, 
clean dry litter tending wonderfully to render the sows quiet and 
■contented. At this season of the year all pigs revel in abundance 
of dry litter into which they can burrow for warmth, and all should 
have plenty except farrowing sows, for whom only a moderate 
quantity of short litter is best, just enough for a bed and no more. 
The sows should not be disturbed at the farrowing, but it is always 
desirable that the stocksman should be near in case of any emer¬ 
gency, as, for instance, in a case where pigs only a few hours old 
were attacked by rats, and one of them killed, or where the sow is 
very restless, and it may become necessary to remove the pigs fora 
short time. This can easily be managed by giving the sow a warm 
mash, and while she is eating it everything possible should be done 
to make her comfortable, and she will soon settle down quietly 
with her pigs. Care and attention tell in this as in most things, 
and while in the majority of cases the sows are best left to them¬ 
selves, yet occasions are certain to arise when help may usefully be 
given. 
After the pigs are -withdrawn from the sow she ought by no 
means to be turned out in a yard to subsist upon a daily Mangold 
or two, and what water she requires. By all means let her have 
some Mangolds and Turnips, but she ought also to have a little 
corn or buttermilk slightly thickened with coarse middlings for the 
due promotion of health and strength, and the recovery of condi¬ 
tion lost in suckling her pigs. In a breeding sow we require neither 
fatness nor leanness, but a mean between the two extremes if we 
would have a healthy and abundant progeny. 
Young pigs require no costly buildings or separate piggeries. 
A well littered open hovel or lodge, with a yard in front of it, and 
perhaps a division or two to separate bacon hogs from porkers, is 
all that is really requisite, but they must be kept clean and well fed, 
and then there need be no fear of infectious disease among them. 
Never let it be forgotten that in nine cases out of ten swine fever 
comes to a farm in newly purchased animals or strange sows. Let 
it be an inflexible rule to keep all strange pigs or new purchases 
apart from the home stock till it is seen that they are quite sound 
and free from disease of any kind. Such precaution is a very 
simple matter, but it is often neglected ; disease makes its appear¬ 
ance, losses follow, another case of swine fever is reported, and, 
strange to say, its origin is generally regarded as a mystery. If a 
little common sense were brought to bear upon this matter, and 
■due precaution taken, there would soon be an end of contagious 
disease among pigs. Why should they be kept in a filthy state 
more than any other animal ? From mere custom the surround¬ 
ings of pigs are suffered to become repulsive, yet a well kept 
piggery is really an attractive sight to all who care to see good 
practice in farming. 
The question is sometimes raised whether it is best for farmers 
in a small way to keep breeding sows or purchase young pigs at 
about two months old. There is so much in favour of breeding 
one’s own pigs that we do not hesitate to vote for the sows, provided 
they are well bred, and are not kept on when they become so big 
as to be unwieldly. Then they should always be fattened and sold, 
not killed for home consumption, as the pork is coarse and some¬ 
what hard. There is always a market for fat sows, and we have 
sold them at all prices, from £4 up to £10 apiece, precisely accord¬ 
ing to size and quality. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
A fine and exceptionally mild period in November proved most favour¬ 
able to all crops. With us sowing began early, seed germination followed 
quickly, and the plant came full and vigorous. Whether taken collec¬ 
tively or separately the crops are alike good. Wheat and Winter Beans 
are both very good. The Wheat passed through the first of its five stages 
—that of germination—so well that the second stage of rooting is suffici¬ 
ently advanced to give the plant a wonderfully vigorous appearance. 
The importance of free root action in the Wheat crop cannot be over¬ 
estimated, for it continues slowly throughout winter steadily taking up 
nutriment from the soil, which contributes so much to the third stage 
of straw and ear development, and tends as much as anything, perhaps 
more than anything, to a final result far above the average. There can 
be no doubt, too, that early sowing and vigorous root action both tell 
favourably upon the fourth stage of flowering and full corn in the ear, 
as well as upon the final stage of maturity which is much accelerated. 
Of course nothing we can say now can affect the Wheat sowing for good 
or evil this season, but a useful lesson for future guidance may best be 
enforced while special attention is being given to the condition of winter 
crops. 
Rye is wonderfully vigorous, so are Winter Oats and Barley. Tares 
and Trifolium are equally good, and layers both of Clover and mixed 
seeds are remarkably luxuriant. Cattle Cabbage, even when planted 
late, are a full and heavy crop, roots are abundant and the silage stacks 
are much more bulky than the hay stacks. On the whole the outlook 
is satisfactory, there is an ample store of winter food and fair promise 
already for another season. 
More work than usual has been done on the land this autumn, and 
now that is at an end we are turning to corn threshing in real earnest. 
The best malting Barleys are being threshed and brought on the market 
as fast as possible, the price for really bright samples being so much 
above market quotations as to render it quite worth while running 
them through the corn screen a second time. Prices range from 
29s. 5d. up to 46s. per quarter, the higher sum being sufficiently re¬ 
markable to have special mention. It points to a profit so good as to 
enforce the importance of good culture and pure samples better than 
anything we can say, and shows that Barley growing is not only still 
profitable but is likely to continue so. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 AM. 
IN THE DAY. 
4SS-- 
Hygrome- 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
a 
1890. 
§2 m S 
ter. 
z a 
|a! 
peratore. 
Temperature. 
cj 
November. 
c; ^ 
iss 
In 
On 
MS =3 
Dry. 
Wet. 
So 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
ffrass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday.23 
29.504 
5 >.7 
54.1 
W.S.W. 
47.9 
53.1 
43.0 
60.8 
41.9 
0.222 
Monday.24 
29.282 
43.0 
42.0 
N.w. 
48.9 
47.3 
43.2 
69.4 
38.2 
0 .01O 
Tuesday .... £5 
29.703 
34.2 
33.2 
N.W. 
45.2 
42.8 
29.8 
62.7 
21.1 
_ 
Wednesday.. 23 
39. 130 
50.0 
29.2 
N.E. 
43.9 
33.7 
28.2 
53.8 
22.2 
_ 
Thursday.... 27 
29.994 
27.4 
27.0 
N.E. 
41.4 
30.9 
23.5 
37.4 
18.7 
0.053 
Friday .28 
29.995 
24.8 
24.6 
N.E. 
39.9 
28.6 
21.8 
36.2 
18.1 
0.1*33 
Saturday .... 29 
30.141 
28.2 
27.6 
NJC. 
38.9 
53.2 
20.8 
34.2 
*29.1 
29.822 
35.2 
34.0 
43.9 
39.2 
30.4 
50.6 
27.3 
0.321 
« Thermometer covered by a fresh fall of snow. 
REMARKS. 
23rJ.—Rain in small hours ; windy and overcast day, with occasional spots of rain. 
24th.—Wet in small hours, and lieavv rain at 3 A.M.; almost cloudless from sunrise o 
0.30 A M.; wet from 10 to 11 A M.; then line again, and clear cold night. 
25tb.—Generally bright in morning; overcast, with spots of rain, in a'ternoon; brigh 
night. 
26th.—A sprinkling of snow on ground; alternate spells of bright sunshine and slight 
sprinkles of snow; clear cold night. 
27th.—Bright early; frequent slight sprinkles of snow in morning; bright afternoo 
and evening. 
28th.—Snow believed to have commenced between 2 and 3 A M.; fell incessantly till 
3.30 P.M., and just a sprinkle at night, covering the ground to a depth of nearly 
2 inches. 
29th.—Overcast, with occasional flake < of snow in morning ; fair afternoon; bright igh > 
Very sharp frost In the latter pirt of the week, which has brought the mean much 
below the average. The minimum on the 29tb, 20.5®, is the lowest recorded in November 
since 18)8.—G. J. SYMONS. 
