383 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ May 12, If 87. 
of dry clean litter or straw, the pigs thrive, grow, and 
fatten quickly, and the pork is quite certain to be both 
palatible and wholesome. If we would have pigs answer 
in the best way we must see that they are kept warm as 
well as cltan and well fed. Frequently have we seen 
several pigs huddled together for warmth in stys reeking 
with filth, and with hardly a scrap of dry litter. It is by 
such a sight that we are able to realise the true force of 
the saying, “ starved with cold.” 
Because pigs will consume all sorts of filth, and 
appear to revel and thrive upon it, and in a condition 
that would be fatal to most animals, it has probably become 
so customary to allow them to eat unclean food and be 
kept in filthy ftys. More than this, we have known cases 
where they have been regularly fed upon butchers’ offal 
and other foul garbage. Such practices bring a Nemesis 
in their train, giving rise as they do to infectious diseases 
leading to a serious loss. Swine fever has been so 
rampant that markets have been closed again and again. 
Complaints loud and persistent have been made of the too 
general closing of markets, but the end and aim of such 
measures is of course for the general benefit, and they 
are therefore to be commended. If, in addition to the 
closing of markets, closer sanitary inspection were en¬ 
forced in farm homesteads we might then hope that there 
would be an end of swine fever. 
To effect a radical change in swine management we 
would insist upon the importance of breeding more pigs 
upon every farm. To do this profitably there must be a 
careful selection of parents. We have first of all to con¬ 
sider what is our special object in keeping pigs. If it is 
principally for selling them as soon as they become fit for 
sale, then we require sows of a close, chubby, compact 
form, with a tendency to fatten quickly while quite young. 
On the day of writing this article we saw a number of young 
pigs upon one of our farms where we had selected the 
sows with the especial intention of breeding porkers for 
the London market, but the bailiff of that farm had used 
a boar quite unsuitable for our purpose, with the result 
that we have now many pigs with such large frames that 
they must be kept till they weigh from 300 lbs. to 400 lbs. 
They will then be worth a considerable amount, but the 
return upon expenditure will be slower than we cither 
intended or like. 
Pigs of the sort we recommend are to be found every¬ 
where if only due care is taken in selection. To select a 
special breed as the type of porkers for London, we may 
mention the Berkshire as being especially remarkable for 
fattening early and being very profitable. We have been 
very successful with this famous breed of pigs, and our 
plan of keeping the sows in high condition has answered 
very well with them, the farrows being sufficiently 
numerous, and the pigs both strong and healthy. We 
have within the last month had about twenty of our sows 
farrow, and we have ample reason to feel satisfied, for we 
have only had one comparative failure, one sow having 
had only three pigs. This sow proved so jealous of any 
interference with her small family, and so savage, that 
we had to dispose of her with her pigs at an auction 
sale. The other pigs, nearly 200 in number, will not be 
forced on, but will be kept in a healthy growing con¬ 
dition till harvest, when they will go out upon the corn 
stubbles and then soon be brought on for sale. 
We said in our last article that the best age at which 
to allow a young sow to begin breeding is twenty months. 
A careful watch should be kept upon every sow from the 
time of farrowing, in order that only gentle, careful 
mothers are kept to go on breeding. The size and con¬ 
dition of a sow must also have some influence upon how 
long it is kept for breeding purposes. Sooner or later it 
will fail, and then we must fatten it as quickly as possible. 
Nor is this fattening of old sows at all unprofitable. 
Many such an annual have we sold at prices ranging from 
£6 to £ 10. It must also be owned that we have had to 
sell inferior animals at from £3 10s. to £4. 
For the first month after farrowing an extra amount 
of care is required to keep the pigs clean, dry, and warm. 
The sow should never be withdrawn from them till they 
are at least of that age, and even then it is best only to 
allow them to run occasionally from the sow under a slip 
board to get food which the sow would consume without 
some such precaution. At about six weeks they are 
weaned, and are then forced on as quickly as possible 
for sale when they reach the porker stage. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
At length we are able to record genial weather, frequent showers, the 
thermometer above 50°, speedy germination of seed, and a strong free 
growth of all farm crops. Very different has the weather been during- 
and after the Mangold sowing to what it was last year. Then it was so 
dry that the plant;gained size very slowly; now it has been precisely the 
moist warm weather that is so conducive to seed germination and quick 
growth. Weeds are abundant, and the workmen have beenj busy drawing 
docks among the Wheat. Of other work in hand or finished, we may 
mention the.sowing of Clover, mixed seed for three or four year layers and 
for permanent pasture. We have been laying down two pieces of land 
to permanent pasture, one piece for trial upon a heavy land farm, and 
the other for an addition to the park upon the home estate. There is 
still considerable difference of opinion as to the use of Perennial Rye 
Grass in permanent pasture. Messrs. Sutton still use a certain proportion 
of Rye Grass in then- mixtures for permanent pasture. This is done in 
perfect good faith, and they strongly recommend the practice to their 
customers. Mr. Martin J. Sutton in his book on permanent and tem¬ 
porary pastures says, “ One of the main reasons for including Perennial 
Rye Grass in mixtures for permanent pastures is its reliability for 
ensuring a plant. It yields a crop during each of the first two years, 
such as could not possibly be obtained without it. It fosters the growth 
of other varieties and aids the general progress and development of those 
Grasses which are slow in coming to maturity. On all these grounds I 
advocate the use ot Perennial Rye Grass seed in prescriptions for per¬ 
manent pastures. Even on land where the plant is certain to die out, 
excellent service will be rendered while it lasts ; and by yielding up its 
place when other kinds are sufficiently established to occupy the land, 
weeds are kept in check and crops of valuable herbage are secured mean¬ 
while.” We give this quotation for what it is worth, and because we 
have no prejudice in the matter ; we are also putting Mr. Sutton’s advice 
to practical test both for our own information and the guidance of our 
readers. We must own, however, that some of the best new permanent 
pasture we have seen contains no Rye Grass, but it must be owned that 
we have seen much new pasture very foul with weeds for the first two 
years. If Rye Grass serves to keep down weeds, to afford a strong 
growth while other Grasses are being established in the soil, then we 
grant its use is desirable, but before all things our aim must be to obtain 
a well knit pasture by the third year. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51°3-r 40" N.; Long, 0° 8' 0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DAT E. 
9 A.M. 
in the day. 
Hygrome- 
g • 
o-s ,5 
Shade Tern- 
Radiation 
a 
1887. 
ter. 
7Z a 
d— g 
perature. 
Temperature 
Cj 
« 
May. 
In 
On 
3 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Bo 
H 
Max. 
Min. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
In. 
Sunday . 
1 
31.143 
46 5 
41.4 
E. 
44 8 
54 4 
32.8 
101.4 
24 9 
0.172 
Monday. 
2 
29 636 
45.1 
44.7 
N.K. 
44 9 
5'.4 
40.8 
66.8 
35.4 
_ 
Tuesday .. 
3 
29.395 
48.2 
47.4 
K. 
45.1 
57.2 
44 2 
68 9 
44.1 
0.172 
Wednesday.. 
4 
29.591 
483 
45.4 
W. 
45 9 
53.3 
43 6 
75.4 
43.8 
0.0 >1 
Thursday ... 
5 
29.781 
503 
47.0 
N.W. 
46.2 
59.5 
45.3 
94.2 
42 8 
— 
Friday . 
6 
29.883 
48.1 
46.8 
N. 
46.8 
52.3 
42 4 
672 
37.3 
0.137 
Saturday ... 
7 
30.167 
4 87 
45.6 
N. 
46.7 
60.7 
43.2 
103 2 
40.0 
0.012 
29.828 
49.7 
45.5 
45.8 
55.4 
41 8 
82.4 
38 3 
0 514, 
REMARKS. 
1st. —Fine, with sunshine at times; bright evening ; lunar halo at 8-30 p M. 
2nd.— Wet from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. ; overcast morning ; fair after. 
3rd. —Dull and foggy ; rain in morning; a little sunshine in early afternoon ; very dark 
after 2 p.m , followed by rain from 2 30 p M. to 815; bright alter. 
4th.—Gloomy early ; a glimpse of sunshine about 11‘80 A m. ; but rain by noon anti 
frequent showers after. 
5th.—Cloudy morning; fair afternoon, but without bright sunshine. 
6th.—Dull early; soaking wet all day ; fine evening. 
7th.—Oloudy morning; fine afternoon; shower about 6 p.m. 
A rather dull week, with frequent rain. Temperature higher than that of the pre¬ 
ceding week, but nearly 8° below the average.— G. J. Symons. 
