415 
1867.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
__ " 
tiona ou the breeding of swine, in tbe August 
No., p. 279, of tbe Agriculturist. But they do 
not cover tbe whole ground. In tbo first place 
we do not pay alteulion enough to the breed. 
We should get the best breed we can find, and 
then bo very particular hoa we breed. The 
great object is to get a hog that will make the 
greatest weight on a given amount of food, in 
a given time, with the le:\st otfal. A.s the hog 
is the only animal that is bred for fiesh alone, it 
should be so managed that it will pay to raise 
and fatten them for breeding animals. Wo 
should select those approaching nearest our ideal 
of a perfect hog, and avoid in-and-in breeding. 
In crossing or lining we should be careful to 
correct defects in one, by selecting for its mate 
another good in those particular iwints in which 
the former fails, and always keep our breeders 
after they have been tested and found to be 
what we want as long as they will breed. And 
always keep them fleshy, as flesh will become a 
natural condition after a few generation^ if 
they are not allowed to run down. I believe 
we may just sis well have a breed that will 
mature in eight or ten months and dress from 300 
to 400 lbs., and this done too, on three-fourths 
the food that it would require to sittain the 
same weight with our “ old-fashioned hogs ” in 
eighteen or twenty months, and an inferior qual¬ 
ity of pork at that. I am not a swine breeder, 
but I know how it is done, and how it should 
be done, for I have a neighbor who has put the 
foregoing practical rules to the lest for the past 
ten years, and his pigs arc easily made to dress 
3o0 to 400 lbs. at nine months, as hundreds of 
pork makers in this county can afllrm. And I 
have no doubt tli.at this County alone is more 
than ten thousand dollars better off for his en¬ 
terprise in this direction. lie is rewarded by 
having made a fortune in the business. Not 
only this County but this State and many others, 
as well as Canada, arc yearly benefited by one 
man conducting this business in a sensible 
wa3% and as every other sensible farmer should.” 
[We can mention other gooil farmers who are 
doing mucli in the same way, and arc making 
hog-raising for pork, profitable even at the East. 
For ourselves we very well know that there is no 
profit in raising hogs for pork alone, unless 
prices of corn rule low', and those for pork, high. 
It is not for their flesh alone that tee raise hogs, 
but for their service as manure makers, and this 
should be borne in mind by the farmer.— Ed.] 
Killing Time for Hogs and Beef. 
Tl>e subject of killing domestic animals for 
food comes directly home to every farmer and 
farmer’s wife in the countrj'. Slaughtering is not 
so pleasant to the farmer as the preliminary 
labors of breeding, raising, and fattening, neither 
arc the labors it imposes upon the good-wife 
so agreeable as preparing the fat spare-ribs and 
sirloin roasting pieces for the table, yet both 
are equally necessary. 
It is very desirable to have cold weather for 
the operation, and as our cold days are very 
likely to come in threes or fours, there seldom 
being more than four consecutive very cold days, 
and usually but three, it is best to be ready, and 
take the first clear cold day for the work, and 
trust to the two following to freeze what meat 
is to be kept fresh. In regard to pork, that is 
almost all to be salted or smoked, this is not 
very important, yet it is much more convenient 
and pleasant to handle meat that is firm and 
cold than that which is flabby. 
The most convenient w'ay for a farmer to handle 
heavy hogs in slaughtering is to have a block 
and tackle to swing the hog by while bleeding, 
the rope being made fast to one hind leg below 
the hock. By the same tackle he is lifted and 
lowered into the tub of hot water in scalding for 
the removal of the bristles. The dressing table 
should be level with the tub, and as soon as one 
hog is scalded and lifted out ujion the table, the 
rope may be attached to another. It will not l)C 
necessary to use the tackle to lift the hogs out of 
the tub, for this may be done easily if two ropes, 
held apart by three or four rungs, like a piece of 
ropc-lailder, are fastened to the table, and lie in 
and across the tub, so that the hog will lie upon 
them; taking hold of the ends of the ropes two 
men can lift and roll out a heavy hog easily. 
In cutting up beef, it is important to remem¬ 
ber that the object is not simply to get it all into 
small pieces, but to have tlie pieces of such shape, 
and so cut with relation to the bones, that the 
meat will cook to the best advantage, cut up 
well, appear well on the table, and more than 
all, be most palatable and nutriliom. All this de¬ 
pends much upon the cutting up of the carcass. 
There are many approved ways of doing this, j 
and we cannot now discuss them, but may give 
two general hints, which, if follow’ed, will be i 
s-atisfactorj’ to cverj’body. Fir$t^ cut so that the 
pieces, when brought to the table, may bo cut 
aenm Out fibre, as s<iuarely as iwssible. ikeond, 
so divide the carcass that each part shall have 
its due proportion of bone. This is diflicult in¬ 
deed, for the shins and knuckles will have much 
bone and little meat, the end of the ribs too, and 
the piece including the great bones of the hip 
and pelvis will be disproportionately bony, and 
pieces cut from the leg for smoketl beef and 
SJilting may properly be quite free from bone; 
nevertheless, retail butchers know they must 
ever try to make a fair division of the bone 
among their customers, and the result is much 
morc^salisfactorily shaped pieces than if this 
principle were not heeded. 
Indian Corn— Fertilization—How to Gain 
Two Ears to a Stalk. 
A few weeks since a gentleman handetl us 
two neatly made sections of ears of eslern 
com, from the farm of Wm. F. Thompson, Lo¬ 
gan County, Ill. In themselves they were not 
very extraordinary, but the sections were care¬ 
fully cut, and the corn iMjing of a bright yellow 
etlged with white, in one, and clear yellow in the 
other, contrasted beautifully with the red scales 
on the outside of the ceb, and with the clear 
white within. We h.ave not a doubt that many 
of the readers of the AgriculturUt will be struck 
with the beauty of these rosette-like figures, and 
be surprised to find out what they arc, for there 
are many am»ng them familiar with the Dent 
or riorsetooth corn only as it comes to market, 
and with whom a 10-rowcd or 12-rowcd variety 
of corn is a rarity. The corn of the North-ewt- 
ern States is the 8-rowcd white or yellow flint, 
the season generally being too short for the 
Dent varieties. In the smaller figure, (2,) 
at several points, the filament connecting 
the kernel with the pith in the center of the 
cob may be distinctly tracetl. In all, it might 
have been dissected out, with a little care. At 
the opposite end cf the kernel there is a little 
elevated point at w'hich another filament, the 
silk, was attached. Through the silk, as is 
well known, the fertilizing influence of the pol¬ 
len, coming trom the “spindles” or “t.assols,” 
at the tops of the corn stalks in the field, de¬ 
scends to tbe kernels. Now, inasmuch as a 
kernel is seldom fertilited by the pollen of the 
stalk on which it grows, and, as the kernel is 
thus the joint offspring of different corn plants, 
variations of color in the kernels of the same 
ear often occur. There are, besides, other in¬ 
fluences commimicatcd which do not show 
themselves in the color or shape of the grain. 
A remarkable fact has lately been brought to 
our attention by Mr. II. 8. Bidwcll, (Bidwcll 
Bro’s.,) of St. Paul, who was recently traveling 
in Tennessee, where he saw' a field of common 
corn, which usually yields an average t)f not 
more than one good ear to the stalk, bearing 
almost uniformly two, aud often three cars. 
The result, he infornw us, had been brought 
about in this way. It occurred to the farmer 
that, as the kernel usually derived its origin, as 
wc have described, from two diflerent plants. 
Fig. 1.— SBOTION or 21 KOWED COUN. 
saving the seed wrn from stalks bearing two 
I ears was not enough; he must sec to it that the 
j kernel germs were fertilized by similar stalks, 
j So he planted every year a special patch for 
I seed, and carefully cut off all the spindles ou 
I stalks where two or more cars were not set. 
The result was an improvement year by year in 
1 the quantity of coni, ns well ns in the manner in 
j which it grew. The principle has a wide appli- 
cation in the improvement of the different kinds 
I of farm and garden produce. In the breeding 
of animals, the qualities expected from the 
male, and those which usually arc inherited from 
the dam, arc to a degree understood, and the 
application of similar principles in breeding 
2.—SECTION OV 22-ROWED COKN. 
vegetables is certainly legitimate. The fact 
above slated has so good a foundation in sound 
reasoning, that wc give it to our readers, an¬ 
ticipating its publication in the “American 
Agricultural iVmmil,” which is now in press. 
