NEW WAY OF RAISING PIGS. 
203 
next year after Mr. Newton, on the northern 
neck, upon a piece of land so deadly poor that it 
would not produce any kind of grain enough to 
pay for planting; soil, clayey loam, hill land. 
His first experiment was with 400 lbs. to the 
acre, of African guano, that proved one third 
water, upon 27 acres, sowed with three bushels 
to an acre, and made 12f- bushels, and upon 
another field from 8 to 18 bushels to the acre, 
and guano fully paid for in the improvement of 
the land by clover, which he sows with wheat, 
in September. The clover grows luxuriantly 
where none would grow without guano, and his 
wheat now, (May 1,) is knee high, and will ripen 
by 15th June, and bids fair to make 1,000 bush¬ 
els where 150 could not have been made with¬ 
out guano, or 25 bushels to the acre. On some 
kinds of land on next farm, the wheat is barely 
perceptible at a little distance. Upon another 
farm where the land is richer, the contrast is 
not so great, but the doctor thinks will be equal¬ 
ly profitable, and that it always will be found 
profitable upon land that wpuld be benefitted by 
manure. He has bought 15 tons Peruvian gu¬ 
ano for the next crop. 
Mr. W. Roy Mason put 300 lbs. of African 
guano at a cost of $4.50 upon what he says was 
the poorest acre of land in King-George county, 
Virginia, and I can bring a host of witnesses to 
prove that that is poor enough, and got 12 bush¬ 
els good wheat, and a stand of clover worth 
more than the guano cost He has made other 
experiments so satisfactory that he has bought 
six tons of Peruvian for future ones. 
Mr. C. Turner, of King-George county, tried 
five experiments with guano. 
1st. Plowed in 250 lbs. 7 inches deep on corn 
land, and harrowed in wheat, and sowed one 
bushel plaster to acre on surface of part. 
2d. After the land was plowed, mixed guano, 
wheat, and plaster, and sowed and harrowed. 
3d. Land plowed, and wheat, guano, and plas¬ 
ter sowed and plowed in 2 or 3 inches deep. 
4th. Guano and plaster plowed in five inches 
and wheat harrowed in. 
The quantity and quality all equal. The 
present appearance, (April 26th,') is decidedly 
in favor of the first part of first experiment. 
From all that I can learn, I am convinced 
that the best application that can be made is 
200 lbs. Peruvian guano to the acre, plowed in 
deep, [How “ deep,” one inch, five, ten or twen¬ 
ty ?— Eds.,] and that it is the most beneficial 
upon sandy loam, and pays the greatest profit 
upon lands so worn out as to be absolutely 
worthless for cultivation. 
Col. Robert W. Carter, of Sabine Hall, Rich¬ 
mond county, Virginia, a gentleman noted as 
one of the most improving agriculturist upon 
the northern neck, after thoroughly testing the 
varioi^ manures in various ways,has become 
so thoroughly convinced of its value, andthe bad 
economy of ever sowing wheat without using it, 
has ordered 40 tons of Peruvian guano for his 
fall seeding of 1850. He plows it in deep. 
No part of.the United States is using guano to 
the extent it will be used next fall, in this part 
of Virginia. I have notes of a great many other 
experiments, and shall continue to take others 
for publication for the encouragement of any 
who may be timid about buying this most won¬ 
derful and most profitable fertiliser. R. 
NEW WAY OF RAISING PIGS. 
Mr. Wm. H. Roy, one of the most intelligent 
farmers of Mathews county, Virginia, has adopt¬ 
ed the plan of separating the sow from the pigs 
and suckling them at stated times just as is com¬ 
mon with calves. When the pigs are one day 
old, it is very easy to turn the sow out and leave 
the pigs in the pen. The sow is turned in at 
night and out in the morning, and also at noon, 
during the infancy of the pigs. By this plan, 
they can be the better fed than when together. 
It is needless to say that the kind kept by Mr. 
Roy are worth taking this little trouble with. 
They are Berkshire and grazier. He says that 
both sows and pigs do enough better to pay all 
trouble. 
Dr. Mallory, of Hampton, Virginia, has a new 
way of keeping both pigs and negroes honest 
and out of mischief. He gives each man and 
woman two, and each working boy one pig in 
the spring of the year, and requires them to shut 
them in pens, each one’s pigs by themselves 
and to keep them well furnished with materials 
to make manure. To each of these pigs is dealt 
out a daily ration of two ears of corn, until 
“roasting ear time,” and the owners are allowed 
to feed them all they will eat until killing time. 
The pork is then equally divided, between mas¬ 
ter and servant who sells his part for cash. 
The doctor believes the manure is worth as 
much as the corn fed during summer ; and the-r^ 
is another advantage connected with the plan-^ 
the negro is noj tempted to steal corn, perhaps^ 
from the horses, to feed his pig, and besides,' it 
is contrary to negro nature to run away and 
leave a fat pig. 
To Destroy Wild Onions.— -A correspondent 
complains of his farm being much infested with 
wild onions, and asks how they can be destroy¬ 
ed. The most effectual way we have yet tried 
is, to feed the tops off early in the spring with 
sheep. As soon as this is done, remove the 
sheep from the pasture*, and when the onion tops 
spring up again, turn the sheep on a second 
time, and so keep repeating till the onions are- 
killed, which is usually the first season. Sheep 
are very fond of the tops of wild onions, and as 
they are usually six inches high, in this climate, 
by the middle of April, it has been suggested 
that they would be well worth cultivating for 
early sheep pasture. We cannot agree with 
this opinion, and much prefer wheat or rye ; for* 
they are as early in the spring as wild onion 
tops, and are far more nutidtious. 
Pasture Lands.— When fields that have laid 
in pasture two years have been subjected to 
the plow, the yield from the subsequent crop 
has been found to be one fifth more productive 
than land similarly situated, from which the 
grass had been mowed the first year, although 
pastured the second. 
