THE CULTIVATOR. 
31 
j* 
the committee will add, that this root thrives best in a sandy 
loam, light, moist, bat not wet, and of great depth; in which 
the plough, going to the beam, brings to the surface nothing 
that is not fit for vegetation. The ground should be ploughed 
immediately preceding the sowing. In Suffolk, Eng. they 
sow 8 lbs. seed, broadcast, to the acre; and the crop is from 
400 to 500 bushels. To horses they are considered superior 
to any other food. Two bushels of carrots and one of chaff 
is the per diem allowance to a horse; or 7 bushels of carrots 
and one bushel of oats is the allowance for a week. They 
are also profitably fed to all other farm stock. They are rais¬ 
ed in Suffolk without dung, at an expense of 9d. (16 cents) 
per bushel. The yield of the carrot is often 700 to 1000 bush¬ 
els the acre. The crop is gathered by making a deep farrow 
near to the drill; when a man seizes, draws the top to the 
furrow, and pulls them up with great facility. 
Another root, the parsnip, is deserving of notice, though 
its partial culture, hitherto, will hardly entitle it to be classed 
among field crops. It is believed to be the most nutritious 
root of any that have been named; is as easy cultivated as 
the carrot or the beet: and has this advantage over all the 
others, that its value is not impaired by frost. 
From the preceding views, the committee do not hesitate to 
recommend the extention of root culture, as the most ready 
means of keeping up the fertility of our farms, and of increas¬ 
ing the profits of their cultivation. J. BUEL, Clin. 
Report of the Committee on Swine. 
Until recently, very little attention has been paid to the 
breeds of our farm stock; and pigs being considered an infe¬ 
rior species of domestic animals, have been the last to engage 
the attention of the farmer; and even at the present day in 
many districts of our country, the old unprofitable kinds of 
this animal continue to prevail. Indeed, systematic breeding 
with a'view to improve the form and value of the animal, 
may be said to have hardly commenced among us, the im¬ 
provements which are perceptible, being rather the fruits 
of European than American skill. 
A common error in this country, has been to regard more 
the size of the animal, than its symmetry or good points—to 
estimate a breed according to the great weight which it could 
he made to attain—rather than the profit with which it would 
be fitted to the hands of the butcher—the most material point 
to the farmer. But experience is teaching us a new lesson 
on this head. Butchers now judge of an animal, not accord¬ 
ing to its gross weight, but according to the good points, or 
most valuable meat, which it carries. Breeders have learn¬ 
ed to prefer those which, with a given quantity of food, will 
lay on the most meat. And the consumer lias learned, too, 
that meat that shows the most solid fat, is neither the most 
healthy, the most savory, nor the most economical. It. is the 
due admixture of fat and lean,or the prevalence of what is 
termed fat-lean —such as is seen in the Devonshire ox and the 
South Down sheep—that gives the greatest value to the but¬ 
cher’s meat. 
It was lately remarked by an eminent breeder of England, 
Sir. Gray, at an agricultural dinner, that he could feed on an 
acre of land, a greater number of pounds of mutton, in car¬ 
casses from 18 to 20 lbs. per quarter than in carcasses 
from 28 to 30 lbs. per quarter, and that a quarter of mut¬ 
ton from a sheep of 18 to 20 lbs. weight per qr. is worth 
more in proportion than from a sheep of 30 lhs. per quarter; 
and that, consequently, the advantage is on the side of the 
smaller carcasses. And he assigned this, among, other rea¬ 
sons, that in case of drought or scarcity, a small animal can 
collect as much food as a larger one, and having a. smaller 
carcass it derives more advantage from it; that whilst the lar¬ 
ger is losing in condition, the smaller one, if not improving, is 
remaining stationary ; and when the period arrives at which 
an abundance of food can be obtained, it almost immediate¬ 
ly reassumes its position, and is fit to go to market sooner than 
the larger animal. 
These remarks are found to hold good in regard to swine, 
as well as sheep. The same quantum of food that will give 
600 pounds to hogs of a very large breed, will fatten two hogs 
of 300 pounds each; and the meat of the latter, though not 
so fat, will be of the better quality. This, and other c onside- 
rations, have given to what is termed the Berkshires, a deci¬ 
ded superiority both in England and America, over most 
other breeds. 
The history of the introduction of this breed among us, 
was stated in the report upon swine, made at the last meet¬ 
ing of this society. Since that time, the demand for this 
breed of pigs, from almost every state in the Union, has great 
ly increased, and prices, in some cases, have almost exceed¬ 
ed credulity. Two hundred and fifty, three hundred, and 
even five hundred dollars a pair, have been paid for them. 
Nor have they been found deficient in weight, when they 
have had time to mature their growth. They have been fat¬ 
tened to weigh five, six, and seven hundred pounds ; and 
one was brought to this market last week, from Fulton coun¬ 
ty, eighteen months old, purchased of Judge Buel a little more 
than one year ago, which weighed, when dressed, 633 lbs. 
the carcass of which sold in the market at about. $56. 
But it is not the great weight which this breed of hogs are 
brought to, that gives them their great intrinsic value. They 
are docile, quiet, come to early maturity, have but little of¬ 
fal, give a large and excellent, ham, one of the most valuable 
parts, sweet, sound and high flavored pork, and is believed, 
make as groat, if not greater returns for the food consumed, 
than any other breed amongst us. 
It is a matter of congratulation to the admirer of this breed 
of hogs, that Mr. Lossing of this city, has recently imported 
three animals ofthis breed, carefully selected by Mr. Ilawes, 
in England. This, it is hoped, will prevent the necessity of 
breeding in-and-in, and thus preserve to us the breed in its 
purity. 
In corroboration of the high opinion entertained of this 
breed of hogs, I will state, that Col. Williams, a spirited and 
wealthy gentleman, residing on Long-Island, desirous of pro¬ 
curing a superior breed of hogs, wrote to his friend and agent 
at Liverpool, to procure for him, without regard to price, six 
pigs of the best breed in England, and to take time and satis¬ 
fy himself before purchasing. After diligent inquiry, his 
friend finally settled on the Berkshire, as being considered, 
taking all things into view, the best and most approved breed, 
and purchased seven, four males and three females, being 
the entire litter, (the owner refusing to sell a part,) and for¬ 
warding them to New-York, where they arrived in October 
last. One of the male pigs will be forwarded to the chairman 
of this committee in the spring, which will go still further to 
keep the breed from degenerating. 
There are other good breeds of hogs in some sections of 
the country, each of which have their advocates and admirers, 
such as the Bedford nr Woburn, Mackey, Leieesters, Mocho, 
China, Byfield and Grass-breed, as they are termed. 
Much loss has been sustained by our farmers, in not keep¬ 
ing up the purity of blood, when possessed; the importance 
of which has been too little regarded, and before they were 
aware of it, the good qualities were lost, either by breeding in- 
and-in, or by crossing with inferior animals. 
As regards the choice of hogs for breeding, it is recommend¬ 
ed that the male should be small headed, deep and broad in 
the chest., the chine rather arched, the ribs anrl barrel well 
rounded, and the hams falling full down nearly to the hock. 
Fie should also be more compact in his form, and rather smal¬ 
ler than the female, for if she be coarse, her progeny will be 
improved in form and flesh by the cross, and the more roomy 
she is, the better chance will she afford of producing a large 
and healthy litter. Respecting her make, no other observa¬ 
tion need be made than to choose her of a deep and capacious 
body with a good appearance, and belonging to as good a 
race as can be found. 
The boar should he well fed, and when young, used spar¬ 
ingly. The sow should also be kept in good condition, so as 
to support her offspring, but should not be made too fat; for 
if in very high order she will probably bring but a weak and 
indifferent litter of pigs. She should not be allowed to far¬ 
row in the winter, as the young are then extremely tender, 
and of all animals the least able to endure cold, and thrive 
with great difficulty. The months of March and the first of 
April for the spring, and the months of August and Septem¬ 
ber, for the fall litters, are thereto e to be preferred for far¬ 
rowing. 
When breeders possess a good kind of stock, they are too 
apt to follow it up, by breeding what is termed ‘'in-and-in” 
with the same family; a practice which is well known cannot 
be successfully persevered in, for they will become bad feed¬ 
ers, grow delicate, fall off in size, and almost entirely give up 
breeding; and should they casually have a litter, the pigs 
will be small, weak and, and die almost as soon as they are 
born. 
It not unfrequently happens, that a young sow will de¬ 
vour her young; she should, therefore, he carefully wa'ched, 
and well fed, when about to farrow: which may be known 
by her carrying straw in her mouth, about to form her bed. 
ft is a good precaution to sponge the hacks of the pigs immedi¬ 
ately alter they are born, with a strong infusion ofaloes, in luke¬ 
warm water, as its bitter taste will prevent her from destroying 
them, care should also be taken before farrowing to separate 
her from other hogs. She should have a dry and warm place, 
and be provided with a good supply of straw cut short, to pre¬ 
vent the pigs from getting entangled, in which case she is apt to 
lay on and kill them. To protect the pigs, an open frame or 
strong rail on each side; of her, elevated a few inches from the 
ground, under which the pigs may run, has been recommend¬ 
ed. Eight or ten days after farrowing, the sow may be al¬ 
lowed to leave her stye for a short time every day, and when 
the pigs acquire a little strength, they may accompany her. 
A grass field is the best place, for the heibage improves the 
sow’s milk; the pigs grow faster as well as more healthy, and 
the stye is rendered more sweet by their absence. ]f the 
brood be numerous, they should be lessened, in order to re¬ 
lieve the sow, to eight or at most nine : though from ten to 
thirteen have been brought up in perfect order, without, any 
apparent injury to the mother. In such cases, however, she 
should be a strong and healthy animal, as well as supplied 
with an abundance of the most nutritious food. During the 
whole period of hernursing, the offals of the kitchen or dairy 
wash, with ship stuffs, ground oats, barley, buckwheat or 
corn, mixed and given lukewarm, morning and evening, and 
in the middle of the day, boiled potatoes, beets or carrots, 
with a little Indian meal or peas and barley ground and mix¬ 
ed, or something equally nutritious. 
The young pigs, even while sticklers, should not be left 
wholly to the nourishment offered by the sow, but should be 
furnished, two or three limes a day, with sltim-milk, or but¬ 
termilk-whey or pot liquor, made lukewarm, and having a 
little meal, shorts and boiled roots, mixed up with it: or if 
this be thought loo troublesome, skim-milk, with a small 
quantity of meal may be left constantly ior them, in a part of 
the stye to which the sow cannot have access. In six or se¬ 
ven weeks, they will generally weigh from thirty to thirty- 
five pounds and be strong enough to wean. After vveaninc 
they should noUonly beliept dry and clean,’but regularly 
fed. 
The importance of the value of swine, with regard to the 
consuming of the refuse or coarse grain of the farm, and pro¬ 
duction of manure, is too well known to the farmer to require 
further notice. 
Pigs that come in March, and are intended to be killed in 
December, should be well fed with the wash of the kitchen 
and dairy, from the time of weaning, and have a run in good 
clover where there is plenty of water, and as soon as peas 
will answer, a small quantity added to their feed daily, and 
the quantity increased as they increase in size; as feeding and 
fattening hogs exclusively on corn, at the present high prices 
it is evident to every one, would be a losing and ruinous con¬ 
cern. It is therefore recommended, that as soon as the har¬ 
vesting of potatoes commences, the hogs should be confined 
and fed with boiled or steamed potatoes, with a few pumpkins 
beets or carrots; and peas, oats and buckwheat, ground toge¬ 
ther, should be well mixed, when hot, and fed lukewarm re¬ 
gularly three times per day. Great care should be taken not 
to cloy their appetites, by feeding more than they will eat at 
each time, and as they advance, it is recommended to feed 
them a little at a time, several times in the day. To keep them 
easy and quiet, much depends on regularity, for they keep 
much better time than many are aware of. 
To harden and give solidity to their flesh, about two or 
three weeks previous to their slaughtering, they should be 
plentifully fed with corn and pure water, but it would be 
more economical to have the corn reduced to meal, and if 
convenient made into mush or pudding, adding a little salt 
by way of relish. A small quantity of line charcoal thrown 
into their pens occasionally, and a small quantity of sulphur, 
mixed with the food, will add much to their health. 
It has been ascertained that one bushel of grain, ground 
and cooked,'will go nearly as far as two, in its whole state. 
The above remarks will apply equally well to grown hogs. 
March pigs, well fattened, weighing from 200‘to 250 pounds 
and killed in December, will command in this market the 
highest price; but for consumption on the farm, an older and 
larger hog is recommended, say from 300 to 400 pounds. 
Hogs treated as above, if of a good breed, will require 
from six to eight weeks to fatten them sufficiently for slaugh¬ 
tering. C. N. BEMENT, Chairman. 
Report on Grasses and Grass Lands. 
The committee on laying down grass lands, &c. report: 
In the consideration of this subject, but two distinct propo¬ 
sitions submit themselves to the reflection of the committee, 
and first: Our soils in the northern states may be ranged, for 
the purposes of this essay, into two classes: the tenacious, 
consisting of clayey, loamy and vegetable: and i ll£> cilinj/niio 
in sandy. These mo sufficiently well known to every 
farmer, without analyzation, and the committee believe that 
the long practical experience and observation of their several 
properties, need only to be here confirmed and reiterated.— 
The first division of these soils may be termed “natural grass 
lands;” the second requires the grasses to be frequently culti¬ 
vated by rotation with other crops; arid for the present pur¬ 
pose, may be termed “ artificial” soils for grasses. 
In the management of the first, the committee feel warrant¬ 
ed in the assertion, (and for the truth of this, they appeal to 
the innumerable instances afforded in all parts of the northern 
states, when large and productive tracts of meadow and pas¬ 
tures, have been in uninterrupted grass culture for more than 
half a century,) that so far as has yet been tried, lands may 
be kept in grass culture for such time as “ the memory of man 
runneth not to the contrary.” It is true that these soils, more 
than others, will not bear continual cropping without occa¬ 
sional nourishment, with impunity; but when once well seed¬ 
ed, by the application of various manures, among which that 
of the barn yard is the best, and the absence of close after- 
feeding, they will yield grass, in common parlance, “ almost 
forever.” 
In many sections of our country, when the vegetable loam 
preponderates upon a clayey, or a hard-pan subsoil, the 
ploughing up of meadows and pasture lands for many years is 
almost destructive to their future production of grass, and it 
is only by long and regular applications of mixed and rich 
manures, that they can be brought back to their primitive 
luxuriance. In proof of this remark, your committee need on¬ 
ly refer to some of the most celebrated and productive grazing 
districts of the state, where the staple grasses of our country 
have been always successfully cultivated. In frequent in¬ 
stances, perhaps in a large majority of cases, lands of this de¬ 
scription, which have been cleared within the last fifty years 
and now' occupied as pasture and meadow, have never been 
ploughed, but remain in the same uneven condition of sur¬ 
face, as they were left, when the harrow followed the first 
grain and grass seed which were deposited in them after clear¬ 
ing. Great reluctance is usually manifested in disturbing 
these fields, although somewhat inconvenient to the mower, 
so well satisfied are their proprietors with their annual crops’ 
ns to prefer the old adage, and “let well enough alone.”— 
Your committee have witnessed instances of this description 
of soils thirty years in grass, and but slightly manured, arid 
under very ordinary cultivation, producing in a common sea¬ 
son, two to three tons of the finest hay per acre. Such, how¬ 
ever, are extraordinary cases in favorable positions. An or¬ 
dinary crop may be one to two tons per acre, according to the 
care and attention of the farmer. 
It is true that these lands may become exhausted, and the 
grass “ run out,” as the term goes, by bad husbandry and 
neglect; but the application of yard manures, of new grass 
seeds and the harrow, will in nearly all instances, restore 
them to their wonted luxuriance. It need hardly here be 
stated, that irrigation, draining and other artificial stimulants 
may be important acquisitions to the productiveness of the 
meadow and the. pasture, but as these always suggest them¬ 
selves to the judgment and good sense of the cultivator, they 
do not necessarily come within the province of this discussion. 
The quantity of seed sown to the acre for either pasture or 
meadow, should not he less than half a bushel; the kind or 
variety to depend somewhat upon the soil and its situation. 
For mowing, the red clover, timothy and red top are the best 
and most desirable. For pastures, the same, with the addition 
of white clover and blue or June grass, which are almost eve¬ 
rywhere indigenous to the soil, and are among the richest and 
most nutritious of all our grasses. In fine, the simplest me¬ 
thods compatible with the established rules ofgood husbandry 
your committee believe, with such soils, are the best for their 
profitable and perpetual cultivation. 
In the discussion of the second proposition of the subject, 
viz. the cultivation of grasses on the lighter soils, your eom- 
mittee will remark, that much will necessarily be left to the 
judgment of the cultivator, in the time that his lands are to bo 
kept in grass, and his own necessities or’requirements'of 
his soil. As a general rule, if the raising of grass be an object, 
so long as the lands produce well, either from their natural 
fertility, or by the application of artificial stimulants, they 
should not be disturbed; but when the object is a regular ro¬ 
tation, with a strict regard to profit, two to four years is suffi¬ 
cient for the benefit of the land, and as long as such soils 
will usually yield a grass crop to profit. It is betler that the 
soils be properly prepared, by previous grain or root crops and 
abundant manuring, harrowing arid rolling, for the reception 
of grass seeds, and that the manures of the farm, save, per¬ 
haps, lime, ashes and plaster, be withheld for the use of the 
current ploughed crops, than to expend them upon the grasses; 
yet much must depend upon the local position of the ground, 
the climate, and the dry or moist condilion of the soil. 
The descriptions of grasses best fitted for these soils are, so 
far as our experience lias yet tested, the red clover and timo¬ 
thy. They are sirong, hardy and rich in their properties, 
universally known and cultivated, and have, iri competition 
with all rival experiments, maintained their reputation and 
superiority. The proportions of seed to be distributed on the 
soil, may vary with the requirements of the cultivator, whe¬ 
ther for hay or for pasture; but may range from one to two- 
thirds of either variety; but in no case for thorough seeding 
should the combined quantity be less than half a bushel to 
three pecks per acre. The great fault witli our farmers is, to 
not half seed their grass lands, the usual allowance beinp- less 
than half the quantity recommended. The time and manner 
of seeding, your committee unhesitatingly recommend, as the 
earliest spring, on a light loam; or if that be wanting’ while 
the ground is yet unsettled, on a crop of winter grain. If this 
mode be not practicable, the best other plan would be either 
by sowing with spring grains, or seeding in the summer, with 
buckwheat or turnips as the occasion may demand. 
The ploughing into the soil, of an occasional grass crop for 
its renovation, in the absence of stimulating manures, cannot 
be too highly recommended in the lighter soils; and for BUfr- 
