1892 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
683 
Cholera-Proof  Swine  Meat. 
HOW  PIGGY  APPRECIATES  DECENT  TREATMENT. 
The  Skim-milk  Breed  of  Pigs. 
Mr.  Lewis  B.  Halsey,  whose  milk  business  at  54th 
Street  and  Sixth  Avenue,  New  York  city,  was  de¬ 
scribed  in  The  Rural  New-Yorker  of  June  18,  has 
inaugurated  a  business  in  connection  with  his  cream¬ 
ery  at  Hobart,  Delaware  County,  N.  Y.,  which  de. 
serves  more  than  a  passing  notice.  Allusion  was 
made  to  it  in  the  article  above  specified  and  a  promise 
was  given  our  readers  that  we  should  drop  in  on  Mr. 
Halsey  later  and  tell  them  more  about  it. 
Mr.  Halsey  buys  at  his  creamery  on  his  place,  Shef¬ 
field  Farm,  about  10,000  quarts  of  milk  every  day.  Of 
this,  5,000  quarts  are  shipped  to  New  York  for  his 
milk  trade  ;  the  remainder  is  separated  for  the  cream 
trade,  or  for  churning  into  butter.  Previous  to  this 
season,  his  skimmed  milk  and  buttermilk  had  been 
manufactured  into  curds  for  the  New  York  market, 
but  he  had  an  idea  that  they  could  be  more  profitably 
disposed  of  in  other  directions.  The  business  of  mak¬ 
ing  good,  sound,  wholesome  pork  commended  itself  to 
him  and  he  proceeded  early  this  season  to  put  his  ideas 
into  practice. 
•‘How  many  pigs  have  you  on  your  farm? ’’said 
The  Rural. 
“About  1,100 — all  born  and  reared  on  the  place.” 
“  What  breed  do  you  prefer  ?” 
“I  have  avoided  the  pure  breeds  for  two  reasons  : 
first,  because  of  a  fear  that  they  may  be  lacking  in 
constitutional  vigor  on  account  of  too  long-continued 
and  persistent  in-breeding,  and,  second,  because  I 
Piling  on  the  Lean  Meat. 
“  When  do  you  begin  to  give  them  grain  food  ?” 
“  About  September  1  this  season,  but  I  shall  feed  a 
part  of  them  earlier  next  season.  In  addition  to  the 
large  sheds  in  the  fields  where  the  hogs  range,  we 
have  three  main  houses,  each  one  containing  56  pens, 
each  pen  with  a  capacity  for  five  pigs.  These  pens 
are  all  furnished  with  pure  spring  water,  and  are 
cleaned  out  every  day — flushed  with  water  from  a 
hose.  We  have  plenty  of  water  brought  from  a  spring 
about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  distant,  and  25  feet  above 
the  pens.  There  is  always  an  abundant  supply.  There 
are  no  foul  odors  around  the  pens,  and  the  pigs  keep 
themselves  perfectly  clean.” 
“  What  do  you  feed  the  pigs  ?  ” 
“  In  addition  to  the  milk,  we  give  them  wheat  feed 
only — bran  and  middlings.  Corn  I  do  not  use  at  all — 
I  don’t  want  fat  nor  do  I  believe  my  patrons  want  it.” 
“  How  long  do  you  feed  before  slaughtering  ?  ” 
“  From  four  to  six  weeks.  I  try  to  make  them  put 
on  a  rapid  growth  of  flesh — not  fat,  and  I  prefer  to 
have  them  dress  about  150  pounds  when  six  months 
old.” 
Home-Made  Hog  Products. 
“  Do  you  slaughter  them  on  the  place  ?  ” 
“Oh  yes.  I  have  a  slaughter  house,  smoke  house, 
and  rendering  house  to  try  out  the  lard.” 
“  What  are  your  products  ?  ” 
“  Ham,  bacon,  lard,  sausages,  salt  pork,  fresh  pork 
(the  lean  portions),  and  head  cheese.  I  put  up  the 
lard  in  five  and  ten  pound  pails,  and  have  two  grades. 
One  is  absolutely  pure  leaf  lard,  and  the  other  is  made 
from  other  fats  of  the  animal.  I  commence  slaughter- 
The  Boston  Milk  Business. 
The  Boston  milk  business  differs  so  widely  from 
most  others,  that  some  of  its  details  will  prove  inter¬ 
esting  to  most  Rural  readers. 
The  business  is  almost  exclusively  done  through 
“  contractors,”  and  they  handle  about  620,000  cans  of 
milk  monthly,  each  can  holding  8t£  quarts.  During 
the  months  of  April,  May,  June,  July  and  August  the 
present  year,  they  received  3,916,122  cans.  The  rail¬ 
way  companies  have  fitted  up  milk  cars  for  the  traffic, 
with  accommodations  for  ice  and  attendance,  and 
charge  the  contractors  a  lump  price  per  car  by  the 
year,  the  contractors  furnishing  their  own  employees, 
ice,  &c.,  and  practically  controlling  the  freighting 
business. 
As  the  milk  comes  from  stations  of  varying  distances 
from  Boston,  the  Union  and  the  contractors  agreed 
years  ago  upon  what  is  called  a  distance  schedule, 
namely,  a  schedule  of  discounts  from  the  Boston  price, 
according  to  distance  from  Boston,  to  pay  for  freight, 
commission  and  other  expenses.  Consequently,  the 
Boston  price  is  in  a  measure  theoretical,  but  by  estab 
lishing  that,  the  producer  in  every  town  or  village 
can  apply  the  pre-arranged  discount  for  his  village 
from  the  Boston  price,  getting  at  just  exactly  what 
will  be  received  at  the  car  at  his  station.  This  fixing 
a  Boston  price  is  a  shorthand  way  of  fixing  the  price 
at,  say,  200  places.  This  discount  varies  from  eight  to 
twelve  cents.  Probably  the  average  price  received 
by  most  of  the  farmers  is  10  cents  below  the  Boston 
price,  although  a  great  many  stations  are  so  far  away 
as  to  have  the  discount  of  11  cents  ;  so  that  setting  the 
theoretical  price  per  can  in  Boston  at  37  cents  means 
White  Russet  Apple.  Fig.  208.  Basil  the  Great  Apple.  Fig.  209. 
know  they  have  all  been  bred  too  intensively  in  the 
fat-producing  line.  Of  all  the  breeds,  I  like  the  Berk- 
shires  best.  They  tend  more  to  lean  meat  than  the 
others  and  that  is  what  I  am  after.  I  have  been  using 
Berkshire  boars  on  cross-bred  sows.” 
These  Pigs  are  Vegetarians. 
“  What  do  you  feed  them  ?  ” 
“  Well,  to  begin  with,  we  have  about  6,000  quarts  of 
skimmed-milk  and  buttermilk  every  day.  That  and 
green  food  are  all  they  get,  through  their  growing  sea¬ 
son.  They  have  range  and  grass  up  on  the  hills  of 
Delaware  County,  1,800  feet  above  the  sea.  They 
always  have  plenty  of  pure  spring  water  at  their  con¬ 
trol  and  sheds  under  which  they  sleep  at  nights  or  go 
to  for  shade  during  the  day.  I  have  a  lot  of  10  acres, 
divided  into  10  sections  of  rectangular  shape,  long  and 
narrow.  As  early  in  the  spring  as  the  ground  can  be 
worked,  I  begin  planting  these  sections  to  oats  and 
peas,  one  planting  following  another  at  intervals  of 
about  five  days,  planting  two  sections  at  a  time.  When 
the  peas  are  fairly  filled,  I  turn  the  pigs  in  on  them, 
changing  from  one  section  to  another  as  the  feed  is 
exhausted.  Peas  and  skimmed  milk  are  both  flesh 
formers  and  the  young  pigs  flourish  on  them — they 
don't  get  fat.” 
“  Do  you  ever  have  any  cholera  or  epidemics  in  your 
herd  ?  ” 
“No!  I  never  have  anything  wrong — scarcely  ever 
have  a  sick  pig,  and  when  I  do  it  is  oftener  the  result 
of  accident  than  any  other  cause.  When  I  talked  of 
growing  pork  in  large  quantities,  my  neighbors  said 
it  could  not  be  done — that  cholera  or  some  other 
epidemic  would  sweep  them  off.  They  haven’t  been 
swept  off  yet  and  I  don’t  believe  I  shall  ever  have  any 
serious  trouble  in  that  direction.  There  is  no  more 
reason  why  swine  should  suffer  from  epidemic  diseases 
than  any  other  domestic  animals,  if  we  would  only  use 
a  little  common  sense  in  their  breeding  and  feeding.” 
ing  as  soon  as  the  weather  gets  cool  enough,  and 
shall  kill  about  200  a  month  until  the  supply  is  ex¬ 
hausted  and  warm  weather  comes.  Pigs  dropped  now 
do  to  kill  in  the  spring,  if  they  do  as  well  as  I  hope.” 
“  How  many  breeding  sows  have  you  ?” 
“  About  150.” 
“  Are  your  hams  and  bacon  to  be  made  up  on  the 
farm  ?  ” 
“  Yes.  I  have  employed  an  English  meat  curer, 
who  is  familiar  with  the  methods  employed  in  prepar¬ 
ing  the  famous  Wiltshire  bacon,  who  will  prepare  my 
hams  and  bacon.  I  believe  mine  will  be  fully  equal 
to  any  ever  made.” 
The  Rural  thinks  so  too. 
“  You  are  working  on  the  right  lines,  that  is  cer¬ 
tain.  Have  you  tried  any  other  foods  than  those  you 
have  mentioned  ?  ” 
“  No.  I  have  used  no  refuse  food  of  any  kind — have 
given  them  no  food  which  I  could  not  have  eaten  my¬ 
self.  Proprietors  of  some  of  the  large  summer  board¬ 
ing  houses  near  here  offered  me  their  table  refuse  free, 
if  I  would  cart  it  away,  but  I  would  not  have  it  on  the 
place.  My  pigs  are  clean,  thrifty  and  healthy.  I  be¬ 
lieve  they  will  make  pork  products  so  good  that  the 
demand  for  them  will  make  the  business  fairly  profit¬ 
able.  At  any  rate,  I  shall  give  it  a  fair  trial.  So  far, 
every  indication  points  to  success.” 
A  Lesson  for  the  Cholera  Cranks. 
The  Rural  thinks  Mr.  Halsey  is  practically  sure  of 
success.  The  average  pork  of  our  markets  is  fit  only 
for  the  stomach  of  an  Esquimaux,  but  pork  grown  as 
he  proposes  to  grow  it  ought  to  be  a  comparatively 
wholesome  food.  His  success  will  furnish  a  point  or 
two  to  some  of  the  inoculation  cranks,  who  think  hog 
cholera  can  be  suppressed  only  by  inoculation — a 
delusion  as  complete  as  it  is  pernicious.  Mr.  Halsey’s 
method  will  enable  him  to  grow  swine  and  avoid 
cholera.  The  products  from  such  a  farm  are  sure  to 
be  in  demand  among  people  who  care  for  their  health. 
25  and  26  cents  net  to  most  of  the  farmers  at  their 
stations. 
The  selling  price  in  boston  from  the  contractors  to 
the  peddlers  is  two  and  three  cents  less  than  the  nom¬ 
inal  or  theoretical  Boston  price,  namely,  (on  the  basis 
of  37  cents)  34  and  35  cents — in  some  especial  cases  33 
cents.  The  price  agreed  upon  a  week  ago  is  for  the 
six  months  beginning  October  1.  The  price  of  milk  is 
adjusted  every  six  months,  October  1  and  April  1. 
Any  surplus  that  there  is  is  manufactured  by  the  con¬ 
tractors  into  butter,  and  the  farmers  are  paid  for  such 
surplus  milk  what  the  contractors  can  get  out  of  it  in 
butter. 
The  principal  grievance  the  farmers  have  is  a  lack 
of  thorough  knowledge  as  to  whether  the  discount 
for  commission,  freight,  etc.,  is  right,  and  also 
whether  the  butter  account  is  correctly  kept.  One 
trouble  with  the  whole  matter  is  that  a  business  man, 
looking  at  the  question  from  a  business  standpoint, 
sees  certain  hard  facts  staring  him  in  the  face,  which, 
as  a  friend  of  the  farmers,  he  wishes  did  not  exist  but 
which  his  wishes  can  not  cause  to  disappear. 
When  the  contractors  show  a  surplus  of  847,000  cans 
during  the  past  five  months,  and  show  that  this  sur¬ 
plus  is  an  increase  over  last  year's  surplus  of  298,000 
cans,  as  a  business  proposition  it  is  a  serious  question 
whether  or  not  any  amount  of  force  which  farmers 
might  use  would  be  effective  in  securing  an  advance. 
Another  point  of  difficulty  is  that  an  increasing  num¬ 
ber  of  farmers,  dissatisfied  with  the  high-handed 
methods  of  the  contractors,  are  selling  their  milk 
directly  to  peddlers.  These  pecidlers  buy  their  muk 
“  straight,”  that  is,  make  no  deductions  from  any  of  the 
milk  on  account  of  the  surplus.  They  buy  only  enough 
to  supply  their  regular  normal  business,  and,  if  they 
are  short  themselves,  they  buy  enough  of  the  contrac¬ 
tors  to  make  up  the  difference.  This  selling  milk  to 
peddlers  “  straight”  (without  any  rebate  on  any  of  it 
for  surplus)  is,  of  course,  popular  with  the  farmer®,  ml 
