MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
Off BAI8ING AND FATTENING SWINE. 
Mr. Moore:— Having been an attentive 
reader of your influential paper, and feeling 
that all who can contribute to the advance¬ 
ment. of agricultural knowledge should do 
so, even if they can add but little to the 
stock of useful information, I send you the 
following. As among the various practical 
subjects treated upon in your paper I have 
seen but little lately upon the management 
of hogs, I have thought you might deem it 
profitable to give something of my experi¬ 
ence in this department of farm manage¬ 
ment 
At the present season of the year, breed¬ 
ing sows should have particular attention. 
They should be separated from other hogs 
—have a warm, dry place for sleeping, and 
have an opportunity to get at the ground—• 
that they may have proper exercise and ob¬ 
tain that earthy matter, which seems ne¬ 
cessary to the health and development of 
themselves and their young. Particular 
care should be taken also, that their food is 
neither too poor nor too nutritious. The pigs 
should not be separated from the sows un¬ 
til they are almost imperceptibly weaned, by 
learning them at four or six weeks old, to 
eat corn and the house-slops mixed with 
some light ground feed, in an adjoining apart¬ 
ment which allows them access to the sow. 
This is the best method of weaning 
without stunting or injuring their future 
growth. 
A friend of mine residing in Lockport, 
informed me that he had forty pigs last 
spring, and that when they were weaned he 
purchased a quantity of ship stuff. With 
this mixed with water he filled a large 
hogshead and fed it to his pigs. At first 
they appeared to do well, but before the 
whole was used they commenced dying, 
and he said he lost the most of them; which 
he was unable to account for. I told him 
t was caused by his manner of preparing 
their food. Chemistry informs us that there 
are three fermentations —the saccharine or 
sugar fermentation, which is that which 
takes place when bread is in a proper state 
to bake, and in which state feed should be 
given to animals, before it passes into the 
vinous fermentation, which destroys the ac¬ 
tion of the stomach, and engenders disease. 
The third is the acetous fermentation, in 
which the food loses all its nutritious quali¬ 
ties, and becomes putrid and fit only for ma¬ 
nure. 
But a small quantity of such food should be 
prepared at a time, that it may be fed when 
it arrives at the saccharine fermentation, 
which will take place in six or eight hours. 
This will ensure thrift and health in the 
animals, such as no other treatment will as 
successfully promote. 
Again, many feed young pigs with heavy 
food, such as Indian meal, which is very in¬ 
judicious, for it fattens the flesh too fast for 
the growth of the bones, and therefore di¬ 
minishes their size. Lighter food produces 
a more healthy and uniform growth, such 
as will best reward the owner. 
One more thought on fattening hogs, and 
3 will conclude. Some people at the com¬ 
mencement of fattening, confine their hogs 
and feed them as highly as they intend to 
at any time—which is attended with a very 
great loss. My uniform practice has been 
to shut up my hogs in a yard adjacent to 
the pen where they can go out and in, and 
get to the ground when they please. I 
then commence boiling or cooking my feed 
—apples, pumpkins, carrots, and potatoes, 
as I may happen to have. These I mix 
and jam up with somo mill-feed, or other 
feed that is not too heavy, taking care to 
measure it, that I may increase it each time 
Thus through the whole process of fatten¬ 
ing I am gradually enriching the feed, until 
a few of the last weeks when I give them 
com meal or Indian pudding. This method 
will make good, solid fat pork. I have had 
them so fat that they could not get to the 
trough, and I had to feed them where they 
lay. I never confined them to the pen as 
long as they seemed to wish to leave it. 
Yours, truly, e. h. 
Xnowleaville, March 3,1851. 
Writers for the Rural New Yorker, 
are requested to make their communica¬ 
tions brief and explicit. Goetbe says: “ The 
design of language is to give expression to 
thought; that style of writing, therefore, 
must necessarily be the best which most 
rapidly, clearly, and perfectly conveys to 
the reader’s mind what the writer intended 
he should understand.” 
THE CULTURE AND PRESERVATION OF 
THE 3WEET POTATO. 
Mr. Moore :—For reasons not necessary 
to mention, I have neglected to redeem my 
pledge “ to give you a taste of sweet pota¬ 
toes raised and preserved in Macedon, N. 
Y.” until now. I trust they will fully meet 
your expectations, though the sample here¬ 
with transmitted was unpacked some two 
weeks ago, and are probably not as good as 
when first taken from the sand on account 
of exposure to the atmosphere. 
These potatoes were grown from plants 
raised in a hot bed, from potatoes planted 
whole, each giving from five to twenty 
shoots according to their size. The starting 
should be so timed as to bring them ready 
for transplanting when the ground has be¬ 
come thoroughly warmed, say from the 1st 
to the 10th of June. Planting in the hot¬ 
bed by the 1st of April would bring them, 
I think, to the right stage for transplanting 
by the 1st of June. The shoots sometimes 
come out of the potato singly, but often in 
clusters of six or more, and when old enough 
to remove have fibrous roots in abundance. 
They may now be detached from the potato, 
and from each other when in clusters, and set 
in open ground as tomato or cabbage plants 
are, and no more care is necessary to their 
taking root, than with these. 
As the vines, jf allowed to have their 
way, sometimes run fifteen or twenty feet, 
striking root, and forming numerous small, 
potatoes, much to the detriment of the tu¬ 
bers in the bill, I would recommend fre¬ 
quent moving of the vines to prevent their 
taking root. Some I shortened up by 
cutting, some I coiled about the top of the 
hill, and some were allowed to run; from my 
observation, I deem it unimportant whore 
the vines lie if care is taken to keep them 
from rooting between the rows, or hills. 
The soil I grow them in, is a fine sandy 
loam with a southern inclination—dry and 
warm. For rows one way, or drills I would 
set single plants about 18 inches apart. If 
in hills, 4 feet each way, and 3 or 4 plants 
in a hill. They require clean culture, the 
hills made large, well elevated and flat, or 
a trifle dishing at the top. They should 
| be dug before any severe frosts. The 
vines continue green until they are killed 
by frost, but by the above process I have 
raised them ripe enough to be good, and to 
keep sound till spring,—witness the sample. 
The mode of preserving them, is the 
grand secret after all, yet it is so simple I 
could hardly credit it, having understood 
that some gentleman in Michigan had ob¬ 
tained a patent for a mode of preserving 
sweet potatoes. If the following should be 
an infringement of said patent your readers 
who adopt it would do well to keep the 
packages out of sight. 
Take a box, keg, or anything that will 
hold dry sand—if a largo quantity is to be 
put up, I place it where it is to remain until 
spring, or until the potatoes are taken up. 
The sand must be perfectly dry. Cover 
the bottom with sand, and lay a course of 
potatoes carefully so as not to touch each 
other, then cover with sand to such depth 
as will keep the first and second courses 
from touching, and “so on to the end of 
the chapter,” finishing off with a good coat 
of sand and a cover. 
A package containing 4 or 5 bushels of 
potatoes and about the same quantity of dry 
sand becomes “a fixed fact;” hence the ne¬ 
cessity of locating before the potatoes are 
packed. They must be kept in a dry room 
where no frost can penetrate the package. 
I kept them in two old fire-places behiad 
the fire-boards, (I. think they were too 
warm as they have already sprouted,) the 
chimney stands in the middle of the house, 
fire-place each side, and not 4 feet from 
each fire-board we kept a fire in the stoves 
day and night nearly all of the cold weather. 
I am thus particular to give you some idea 
of the temperature of the place where they 
were kept. I. W. Briggs. 
West Macedon, N. Y., March 8,1851. 
Remarks. —The sample of sweet potatoes ac_ 
companying the above article were very fine in 
appearance, and in remarkable good preservation. 
We never saw specimens more beautiful to the 
eye. Op applying the test of th q palate, however, 
they did not prove superior, though good. They 
were rather moist and waxy, which may have, 
been in consequence of their being kept on exhi¬ 
bition for several days in our office, in a warm 
temperature. 
That sweet potatoes can be well grown, and also 
preserved in this climate, we must admit—and 
thank Mr. Briggs for this tangible evidence, as 
well as for the above statement.—[Ens. 
PRACTICAL RECIPES. 
Cholic in Horses. —Cholic is produced 
in. several ways, which, I presume are known 
to the reader, therefore I will at once come 
to the remedy. 
There are various cures recommended, 
but the following I think is one of the best: 
In the first place, clysters should be ad¬ 
ministered without delay, and repeated ev¬ 
ery half hour until the disorder be removed 
or relieved. Previous to introducing the 
clyster-pipe, the hardened dung in the rec¬ 
tum should be removed. 
Mr. White recommends to give as soon 
as the disorder is observed the following 
draught: Balsam of Capioc, I ounce; Oil 
of Juniper, 2 drachms; simple mint water, 
I ounce. To be mixed in one dose. Or 
the following:—“Venice turpentine, 1 oz., 
mixed,.with the yolk of an egg; adding 
gradually, peppermint water, one pint; also 
spirits of nitrous ether, half an ounce for 
one dose.” 
A clyster should also be injected consist¬ 
ing of six quarts of water gruel, or warm 
water, and 8 ounces of common salt. 
To prevent inflammation and remove the 
spasmodic contraction of the intestines, if 
the disease continue any length of time, it 
will be proper to bleed to three quarts or 
more. The draught and clyster should al¬ 
so be repeated and the belly rubbed with a 
mustard embrocation. If the disease still 
resist all this—but such is seldom the case— 
a pint of castor oil, with an ounce and a half 
of the tincture of opium may be given. 
For Sots in Horses. —Apply spirits of 
turpentine to the hollow of the breast, warm 
it with a hot shovel, and you. will find it to 
be an effectual remedy. 
Scours in Calves. —To prevent scours 
in calves, I would recommend boiled bkirn- 
med milk. Give it warm. Try it, we have 
always found it preferable to any remedy 
we have ever tried as yet 
Leonade. 
Philadelphia Co., Pa., 1851. 
A 3IMPLE STUMP MACHINE 
Mr. Editor: —Having seen in several 
i agricultural papers some inquiries about a 
j stump machine, I will give you (copied from 
a pamphlet in my possession,) a brief de¬ 
scription of one that 1 have seen used with 
the best of success. 
Procure a dry red elm lever, about 20 feet 
long, and six or eight inches in diameter; a 
good stout log chain and two yoke of oxen, 
and that is ail the machinery required.— 
The mode of operation is this:—Wrap the 
log chain around the stump, a little above 
the ground, and make what is called a log 
hitch; then lay the lever horizontally on the 
ground, the larger end next to the chain 
and against the stump. Now make the 
other end of the chain fast to this end of 
the lever, drawing the lever tight to the 
stump, and hitch the cattle to the small end; 
then drive them around the stump in a cir¬ 
cle of which the lever is the radius. One 
revolution of the oxen around the stump 
will generally twist out the largest. But 
should the power applied not be sufficient, 
the side roots of the stump may be uncov¬ 
ered, and cut partly off; and this done, it 
will easily be removed. 
This is all of the stump machine. My 
respects to the Rural and all agricultural 
papers. May the importance of agriculture 
be more deeply impressed on every mind. 
A Student of Scientific Agriculture. 
Rochester, February, 1851. 
MOVING BEES. 
Friend Moore: —Will you or some of 
your subscribers, give information through 
the columns of the Rural, respecting the 
propriety of moving Bees from their old 
habitations to a new one, at a distance of 
six, eight or ten rods ? And, at what season 
of the year would their removal insure the 
greatest success ? 
An early reply to this request will oblige 
at least one of your subscribers. 
Yours truly, Jacob Paul. 
Van Buren, N. Y., Feb. 7,1851. 
Remarks. —If this inquiry relates only to 
removing the hives from one place to anoth. 
er, we would say in reply that there is no 
difficulty in doing so at any time when the 
bees are all within the hive. For the pro¬ 
cess of removing them from one hive to 
another, we refer those interested to “ Mi¬ 
ner's Bee-Keeper’s Manual” —Eds. 
FACTS WORTH REMEMBERING. 
Prof. Johnston, in the course of lectures 
delivered by him before the New York State 
Agricultural Society, states the following 
things, worth remembering: 
1 . In this climate the temperature rises 
to 100° Farenheit five feet below the surface, 
and to 140° half an inch below it—facts, 
which he says, he learned himself with sur¬ 
prise. He uses them to illustrate the econo¬ 
my of nature in promoting vegetation. 
2 . The sun-beam is composed of three 
distinct and separate rays, one of heat, one 
of light, and one called the chemical ray. 
These three agencies exist in different pro¬ 
portions in the sun-beam in the spring, 
summer, and autumn. The blue or chem¬ 
ical ray is greater in the spring; the light 
greater in the summer. The chemical ray 
is less in autumn and the heating ray 
predominates. The proportions of these 
rays vary in different seasons of the year in 
order that the growing plant may arrive at 
maturity. It has also been ascertained that 
the proportions of these agents vary in dif¬ 
ferent climates. 
3. It has been ascertained that the flower 
of a plant absorbs more heat than the other 
parts, and the dark more than the light; 
and hence it is inferred that the color of a 
flower is what determines the quantity of 
heat it requires, and the amount which na¬ 
ture supplies. 
4. Drainage is as necessary in dry and 
sandy, as in wet soils. “ If soil is merely 
burnt up by drought, and you suppose the 
roots to descend only to the depth of about 
three inches, it is obvious that the heat of 
the summer dries up the land to the roots. 
But if by drainage you open up the soil 
three feet deep, so that the rain, instead of 
flowing off the surface, descends through 
the soil thus made pervious to it, the roots 
will grow deeper, and while the upper sur¬ 
face is dry, the drought does not reach the 
roots, which are thus enabled to live longer 
than they otherwise would.” 
5. Tobacco is a crop which contains much 
mineral matter. Suppose an acre to yield 
800 lbs., these 800 lbs., will contain about 
1 G0 lbs. of mineral matter, which is carried 
off by the crop, and in this way the land 
will soon be exhausted. In four years. 600 
lbs. of mineral matter would be carried off 
from an acre of tobacco land. It is the duty 
of the farmer to supply the mineral matter, 
thu3 specially exhausted, if he wishes to 
sustain the soil. 
6 . There are certain parts of every por¬ 
tion of every animal removed every day, 
and a quantity of new material put in its 
place. Hence the animal should have a 
constant supply, in order that this daily 
waste may be made up. An animal requires, 
to sustain its body in good condition, or to 
supply what is called the sustaining food, 
about one-sixtieth part of it own weight daily. 
If you wish to increase its size, or enable it 
to work, you must give more. If you feed 
for milk, twice the quantity. 
7. It will be found that the soil and the 
plant contain nearly the same substances, 
the only one not in the plant being Alumi¬ 
na. The mechanical function of alumina 
in the soil is to anchor the plant. Its ten¬ 
acity is its available property. Some plants 
grow in mere sand, but the great majority 
of them require a certain degree of tenacity 
in the soil, which is obtained by mixing sili¬ 
ca. This alumina does not enter into the 
plant, but only gives to the soil the tenacity 
necessary to retain the plant. 
PULVERIZING THE SOIL. 
It is believed, and, indeed, tlie fact has 
already been abundantly demonstrated, that 
the finer the soil is, the more fertile will it 
be. Tull supposed that minute disintegra¬ 
tion or comminution was all that was essen¬ 
tially necessary to render any land produc¬ 
tive and fruitful, and that no matter what 
might be its original character, the plow, 
freely used, would render the application of 
stimulating manures, or pabulum of any 
kind, unnecessary. This, however, even 
his own experiments, instituted for the ex¬ 
press purpose of establishing the verity of 
his idolized theory, prove untrue. Still, in 
all cases, minute pulverization is a vast bene¬ 
fit to any soil, and the more perfect this 
comminution or division of the constituent 
particles is, the more confidently can we rely 
upon the success of the future crop, what¬ 
ever it may be. 
By frequent plowings, even the most te¬ 
nacious and adhesive lands will be amelior¬ 
ated ; they will be exposed more thorough¬ 
ly and effectually to the fertilizing effects of 
dews, rains, atmospheric influences, and the 
enriching action of solar heat. The roots 
of plants find also in soils thus prepared a 
much more favorable medium; they are 
not arrested in their progress, expand freely 
in quest of food, and are not contorted and 
thrown aside by opposing obstacles which 
are insuperable to their slender forms. Ma¬ 
nure also acts much more energetically on 
line soil, than on that which is coarse and 
in compact masses; docs not so soon yield 
its humidity in seasons of drought, and is 
far more absorbent in time of rain.— Olive 
Branch. 
Evergreen as well as other forest trees 
should bo planted around every dwelling. 
PLANT THE BEST. 
It should be an invariable rule with every 
cultivator to plant and sow the best varie¬ 
ties of vegetables. It costs no more to culti¬ 
vate, a valuable kind than a poor one. In 
nearly all the crops that we cultivate, there 
are various kinds, possessing different proper¬ 
ties, and it is important that the farmer get 
the best kind that is adapted to his soil and 
situation. 
In the beginning, a high price may be 
demanded for a valuable kind of grain, or 
other vegetable; bul a small quantity may 
be purchased to begin with, and soon it will 
be so extended, that the extra cost will hard¬ 
ly be perceptible. Allowing that one dollar 
extra be paid for a half peck of very superior 
grain. In two years it would probably pro¬ 
duce 100 bushels; and thus the extra cost 
would be only one cent on a bushel, and, 
perhaps, far better than this, there might 
in consequence of the excellent variety, be 
ten per cent, added to the crop, which would 
pay ten or twenty times the extra cost, be¬ 
sides the superior value of the 100 bushels. 
A great deal is said of the potato rot; 
and if nothing was said on the subject, every 
farmer would know the great destruction of 
crops and the heavy loss by this malady 
from his own experience and observation. 
Now every cultivator of this once valuable 
root should see what he can do by way of 
an improvement. He should procure sev¬ 
eral varieties of what appear to be the best 
and the most hardy against the disease. 
In this way, he may save about all his crop 
in common seasons of the rot; and when it 
is very severe, as was the case last year, he 
might save enough for his own use, and a 
surplus to sell at a high price. A mere 
trifle expended in this way will supply a far¬ 
mer in a short time with all the seed he 
needs for his whole farm. 
We have many varieties of Indian corn. 
Some early, others late; some with large 
ears and large stalks, others with compact 
ears, Small cobs, and fine fodder. Some 
varieties contain a large amount of oil, and 
are good for fattening; others abound in 
starch, and are superior for some dishes of 
food. Every farmer should procure the 
best kinds, such as are well adapted to his 
climate and soil, and to the purposes for 
which he intends them. 
In beets, carrots, onions, and parsneps; 
in squashes, pumpkins, in cucumbers and 
melons; finally, in almost every species in 
the extensive catalogue of vegetables there 
are varieties possessing different qualities. 
They differ in quality, production, earlincss, 
Ac.; and it is of great importance to select 
the best, regarding the adaptation of the 
kind to the purposes of the particular objects 
of the cultivator. 
The present is a suitable time for farmers 
to examine into this subject, and furnish 
themselves with the best seeds in due season, 
for soon will come the time for action, and 
there will not be so convenient an opportuni¬ 
ty to attend to this business.— New Fngalnd 
Farmer. 
NIGHT SOIL-ITS VALUE. 
The best of all manures is the one which 
in our country is almost universally wasted. 
In Belgium, where agriculture is carried to 
great productiveness, they /‘order things 
differently.” There, the estimate is, by nice 
calculation, that it is worth $10 for every 
individual, man, woman and child. We 
traverse sea and land, send to Africa and 
South America to bring elements of fertili¬ 
ty which at home we throw away on every 
farm in the country. What an immense 
amount is wasted in our cities! It must 
be the most valuable, containing the ele¬ 
ments of all kinds of food consumed by 
man, and in returning these to the soil, we 
return the identical constituents which for¬ 
mer crops and animals have taken from the 
land. Night soil contains the phosphate of 
lime, which is indispensable to tlie growth 
of animals’ bones and to the nutriment of 
plants, and which is not supplied from the 
atmosphere, like carbonic acid and ammo¬ 
nia. All fluid and solid excretions should 
be preserved by mixing them with burnt 
clay, saw-dust, ashes, peat or wood char¬ 
coal, Ac. 
We have a great deal to learn, and also, 
much more to practice, that we have learn¬ 
ed. — The Plow, the Loom , and the Anvil. 
The Cheese Room. —Cheese is animal 
matter and it is difficult to attain a suf¬ 
ficiency of fresh air for its curing and at the 
same rime secure other objects. A cheese 
room should be cool, dark and well ventil¬ 
ated. It should be cool for the gradual 
ripening of the cheese; well ventilated to 
secure a good flavor to the cheese, and dark 
to keep out the flies. 4 Cheese, butter, or 
cream, will contract whatever bad tast there 
may be in the atmosphere about it: and 
in the ripening of quantities of cheese a vast 
deal of effluvia will be given off which will 
soon taint the air.— Prairie Faremr. 
Readers never tire of recipes for some¬ 
thing good to eat. Here is one for corn 
bread worth trying. Mix three pints of 
Indian Meal in a quart of sour milk; add 
three eggs, a tea-spoonfu! of salceratus and 
some salt; beat all to a smooth batter and 
pour it in pans half an inch deep, and bake 
quick. 
