)t jgMnt-Jbtxb. 
MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 
I win tell your correspondent at Greece, 
N. Y., what ails his pigs. He lias griped 
and foundered them on corn. He will find 
that they are hide-hound, and that their skins 
are as tight on them as a hoop on a barrel. 
He has probably kept them upon a floor and 
from the ground,—which last is as natural 
to them and essential to their health as the 
air they breathe. 
Every hog-pen should have a large and 
spacious ground-yard, well supplied with 
ashes or some alkaline substances to coun¬ 
teract the feverish properties of corn. Hogs 
must have their dessert as well as the human 
family. II your correspondent will turn and 
give those that have fils nctv milk and noth¬ 
ing else for a week, they will recover, after 
which time feed them on boiled potatoes, 
put in a slop made of (rye or wheat) bran 
and middlings, half and half, with occasion¬ 
ally a little salt in it. 
His pigs will recover alter a while; but 
if lie continues to feed corn they will all die. 
Late fall pigs must he fed with care on loosen¬ 
ing shop teed, lie may also take a tea¬ 
spoonful of copperas (for two pigs) and dis¬ 
solve it in boiling water and pour the solution 
into their slop. Give two such doses a week 
for three weeks. The copperas will relieve 
his pigs very soon. Copperas fed in this 
way will cure the kidney worms in hogs in 
a very short time ; but it must be dissolved 
in hot water. Your correspondent must 
have a good breed of pigs or they would not 
eat enough of corn to hurt them. 
Naperville, Ill., Feb., 1809. John Haight. 
- - - ---- 
iis^iNp 
A HOG-JACK 
Neponset, III, is noted for sending some 
of the finest hogs to the Chicago market 
that reach that point. A lot of one hundred 
and fifty were recently received in that mar¬ 
ket from Neponset, whose average weight 
was four hundred and seventy-five pounds; 
also six hundred hogs whose average weight 
was three hundred aud ninety-five pounds, 
which were sold at eleven dollars and sev¬ 
enty-five cents and twelve dollars and fifty 
cents per one hundred pounds. None of 
6*ese hogs were more than eighteen months 
old, and many not that. F.. McI.vtire of 
Neponset, writes the Prairie Fanner that the 
Neponset hogs or breeds “ do not differ 
esentially from the breeds in any other hog¬ 
raising part of Illinois. It is true that the 
farmers of Neponset have been taking great 
care in the way of improving, by breeding 
In No. C of the Rural, I noticed a hog- 
gallows, which 1 think would be a very con¬ 
venient machine while butchering hogs; but 
I see no contrivance for lifting the bogs upon 
the gallows; therefore 1 send you a drawing 
of a contrivance that I have used for nearly 
twenty years. 1 call it a “ Hog-Jack.” It is 
very convenient, while butchering, is very 
handy for weighing and for many other pur¬ 
poses. To make it, use a stick of timber 
seven inches square, twenty one inches long; 
insert three mortices, one opposite the other, 
one half round, similar to brace, mortices. 
In the upper end of a bore a hole aud put in 
a round iron, five inches long, on which 
place a head d, with ears ou each side, and 
holes lor a bolt to let the lever rest upon. 
The legs, kh, are one and one fourth inches 
thick, five inches wide; the two long 
ones, five feet nine inches long; the other 
is five feet long; having the legs spread 
in this way it will stand up so that you can 
hoist any hog from the platform and swing 
it around upon the gallows. Three men are 
sufficient to hang any hog of any weight. 
The lever or lubber-pole, r, is sixteen feet 
long, in which bore a hole four feet nine 
inches from the large end, pass the bolt 
through the ears and through the hole in 
the lever, and you have a lioistiug machine 
aud a crane. On the large end of the lever 
1 use a snivel hook, c, made very sharp, so as 
to hook it in the leg above the gambrel, and 
by means of a rope attached to the other 
end suspend the hog in the air, and then 
swing it around to the gallows. One man 
standing near by, slips in the gambrel, and 
there it hangs without lifting a pound. No ! 
patent. L. A. Dibble. 
Byron, N. Y„ Feb., 1809. 
-- 
NEPONSET HOGS. 
from their best sows, avoiding strictly in- 
and-in breeding. The three great leading 
varieties, Poland, Chester White aud Berk¬ 
shire, are generally kept here. But while it 
is important to have good blood, our farmers 
have long since learned that a hog won’t grow 
without care and proper attention. The 
way we feed our hogs is by giving them a 
plenty while fattening. Good, pure water is 
essential, and a good place to sleep in. Be 
sure to keep your young pig* growing right 
(dong'* 
___4-4-*- 
Hog Cholera. —John Rked of Missouri, gives 
it. as his opinion, in Prairie Fanner, that this la 
a disease of the lungs. The first symptom is a 
cough, and as the disease progresses t he subjects 
breathe with difficulty, und finally seem to choke 
to death, or, Jn the worn form, bleed at the nose. 
Two yours ago ho had six hogs down with the 
“cholera,” very badly. Ho saved all but one. 
This one he examined very carefully, and could 
find no sign of disease, except in the lungs, 
which were full of entail, white spots of mutter, 
about the size of pin-heads. The hog had choked 
to death, lie fed the six hogs copperas, sulphur 
and iussafteUdu. 
-- 
Chester White Pigs. —The genuine Chester 
White Pig has a short snout, broad head, thin 
ear, drooping slightly at the tip, broad shoulders 
and hams, very deep, Wide cae*t. straight back, 
small bone, fine hair and skin, always very quiet 
and healthy, and attains a great weight with but 
reasonable care and attention. The ordinary 
weight is from three hundred to seven hundred 
pounds after dressing, at ages varying from nine 
to eighteen months. We have known them to 
attain the weight of 1,050 pounds .—Experimental 
Farm Journal, 
--- 
Management of bow*.- -The American btoek 
Journal says:—“As the time of her farrowing 
approaches, a sow should be well supplied with 
food, especially if she be a young sow, aud thit¬ 
her first litter, and also carefully watched, in or¬ 
der to prevent her devourl ng the a f ter-blrl h, and 
thus engendering a tnorhld appetite which will 
induce her to fall upon her own young. A sow 
that has once done this can never afterwards be 
depended upon. Hunger, thirst, or irritation of 
any kind often induces this unnatural conduct.” 
MISSISSIPPI CHARBON.’ 
A Columbia, S. C., planter describes a cat¬ 
tle disease with the above name and gives 
his treatment of it, in the Southern Cultiva¬ 
tor, as follows: 
“ The disease first appears in the form of 
a swelling on the side of the neck just at its 
junction with the jaw, on one side of the 
chest or on the flank — it is somewhat harder, 
but in other respects differs nowise in out¬ 
ward appearance from a swelling caused by 
a blow or sting. It increases rltpidly in size, 
and in every case that I have seen, extends 
to the head. It is accompanied with high 
fever and dullness of t he eye. Blood taken 
from the animal affected, bus a thin, yellow¬ 
ish appearance, and, after standing a short 
time, divides into red blood, a yellowish 
jelly and water —the red blood and yellow 
jelly being about equal in quantity, the 
water much more than either. 
“ The sick animal generally docs not ap¬ 
pear to suffer at all, but eats naturally — per¬ 
haps rattier more freely than usual, until it 
dies. Where the disease is principally con¬ 
fined to the head aud throat, the animal ap¬ 
peal’s to suffer greatly in the last stages of the 
disease; breathing is very hard and painful; 
the mule will stand with head extended, 
backs, and then makes short runs against 
anything that may stand in its way, and 
finally falls, and diva almost instantly. There 
is always great stiffness in the Shoulders, 
which is much worse when the disease is 
principally in the chest. 
The duration of the disease is generally 
from two to forty-eight hours. I knew one 
case to last nine days, and then prove fatal. 
I heard of several planters who lost every 
mule and horse that they had, in a very short 
time. One lost forty odd in five days. On 
the adjoining place to mine, out of fifteen 
cases, only one recovered. The general 
opinion is, that about ninety-five per cent, 
died. 
A great many remedies were recom¬ 
mended. Among others were, drenching 
with whisky and ammonia, blistering, and 
rubbing with strong hot brine. I tried 
all of these remedies, and found that 
the whisky and ammonia aggravated the 
disease greatly; rubbing with brine seemed 
to do good, and blistering seemed to have a 
good eflfect; but the swelling is generally so 
large, and a mule is so hard to blister, that I 
found it of little effect. 1 have since heard 
tlmt a good met hod of blistering, is to dampen 
the swelling with turpentine, and set it on 
fire. I have no doubt it is a good plan. 
All of my mule3 had the disease, and some 
of them very severely. 1 tried all the above- 
mentioned remedies, with but little effect, 
until finally the cases wore pronounced hope¬ 
less. I then tried violent bleeding and purg¬ 
ing, and did not lose a mule. 
I bled at intervals of ten hours — bleeding 
till the mule fell every time, and drenched 
with half-pound doses of Epsom salts, at inter¬ 
vals of eight hours, and where this produced 
no action, injected salts, warm water, &c., 
-¥OBI£!B 
until the bowel? acted; rubbing pretty con¬ 
stantly with brine, and feeding moderately. 
Under this treatment the fever abated rap¬ 
idly—the swelling went down, and as soon 
as the bowels acted, the stiffness of the shoul¬ 
ders disappeared. The mules must be 
watched, night and day, and constantly 
rubbed. And great care must Ire taken of 
them for the three weeks succeeding the dis¬ 
ease, as they are liable to relapse. I gave 
mine a condition powder after they got over 
the disease. It Lad apparently a good effect. 
It was about equal parts saltpeter and cop¬ 
peras, three limes as much sulphur, five 
times as much rosin, and half as much alum. 
Give a teaspoonful twice a week for four 
weeks. 
FIN MANUFACTURE. 
We find the following account of the im¬ 
proved manufacture of pins in the New York 
Evening Post. It will be read with interest 
by everybody familiar with the articles: 
“ The pin machine is one of the closest ap¬ 
proaches that mechanics have made to the 
dexterity of the human hand. A small ma¬ 
chine, about the size of a lady’s sowing 
machine, only stronger, stands before you. 
On the back side a light belt descends from 
tlie long shaft at the ceiling that drives all 
the machines, ranged in rows on the floor. 
On the left side of our machine hangs on a 
peg a small reel of wire, that has been 
straightened by running through a com¬ 
pound system of small rollers. 
“ This wire descends and the end of it en¬ 
ters the machine. This is the food consumed 
by this snappish, voracious little dwarf, lie 
pulls it in and biles it off by inches, inces¬ 
santly, one hundred and forty bites to the 
minute. Just as lie seizes each bite a saucy 
little hamme r, with a concave face, Hits the 
end of the wire three tups and ‘upsets’ it to 
a head, while lie gripes it. in a counter-sunk 
hole between his. teeth. With an outward 
thrust of liia tongue, lie then lays the pin 
sidewise in a little groove across the rim of a 
small wheel that slowly revolves just under 
his nose. By the external pressure of a sta¬ 
tionary hoop these pins roll into their places, 
a9 they are carried under two series of small 
files, three in each. 
“ These files grow smaller toward the end 
of the scries. They lie at a slight inclina¬ 
tion on the points of the pins, and by a 
series of cams, levers, and springs are made 
to play ‘like lightning.’ Thus the pins are 
pointed aud dropped in a little shower into 
a box. Twenty-eight pounds of pins is a 
day’s work for one of these jerking little au¬ 
tomatons. Forty machines on this floor 
make five hundred and sixty pounds daily. 
These pins are then polished. Two very in¬ 
telligent machines reject every crooked pin, 
even the slightest irregularity of form being 
detected. 
“ Another automaton assorts half-a-dozen 
lengths in as many different boxes, all at 
once and unerringly, when a careless opera¬ 
tor has mixed Hie contents of boxes from 
various machines. Lastly, a perfect genius 
of a machine hangs the pins by the head in an 
inclined platform through as many ' slots’ as 
there are pins in a row on the* papers. These 
converge into the exact space spanning the 
length of a row. Under them runs the strips 
of pin-paper. A hand-like part of the 
machine catches one pin from each of the 
slots as it falls, and by one movement sticks 
them all through two corrugated ridges in 
the paper, from which they are to be picked 
by taper fingers in boudoirs, and all sorts of 
human fingers in all sorts of human circum¬ 
stances. Thus you have its genesis; 
“Tall and slender, straight and thin, 
Pretty little, useful piu.’ ” 
■ -- 
SHARPENING SICKLES- 
Milton Fowkes, Leeds, N. Y., has in¬ 
vented a new machine for sharpening the 
cutting bars of mowing and reaping ma¬ 
chines, which consists in the arrangement of 
machinery for imparting combined recipro¬ 
cating and rotary motion to the grindstone, 
so that it will move along the cutting edges 
and at the same time sharpen them. The 
invention consists also in beveling the grind¬ 
ing edge of the stone towards both sides, so 
that it will at once grind two diverging edges 
of the sickle, and in providing for the verti¬ 
cal adjustment of the stone so that it may be 
lowered when worn smaller by use. 
-- 
HOW TO CATCH MICE. 
A correspondent of the Journal of Phar¬ 
macy says:—“ Having on several occasions 
noticed mice in our seed barrels, I bethought 
me of some method how I might trap the 
little intruders; they having gained entrance 
by eating through the chime. To kill them 
with a stick was impracticable, as the little 
fellows would invariably escape as soon as the 
lid was raised to any height. I then thought 
of saturating a piece of cotton with chloro¬ 
form and throwing it in, then closing the lid. 
On raising it again in a few minutes, I would 
find that life had almost or quite departed. 
Having on one occasion left the piece of cot¬ 
ton in the barrel, on again returning, found 
three mice with their heads in close contact 
with it, and dead. In the evening I satu¬ 
rated another piece, and placed it in the bar¬ 
rel, and on opening it next morning, to my 
surprise I found nine dead mice.” 
- 4-44 - 
SYCEE SILVER. 
Readers of Asiatic news are frequently 
puzzled by the occurrence of the term sycee 
silver, when Chinese matters are alluded to. 
The term is simply “shoesilver” when trans¬ 
lated into English. The Chinese do not coin 
silver as we do—or at least have not been 
accustomed to do so—but use the Mexican 
dollars as a medium of exchange, or sycee 
silver; that is pure silver run into little ob¬ 
long cakes somewhat in the shape of a Chi¬ 
nese shoe, but more in form of an ordinary 
japanned or lacquered bread-tray, one piece 
fitting into another, so that they may be put 
up in long rolls or sticks and readily fastened 
together. This silver does not pass for a fixed 
value, so much a piece like our money, but 
by weight, and merchants in the course of 
large transactions pay out, or take in tons of 
it at a time, A small gold coin issued by the 
Chinese Government lias recently made its 
appearance, and a copper coin worth one- 
thousandth of a dollar. Cash has been aban¬ 
doned in the Empire for a thousand years at 
least.— Siin Francisco Alta California. 
-»♦» - — ■ 
AN ELECTRIC CANE. 
A Parisian has invented an electric cane, 
which is intended as a defence against high¬ 
waymen and burglars. It consists of a horn 
inserted in the end of a cane, which horn 
contains an electric battery and a lamp with 
two powerful reflectors. The intensity of 
this light temporarily blinds any person at 
whom it is pointed. The lamp is kindled at 
Wifi by pressing a email knob at the other 
end of the cane, which knob communicates 
with an electric wire. 
tbe 
Immmitn. 
<lr 
FOUNDERING HORSES. 
A certain cure for founder in a horse is 
to stand him in water up to his belly. 1 
have known it practised for fifty years; aud 
swathing the legs in hut water, vinegar aud 
sugar of lead, are all good, to some extent; 
but a founder must be relieved suddenly, or 
the horse wifi show stillness in his action and 
have deformed and callous or tender hoofs. 
Water applied to the legs 1 do not consider 
a positive cure; the disease must be attacked 
at the root, by bleeding and purging, a few 
drops of blood taken from below the fetlocks 
wifi hasten his recovery. But the most cer¬ 
tain and quick remedy that I have ever 
known is a green gourd. Take a large green 
gourd, cut it up ; put it into a gallon of water 
and boil it down to a quart. Strain the liquid 
and drench—in twenty-lbur hours the horse 
will be perfectly himself. The gourd is a 
powerful diuretic, and will cause the horse 
to stale the most offensive odor. 
In 1822,1 traded for two fine young ruares 
in Augusta, Ga. I rode one of them to Ken¬ 
tucky, and my servant the other. Early one 
morning, at the crossing of Clinch River, 
Teun., we found one of the mares so badly 
foundered thut she could not be led out of 
the stable. I procured a green gourd and 
drenched her as directed above, and directed 
the servant to remain until she was able to 
travel, expecting that lie would reach home 
three or four days after me; the next day 
after my arrival he came in, with the mare 
in as good plight as if nothing had hap¬ 
pened.— Cor. Rural World. 
-- +++ -- 
Walking flor*e«.—An Old Subscriber, Crest¬ 
line. O., writes ua“I luive been a horse breeder 
and trainer lor eighteen years. I would like to 
give my opinion on tbe horse. I have always 
found tlie walking horse the horse for mo, and 
have tried to get the home that could walk. I 
have at the present time a stallion of therii(ford 
Morgan stock, that weighs 1,400 pounds, that will 
walk his mile in twelve minutes, or live miles in 
an hour, which 1 think is as fast as a man should 
ride. I find the best stock of any kind is tlie 
cheapest at all times, as it is the same trouble to 
raise a pony that it is to raise a good horse. Ten 
dollars is a trifle between a good colt ami a bad 
one.” All of which is sound. 
-- 
Wrinkles Showing the Age of Horses.—It is 
said that after the horse is nine years old, a 
wrinkle coinc-s ou the eye-lid, and every year 
thereafter he ha* a well deflued wrinkle for each 
over nine. If. for instance, a horse has three 
wrinkles, he is twelve, if four he is thirteen. Add 
the number of wrinkles to nine, and you will al¬ 
ways get it. As a good many people have horses 
over nine, it is easily tried. If true, the horse 
dentist must give up his trade.— OftfO Farmer. 
, -*» »»- 
Brittle Hoots.—A correspondent of the Rural 
World advises the application of pine— not coal 
— tar to a brittle hoof, asserting that he has fre¬ 
quently applied it to hard, dry and cracked 
hoofs with good success. It appears to penetrate 
and soften the hoof, give it a bright and clean 
look; also closes the cracks. Would apply once 
or twice a mouth. 
FEEDING BEES. 
In this section (Chautauqua Co., N. Y.,) 
bees as a general thing did very poorly the 
past season, probably because of the dry, hot 
weather that continued through the entire 
honey season. Tlie spring was cold and 
wet, thus making early forage almost a total 
failure. Early Dee forage is not usually to be 
depended on here, in consequence of late 
frosts and cold, high winds. Our principal 
honey producing plants are white clover and 
basswood, mostly tbe former. As white 
clover is our main dependence for honey, 
and it continues in bloom only a short time 
—five or six weeks at longest—we cannot 
take too much pains to have our hives well 
populated at its beginning. 
It is a well established fact that when bees 
are excited by daily employment in feeding, 
or gathering honey, breeding is carried on 
most vigorously; whereas, if they are idle, 
the queen wifi lay only moderately, or cease 
entirely, until honey is again to be obtained, 
which may be too late so far as white clover 
is concerned. Tlie bees that gather honey 
from clover must be matured from eggs laid 
at least a’month previous to its blossoming; 
because it requires twenty-one days to hatch 
a worker bee from the egg, and eight or ten 
days more for it to gain sufficient strength 
to work. Thus it will readily be seen that 
bees matured from eggs laid in the bloom of 
clover would be consumers instead of pro¬ 
ducers. It is on the rising generation that 
we have to depend for surplus honey; and 
if we have our hives well filled with young 
bees at the commencement of the honey har¬ 
vest, we may well expect to obtain early 
swarms and a good yield of surplus honey. 
But if not, we shall certainly be disappointed 
if we expect either. 
1 have practiced feeding my bees in early 
spring for the past, three seasons, and feel 
confident that they have well paid me for 
the little extra expense and trouble, as they 
swarmed several days earlier, and gave me 
double the quantity of surplus honey. As I 
feed all my bees, I have to compare with my 
neighbors who do not feed. All bee keepers 
know the advantage which early swarms 
have over late ones. In the season of 1807 
1 received from seventeen colonies 1,020 
pounds of beautiful box honey and twenty- 
four young swarms. Tbe past season, 1808, 
I obtained from thirty colonies eight hun¬ 
dred and fifty pounds of equally as nice box 
honey and thirty-four young swarms. 
It will be seen from the above figures 
that bees in ibis section have not stored as 
much surplus, by more than fifty per cent., 
as they did in the. preceding year, although 
they were fed and cared for precisely alike 
both years. When the flowers do not yield 
honey, of course the bees cannot gather it. 
The construction of ray feeder is such that 
1 furnish my bees with water, rye flour and 
sugar-sirup all at the same time, without 
attracting the attention of robber bees; and 
they feed on these readily without diminish¬ 
ing the warmth of tbe hive, which is im¬ 
portant in maturing brood in early spring. 
I have tried many ways of wintering bees, 
but I prefer to leave them on their summer 
stands, when in a suitable hive. 1 have 
used many kinds of bee-hives, but for tlie 
past two seasons have been using one of my 
own invention, not feeling satisfied with 
those I had in use before. It is adapted to 
wintering bees in tbe open air, being double ; 
the frames, which are movable, form the 
inner hive. It is simple and cheap in con¬ 
struction, calculated to be packed in winter 
with cut straw, chaff, or shavings, and is so 
arranged that all moisture arising from the 
bees passes into the packing, thus always 
keeping tbe bees warm and dry. 
Bec-a here are wintering well, so far as 
I have any knowledge. 1 am wintering 
eighty swarms, and as yet have not lost one. 
To-day, (Feb. 11th,) is the first my bees have 
flown this whiter, and they feel well pleased 
with the opportunity. I find but very few 
dead ones. J- M. Beebe. 
Casadago, N. Y. 
-♦♦♦—--— 
chloroform is now extensively used in Eng¬ 
land, and without injurious results, to stupefy 
bees so as to remove the honey. For this pur¬ 
pose, a table is Bet about ten feet from the hive, 
and covered with a cloth. Some chloroform 
(about a quarter or a sixth of an ounce) is then 
poured into a shallow dish aud covered with a 
wire gauze, to prevent the bees from falling inio 
It. The ltive Is then removed from Its stand and 
set over the chloroform. In about twenty inin- 
utc* all the bees trill have fallen down on the 
table In a state of stupefaction, not one remain¬ 
ing in the comb. After romoving* the comb, the 
hive and tlie bees arc restored to their place, the 
latter soon recovering, without suffering tlie 
slightest inconvenience. 
---- 
Transferring Bees.— Will you or some of your 
contributors Inform me, through tlie Rural, the 
best manner to remove a swarm of bees from an 
old box hive into a better one without moving 
the comb ? The main object is to secure better 
comb, this being seven years old. Likewise the 
best time to remove them?—R. P. R., Worth, 
N. Y„ Feb. 1809. 
