224 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
APRIL 2 
®{it ^luinf-il)fri). 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS. 
A Specimen Small Yorkshire Sow. 
The cut, fig. 1S5, represents a perfect specimen 
of the modern Small Yorkshires, a breed 
which originated in England, and has been 
brought to great perfectlon.Tbey are pure white 
and excel in aptitude for taking on flash and 
for easy keeping. The skin is very thin and 
the bones small. The heads and snouts are 
the shortest of any breed except the Suffolk. 
The animals are quiet and docile In disposi¬ 
tion. The only objection to them is that they 
carry too much fat in proportion to the lean 
meat. 
This sow, Marchioness, is the property of 
T. R. Proctor, Utica. N. Y., and is recorded in 
the Yorkshire Swine Registry as A 81. She 
was bred by W. H. Cole, CiintOD, N. Y., by an 
imported sire, King John, bred by Wheeler & 
Sons, England, and he is out of Flora *85. 
She was farrowed April 22, 1878, and weighs 
400 pounds. She has had two litters of pigs 
and had eight with her at the last New York 
State Fair, where she won the firBt prize in 
her class. During the same month she also 
received the first premium at the Oneida 
County Fair. 
- ♦ ♦ ♦-- 
PIGS. 
COL. F. D. CUBITS. 
When pigs are two or three days old, unless 
the mother has a surplus of milk, she may be 
fed succulent food to increase the flow. If 
she appears to have plenty of milk such food 
should not be given to her for at least a week 
in order that the inflammation in the udders 
may subside. The health of the mother and 
the growth of the young will depend very 
much upon the care and judgment exercised 
at this period. Many sows are injured at this 
time and the pigs stunted by the excessive feed¬ 
ing of the mother. We consider milk to 
be improper food, and would prefer noth¬ 
ing but clear water or house slops mixed 
with a little bran. At the end of a week 
more nourishing food may be given, grad¬ 
ually increasing the supply as the young 
pigs will demand more sustenance. Barley 
meal will make more milk than any other 
kind of grain. Oats rank next in value. They 
should have the hulls Bifted out, as the sow will 
not eat this part of the grain which would be 
wasted, but which is excellent for ; young 
calves or cows. 
Wheat shorts or middlings are good milk- 
producing food and are cheap and healthful 
for a sow suckling pigs. The best form in 
which either of these foods can be prepared is 
to mix them with milk. Hogs always relish 
their food best when slightly fermented, jaet 
enough to make It sour. A little milk will 
produce this condition, if mixed with the meal 
or bran the day before the food is required 
By a little care and pains-taking a supply of 
fermented food may always he kept on hand. 
This labor will alwsys pay well, as the pigs 
will do so much better on it. It is necessary 
to keep the appetite from flagging if they are 
expected to be thrifty. Abrupt changes of 
food or the failure of a steady supply 
are apt to produce derangement of the 
bowels, which is exceedingly injurious 
to young pigs. The little ones are sure 
to be affected by the condition of the 
mother; hence it is important that 
great care should be exercised in her 
food. Corn may be fed in connection 
with milk, but we consider corn alone 
the least desirable of any grain. We 
Bhould prefer buckwheat rather than 
corn. Sugar beets or mangels me.y be 
fed with grain and will be found con¬ 
ducive to health and will help to keep 
the appetite good. 
When the pigs are between two and 
three weeks old they will eat oats with 
their mother, and this is the best kind 
of grain to give them. They will eat 
more every day, and the quantlly may 
be increased without any danger of in- 
j ury. They will also eat corn, but if it 
is given to them it should be in limited 
quantity. Corn Is more heating than 
oats and harder to digest, and i6 liable 
to produce an excess of fat which 
causes thumps; or it may cause inflam¬ 
mation of the bowels, which is fatal 
to young pigs. We have lost a num¬ 
ber on this account and have learned 
from experience not to rely upon corn. 
KToo much milk given to pigs will produce 
the same result. If the season will admit, a 
sow will do better if allowed to run out on the 
ground where she can obtain grass which is 
an antidote to diseases of the stomach and 
which will also help materially to increase the 
milk. Running out upon the ground will also 
arrest the thumps, which is more liable to af¬ 
fect young pigs when confined in a pen. This 
disease, so common amoDg young pigs, 
may be known by the heaving of the 
Bides or by the panting of the animals and 
their refusing to eat. We know of no medi¬ 
cinal remedy except the use of turpentine 
which should be administered daily, diluted 
with milk, iD doses of a half teaspoonful and 
more, according to the size and sge of the pig. 
MARCHIONESS.—FROM A 
while in regard to dispatch no fastening has 
ever equaled tha stancbioo. By observing the 
illustrations, it will be seen that the improved 
stanchion differs only in two respects from the 
ordinary oDe:— first, it iB Bet with a pitch ; 
and, second, the neck slats are both mov¬ 
able Instead of one being rigid, as in the ordi¬ 
nary stanchion. The superiority of this im¬ 
proved fastening is obvious in many ways— 
the pitching forward of the top of the stan¬ 
chion allows the cow greater freedom in 
getting np for the slant, and enables her to 
throw her body forward, which it is impossible 
for her to do with the perpendicular frame. 
With the two movable neck slats, the cow is 
enabled to move her neck side-ways the dis¬ 
tance between the slats, and as there is usually 
a play of about two inches for her neck in the 
rigid stanchion, this added to the play of the 
slats, gives her a side motion of about uine 
PHOTOGRAPH.—FIG. 185. 
abreast, I have decided to send you a model 
of a contrivance ior this purpose partly in¬ 
vented by myself and partly copied from oth¬ 
ers. I have used almost every sort of device 
for ibe above purpose; but I have never found 
any that worked as well as this. It is now 
used on «ny brother's farm in Oakland Co., 
Michigan, one of the hardest places in the 
world for plowing. The diagram sets forth 
the principle and construction of the device so 
clearly that no further explanation is needed. 
Marin Co., Cal. W. H. Phillips. 
HUstellatti’otis. 
RURAL BBIEFLET8, 
The Rural New-Yorker has published sev¬ 
eral communications to the effect that the St. 
Patrick and Bnrbank are the same potato. 
Mr. Isaac F. Tillicghast of La Plume, Pa. 
writes us that he has grown the former qnlte 
extensively and if anv man can see, either in the 
appearance of the tubers or vines, any differ¬ 
ence whatever from the already well known 
and popular Bnrbank, he has better faculties 
than Mr. T. 
Mr. TiLLrNGHAST has growu the Mammoth 
Pearl, now extensively advertised, for two 
years. He says it is a large, nearly round, 
white variety very heavy and solid. Tae vines 
are exceedingly 6*trong and it is very produc¬ 
tive. He thinks, however, that its claims to 
earliness and fine quality have been a little 
over-estimated by some of its admirers. . . 
Mr. Tillinohast regards the new • Pride 
of America'’ as one of the best of Mr. Brown¬ 
ell’s offerings. It resembles in color and 
shape ibe 8nowflake but is with him a better 
cropper. We should hope so. The Snowflake 
is, at the Rural Farm, tbe smallest y.elder we 
have ever raised. 
Evbktbodt, bo to my, praises the Beauty of 
Hebron—and it is well worthy of Ira good 
name. Now for the White Elephant. Let 
ns hope it may prove as good for a late as 
the Beauty is for an early potato. Probabiy 
not less than 30,000 trials of it will be made 
in this country the coming season and their 
reports will settle the question as to its value 
and the trustworthiness of the Rural’s claims 
for it.. 
Mr. Waldo F. Brown says, in the Ohio 
Farmer, that the Peabody Branching Corn is 
the same as Blount’s White Prolific. We can¬ 
not Bay either that it is or that it is not, never 
having raised the former. We know, how¬ 
ever, that Prof. Blount raised the corn beariDg 
his name, for years, and is supposed to have 
made it what it is by careful cultivation; by 
emasculating the barren stalks; by careful 
selection etc. Perhaps he will inform us if 
originally it was the Peabody. 
“ One thing I do wish vou would do in the 
Rural," writes Mr. C. M. Hovey of Boston, 
Massachusetts: 
“Tell everybody that thimbleberries are not 
raspberries any more than currants are goose¬ 
berries. 1 am heartily sick of the Black Cap 
business and disgusted when I see respectable 
nurserymen advertising thimbleberries as 
raspberries. Do try and stop it. Let them 
stand on their own merit. Those who like 
Black Caps can get them in abundance, but 
those who think they can find the delicious aro¬ 
ma of the raspberry in them, can detect what I 
never did.” .. 
We sometimes test new things and report up¬ 
on them so long before they are popularized that 
the fact is often entirely forgotten. The Amer- 
can Wonder Pea is a case in point. This is 
now widely advertised and is becoming a 
genuine favorite. Yet this might just as well 
have happened a considerable time ago. In 
the Rusal New-Yorker of June 29, 1878 we 
find the following remarks under “Notes from 
the Rural Grounds.” “In the way of peas 
American Wonder is an improvement, in its 
way, upon anything we have previously tried. 
The vines grow about 14 inches high and are 
vigorous, strong and prolific. The pods are 
about the size of the Philadelphia, well filled, 
averaging five seeds which are tender and 
sweet. Unless it is McLean's Little Gem, 
we prefer this variety to any we have 
yet tested.” It is, according to our 
trial, a day or so earlier than the 
Gem. 
The following offer is from onr con¬ 
tributor Dr. T. H. Hoskins, of Newport, 
Vermont. We publish the note as 
i eeeived from him:— 
“At the time I described the new 
hardy Summer apple, tbe Yellow Trans¬ 
parent, in your columns, I had nc- 
cion6 to spare, though many applied 
for them. Now I have a few thou¬ 
sand on hand more than I have use for, 
and if yon want to, you may say that 
any reader of the Rural who will send 
stamps for postage and packing can 
have some as long as theyilast. I ouly 
recommend the variety for the “ Cold 
North." The Middle States have nu¬ 
merous varieties quite as good. . . . 
We have to thank Mr. Edward T. 
Dyer of Providence R. I. for the fol¬ 
lowing bit of information: 
“Editors are supposed to know ev¬ 
erything, so I will tell you something 
which you say you do not know. In 
Tilton’s Journal of Horticulture Vot. 
V. Page 264. Mr.E. 8. Rogers says: 
“ Salem, No. 53. This waB originally num¬ 
bered 22 in my private collection ; but a spuri¬ 
ous sort having been put into the market uuder 
that number, the number of this variety was 
changed to 53."... 
Mr. Hovet still regards his strawberry 
(Hovey’s Seedling) as the best in cultivation— 
that is the best iu the world. It received the 
highest prize for the best four quarts of any 
variety iu 1880; also two years ago as the flneat 
IMPROVED STANCHION.—FIG. 183. 
A Stanchion closed and opened, a, center bolt, b, fastenina for slats. 
Frequent washing with soap-suds does pigs 
a great deal of good and Bhould always be 
practiced if they get dirty. Young pigs will 
never thrive well in a filthy pen. It the dam 
is unclean the pigs are liable, when suckling, 
to get Bore about the head and around Iheir 
mouths, which will stunt them. When 
this is the case they should be thoroughly 
washed and oiled. 
The male pigs should be eastrated when 
four weeks old and the parts be tmeared with 
coal tar, which iB the best application we have 
ever tried, as it causes no pain and is rapidly 
healing in its effects Salt, turpentine or 
ashes—the common applications—are very 
painful and crnel. Castration may be per¬ 
formed in warm weather without danger, if 
coal tar is applied, as it will keep off the flies 
and c^se the wounds to heal rapidly. In cas¬ 
trating; if the cords are scraped off instead of 
being cut straight the blood will not flow, 
as it will coagulate more readily with a rough 
or irregular termination to the parts severed. 
a> 
inches—quite enough to relieve her from abso¬ 
lute “ rigidity.’ Tbe illustration is self-ex- 
plauatoiy. There will be a necessity for a 
center pin, or a bolt at a to keep the play of the 
Blats within bounds. The fastening for the 
slats can be made of a J-inch rod. and when 
the slats are brought together, and this bale 
slipped over them, the fastening is most se¬ 
cure. 
In regard to stable floors. I have ray own 
notions, one of which is to put the planks flat 
upon the ground, and use absorbents so liber 
8TABLE FLOOR. 
a. Timber for hind feet b, Sand bed. 
This fact is more important in castrating older j 
pigs. If the parts swell badly tbe incisions | 
should he carefully opened eotuatthe pus may 
pass out- Figs, after castration, should be 
kept in a dry place, as exposure to wet may 
result in cold and inflammation, which are gen¬ 
erally fatal. 
Jarm (krotiomij. 
IMPROVEMENTS IN COW 8TABLE8. 
The article of Mr Richard Goodman, Jr., 
on page 171. of tbe Rural for March 12, is 
very valuable, and while his plans of neck 
straps, chains, oval heed holes, etc., are per¬ 
haps excellent, and may be as represented, 
still the old-fashioned stanchion may, by slight 
modification, be made into a fastening that 
does not combine tbe r.fl-applied terms of 
'•severe” “rigid" “inhuman" etc; but, 
which, on the other hand, Is easy and secure : 
.—fig. 1S4. 
e. Stanchion with pitch, a, Hanger. 
ally that they are always dry. Where the cows 
stand 1 have a platform raised at least eight 
inches above the floor. At the proper distance 
back from the stanchion. I have an 8x12- 
inch oak timber laid flat-wise for the hind feet 
of the cows to stand upop, and then this space 
is filled with wet sand, and renewed until it 
has become packed solid. The cows are then 
kept bedded with litter, straw or any refuse of 
the barn. When the cows are “dry”—and 
Ohio dairies are so through the Winter—road 
dust gathered the previous Fall, or dry sand, or 
muck, makes excellent bedding, being great 
absorbents of moisture as well as deodorizers, 
and making an excellent bed besides. For 
several years the mauure from my horse stable 
has been used as an absorbent, put behind the 
cows, and by this combination of manures, 
muck, straw, etc., the compost is highly im¬ 
proved in quality. John Guld. 
Three Horae* Abreaat.—(See Page 225.) 
Having seen in a late iesne of the Rural a 
diagram of a method for working three horses 
