JUNE 2 
THE RUSAL MEW-YORKE 
supported with facts showing that the milk taken 
as a standard was of average quality of that pro¬ 
duced doling the whole season. The repoi ting 
of large yields of milk where the record is loosely 
kept and calculation enters into the account, is 
of little benefit, because it leaves one in doubt 
as to the actual facts. 
-♦-*-*-— 
BITTER BUTTER. 
As regards my communication to the Rural 
in reference to this subject, published in your 
issuo of April 28, my wife says that had shu been 
listened to as a wife ought to be listened to hv 
the “ tyrant man,” I would not have bad hitter 
butter more than once or twice ; for she told mo 
that the milk wasn't kept warm enough, and 1 
ought to have profited by her warning. 
No doubt this is so, but when one doesn’t real¬ 
ize the real meaning of what is said, how can he 
act upon it ? I aiu sure it never occurred to me 
that the milk conld not bo removed to a warmer 
place, and up to last winter the thought never 
entered my head that a stove in the cellar would 
cure the evil. b. y . 
SWINE ON ROCKY WOODLAND. 
As there are about two hundred acres of 
mountain woodland on tho West of this estate, 
it has been suggested to have a herd of 50 or 
more tiogs to run over it, hut as tlicro aro no 
fences to provont them from ranging over the 
adjoining woodland it would require a swineherd 
to attend to them anil a place to shut them up in 
by night. Moreover, although there avo some 
level spaces with lino springs of water and fine 
clear streams running circling about down from 
tho top to tho bottom, it seems doubtful whether 
there is gufttolunt food to support bogs. In 
Kentucky, a great number or hogs run in the 
woods and obtain a living, hut the so-called 
woods arc, many of them, good blue grass past¬ 
ures with tall timber trees scattered over them, 
and there the whole of the swine must have 
them noses cut off to the “ quick,” or have 
rings in them to prevent them from rooting up 
the grass by the acre. 
On the east of our farm there is a lino, open 
hill of about 150 aerc3 of good grass which wo 
are grazing with horses and cows and the fences 
are being put in good order. Here, also, is 
much wood too thick for grass to grow where, at 
some seasons, there would be much for the hogs 
to find. Between these two groat hills we have 
a splendid farm for stock of all varieties, and as 
tho readers of the Rural aro chiotly men of 
great practical knowledge, 1 hope some of them 
will give us some hints which will bo useful so 
that wo can proceed upon a system of hog rais¬ 
ing, (fattening them afterward in sties or pigger¬ 
ies), which will be remunerative and at the same 
time give us line manuro to grow roots and corn 
with. Wo have a fine Berkshire hoar etc., but 
shall have to get some more sows which, as wo 
have only commonced getting ready for opera¬ 
tions, there will ho plenty of lime to see about, 
but in the meantime, it will be a pleasure and 
instructive to read the opinions uT any contribu¬ 
tor to tho columns of the Rural Nkw-Yobkek. 
George Gardner. 
-- 
PIGS ON A DAIRY FARM. 
The economical practices of one country can, 
as a rule, be profitably employed in another, due 
allowance being made for local differences and 
BurroundiugB. This is especially true with re¬ 
gard to the advantages derivable from adopting 
in this country many of the customs and expedi¬ 
ents by which the fanners of Europe contrive to 
reap comfort and profit from the products of 
their high-priced lands. Necessity has compelled 
them to pay special attention to all devices of an 
economical nature and much of tho matters, 
often regarded as refuse, or at best carelessly 
utilized about our rural homesteads, are pru¬ 
dently husbanded by transatlantic farmers to 
whom long experience has taught that agricul¬ 
tural success depends in a great measure on 
careful management. 
In this connection, a correspondent of the Ag¬ 
ricultural Gazette, Eng., describes his experience 
of the profits secured by keeping pigs on a dairy 
farm; and for the benefit of many of our readers 
we have condensed the article for these pages 
omitting all merely local details. Just as among 
us, he finds that on all large dairy farms, where 
the milk is not all sold, there will be a quantity 
of whey or skim milk to be disposed of by feed- 
ing pigs. Under good management, either iu 
cheese or butter-makiug, great care will betaken 
to avoid all necessary loss of curd or cream. 
There will still, however, remain a residue, which 
is thought of little value by some, but which 
when used iu conjunction with cheap feeding 
stuffs in fattening pigs, may be made to yield a 
good return. 
It is my practice, he says, to feed a large 
number of pigs. I always keep a good breeding 
sow of the middle-sized white breed, but I find I 
can get the best return from buying good lean 
Htores, and selling them fat, in 12 to 15 weeks. I 
can get an average return of from 75 cents to il 
per head per week. One half of this will repre¬ 
sent the cost of the meal consumed, and the re¬ 
mainder may be credited to the whey. The 
value of the manuro will repay the cost of attend¬ 
ance and straw for bedding. They aro allowed 
to roam about tho strawyards and homestead, 
feeding on clover or swedo turnipB, with a little 
corn and dairy refuse. They aro bought from at 
3 to (1 months old, as lean stores by dealers, who 
bring them by hundreds to tho markets in the 
dairy districts. 1 feed them rather scantily for 
a week or two with whey and meal and bran, 
otherwise thero is a risk of loss from the sudden 
change from a poor to a forcing diet. 
I have had several cases of a kind of apoplexy 
due to this cause. The pigs affected w'audor 
round tho sty in an aimless way, have fits, and 
generally die hi 12 to 21 hours after being first 
perceived amiss. 
In lino weather I generally turn each lot of 
pigs out m the orchard for a run on the grass 
about twice a week. I use rice meal principally 
in the summer months ; it is a cheap feed, and 
is well suited to givo with whey, as it corrects its 
loo purgative nature. 1 find pigs grow very well 
upon it in warm weather. It is not at all neces¬ 
sary to scald or cook it. 1 also use Indian meal 
scalded, and pea and bean meal. If the pigs aro 
kept longer than about 15 weeks they do not 
thrive so weUin confinement; and especially in 
summer, they aro not so salable if above, say I t 
score weight. 
There is generally a ready sale for nice fat pigs 
of 10 to 13 score each all through the summer. 
In large manufacturing towns, there are large 
pig-killing establishments where bacon is cured 
for quick consumption all through the summer. 
I goncrally have about ono pig for ovory two 
cows in my dairy, and I feed about tbroo lots of 
jugs in succession iu tho season from February 
to Christinas. Each pig leaves a profit, duo to 
dairy produce alone, of ; G. 1 theroforo estimate 
tho value of the dairy refuse under tho system 1 
have described at quite $10 per cow. 1 do not 
believe that anything like an equal return can 
be obtained by the common plan of feeding pigs 
on the whey, without any mixture of corn. I 
may add that the whey before being given to 
pigs stands 21 hours, and yields a small quantity 
of whey butter. 
- — - ■ -»♦♦— . — 
HOGS NEED SULPHUR. 
One singular fact stated in the following para¬ 
graph, which wo lake from the Uonisinna Homo 
Journal, lias been repeatedly corroborated with¬ 
in the experience of the writer : 
Whether hogs require sulphur as an essential 
to health or whether it is sought by them as a 
condiment, may not be discovered. But ono 
thing is true, they devour it with greed whenever 
it is to be found. It is for this purpose probably 
that they will eat largo quantities of soft coal, 
which contains a largo amount of sulphur. Per¬ 
haps this Is the most economical method of sup¬ 
plying hogs with sulphur during winter, when 
they require a good deal of carbon. Bat iu 
summer it is best to feed it to them in substances 
which contain loss carbon, on account of their 
producing less heat. Mustard is one of tho best 
things for this purpose, and some of it should bo 
sown in every pasture into which hogs are turned- 
If hogs are kept in, or are in small yards, it is 
well to supply them with wild mustard that 
grows in the fields or highways, or to cultivate 
some Of the best varieties for them. They will 
eat its leaves, its Hewers, seeds and stalks. 
Some years ago we had occasion to buy a large 
quantity of Hocking valley (Ohio) coal. It was 
stored in a lot in rear of a Taotory, easily entered 
by the neighbors' hogs, which wore permitted to 
run at large iu the town. On several occasions 
these hogs wore observed to be eating tho coal, 
and became such a nuisance that they were ex¬ 
cluded. They appeared to select tho purest 
lumps, or those which on the lire would yield tho 
most tar, melting so to speak. These hogs were, 
many of them very fat, not seeming to require 
food. 
SHEEP AND TURNIP HUSBANDRY IN 
ENGLAND. 
Hand-in-hand these husbandries have done tial matter wil 
more for Agriculture than aught else since the a full How of i 
world was civilized. It is the immense quantity of their butt 
of turnips, mangel-wurzel and swedes eaten by moles.” 
sheep uu the land, that ehiefiy keeps up the fer- The essentii 
tility of the arable soil and causes the yield of iB to understai 
wheat, barley, oats, beans and peas to increase have everythh 
to double the number of bushels which were it is needed ai 
formerly grown. This has been done, too, while [ but disaster w 
in tho United States exactly the opposite has 1 Last moment. 
been accomplished, for here the yield of wheat, 
barley and oats has become less than half what 
was grown in days of yore. Tho housing of sheep 
by night, in summer, is a great detriment to the 
pasture they feed ou and the severity of the win¬ 
ters in tho North, making it necessary to take 
the turnips off the land where grown, to be eaten j 
in barns, is a drawback to the chief benefit of tho j 
crop for improving ami renovating tho soil. 
Ingenuity is a characteristic of tho American ( 
nation, and the man who shall invent a movablo , 
sheep-pen affording shelter so that sheep can be | 
kept daily moved all over the fields, as the crop , 
is eaten, will be a benefactor to his country, have 
his name handed down to posterity, and as a still 
sharper spur to ingenuity, gather in the shekels 
abundantly; for, althongh the manuro is good 
when made under cover, yet there is loss of 
urine, loss of time in hauling tho turnip crop, 
and again in carting the manure. When this is 
made practicable, the swedes can he put into 
heaps of a load @r two. on the field, just as is 
done in England, and covered with earth sufiic- 
iontly thick to keep out the frost. Then with a 
crowbar or liko implement, it will ho easy to 
break into the heaps, cut them up with a ma¬ 
chine, and feed exactly as is always done in En¬ 
gland, in tho open field. 
The South will doubtless, eventually, be tho 
great sheep-producing place, and there turnips 
can bo grown, and consumed by the sheep; but, 
by improving the grass land and coutriviug to 
have food pastures opened to them in winter and 
encouraging the best varieties of grass for a per¬ 
manency, very little mots of atiy kind would be 
necessary, as any quantity of mutton ami wool 
may be produced from stimulation by corn, peas 
or grain. Nevertheless, a heavy crop of swedes 
given to ft flock of sheep intended for the butch¬ 
er, will bring them out in tho spring riper by a 
good deal, and not only will thero be better and 
more mutton, but tho wool will be correspond¬ 
ingly improved. 
Sheep and turnip husbandry must bo gener¬ 
ally adopted in tho United States to save tho 
country from becoming a barren wilderness, for 
to such a condition it is, in reality, coming slowly 
but surely. George Gardner. 
-- 
EARLY LAMBS. 
A short time since, I asked through the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker, how early the best prices could 
bo obtained and wbat weights, Ac., were most 
salable. No response was made, consequently 1 
now reqif.-st tho hotel proprietors to auswer the 
question instead of the butchers. I am prepar¬ 
ing a field for roots to give sheep, and expect to 
have a convenient stable fitted up for extra ac¬ 
commodation for ewes and lambs, and now wish 
to know what weights and at what ago those who 
buy liko to have the lambs, and, of coarse, at 
what date the first can he sold at tho best price. 
If the proprietors of hotels which indulge iu 
luxuries, or if stewards and caterers for any first- 
class establishments, will give this information, 
T shall know at wbat time to mate the sheep so 
as to bring the lambs at the dale required. 
Spring chickens, althongh very small, sell at 
great prices when brought to market early and 
in good condition, and it Is probable a very young 
lamb of small size, if only fat and very plump, 
will Bell comparatively as well as tho chickens. 
I hope, therefore, to gain full information, so 
that there may bo no mistake and no disappoint¬ 
ment. 
Fanners are becoming aware of the importance 
of knowledge on every subject relating to their 
products, and every year the readers of the 
best agricultural papers increase ; consequently, 
it is well for thoso who purchase largely of the 
farmers not. only to read snch papora, but also to 
post thorn on matters of price, etc.; for farmers 
in the United States lack the weekly markets 
and monthly fairs which aro customary all over 
the Old Country, at which there is at all times a 
ready sale for everything at the market prices. 
It is possible there may be sale for thousands 
of lambs next spring, when there are only hun¬ 
dreds to bo obtained, and many, like me, may 
have none on hand, because we don’t know the 
precise time to have them ready, Being a prac¬ 
tical man in sheep husbandry, it is only neces¬ 
sary to have information of what is required, 
and then all necessary conveniences, in order to 
obtain the results aimed at. 
Supposing tho lambs must be born in January, 
the ewes will have to bo fed in such a way as 
to cause them to mate with the ram early enough, 
and in the Northern States there muat be a place 
made warm enough to prevent the lambs from 
freezing at yeaning time. Another most essen¬ 
tial matter will be to feed the ewes so as to have 
i a full How of milk, that the lambB, from the day 
' of their birth, may go ou thriving “ as fat as 
r moles.” 
The essential point in every branch of fanning 
l iB to understand what is required, and to always 
j have everything required before tho time when 
s it is needed arrives. It ia useless to expect aught 
j but disaster where all things are deferred till the 
®|f i^iarjp. 
BEES. 
Do you believe in tho story of 380 pounds of 
honey from ono hive in ono season ? If that is 
true, then the mines of California, Nevada and 
the Black Hills sink into comparative insignifi¬ 
cance as a source of wealth. For there, to meet 
with success, you would have to work, and work 
hard too; but with such boos you would only 
need to 
“ Behold! how doth the busy bee, 
Improve each shining hour. ’ 
And cloudy hours too as a matter of nocessity. 
Do, please, find out where thoso bees can be pur¬ 
chased if there aro any for sale. And, if tho 
lady has not patented her hive and you can got 
a drawing of it, do by all means publish it. From 
the teuor of tho article I judge that the coustruc- 
tton of tho hive has considerable inlhmnco ou 
tho bees, inducing them to work incessantly, 
oven in the dark hours of night. I am all anxi¬ 
ety to learn further in regard to tho wonderful 
bees and hives. 
1 had seriously contemplated a trial of my luck 
iu the Black Hills, tearing myself away from 
family and friends and bracing myaolf to undergo 
many privations and hardships, but now I shall 
defer my departure till 1 hoar from you on this 
subject. If your report is favorable I intend to 
miter tho list, of Apiarians with the fervor and 
energy which only such a splendid prospect is 
calculated to invest one with. I hope that you 
will not dolay tho investigation. I came vory near 
rushing right into hnsiiiesn, poll ruell, but on 
“sober second thought” concluded to write you 
first. My information heretofore led me to be- 
liovo that eighty pounds was an exceptionality 
good yield, lint how sadly have I been misled! 
—n. z. 
The lady who professes to own those marvel¬ 
ously industrious bees, as well as the hives which, 
as stimulants to productiveness, far outstrip tho 
wonderful “egg-persuader" that proved fatal 
to poor Blobij’s cherished pnllet, 1ms been al¬ 
ready invited to explain the modus operand!, 
but has hitherto preserved inviolate the precious 
secret. The thrice-fortunate discoverer of a 
gold, or rather diamond mine, prudently shrinks 
from promulgating his discovery utitil he has en¬ 
riched himself, and this lady can hardly bo 
blamed for following so provident an example. ~ 
Her note to ns will have served a beneficial pur¬ 
pose, however, if the hopes It gave birth to shall 
keop our correspondent; from the perils of tho 
Black Hills, safe in tho bosom of liin family, 
whence ho can, from time to time, pleasantly en¬ 
lighten our readers with a few of his agricultural 
experiences.— [Ed. 
George Gardner. 
STARVING STOCK IN CALIFORNIA. 
The following, from the California Agricul¬ 
turist, gives u« an idea of what may happen in a 
land which has been highly extolled and called 
tho “ Garden of the World." 
Tho thousands of head of cattle and sheep 
that have perished this season and that aro now 
starving for something to eat, should send a 
pang of guilt into tho heart of every farmer who 
has for years made it a practice to burn, waste 
and destroy the straw that Bbould have been 
saved for just such a season as tho present. 
Had the wheat-growers stacked their straw, 
the great interior valleys, now so barren of all 
feed, would be dotted over with Htraw stacks, all 
the better for being, some of them, half a dozen 
years old. The starving cattle and sheep would 
be saved; the farmers who had saved their 
straw would have something to depend upon 
also. Straw is worth from one-tliird to one-half 
as much as hay, and when the farmer takes into 
account what he lias destroyed and allowed to go 
to waste, ho may well feel guilty, and should 
resolve at once to make amends. Wo have 
written a good deal on this subject of saving 
straw, scolded and stormed about it, and advised, 
admonished and shown the suro coming conse¬ 
quences of such wicked destruction and waste. 
We have advised a law making it a crime to thus 
waste and destroy a valuable product. The 
farmers have no excuse, and every one who has, 
willfully or through neglect, destroyed or wasted 
hia straw year after year is guilty, and tiie death 
by starvation of the stock is upon ins own hands- 
and head. 
-♦♦♦--* 
A terrible drought prevails in parts of Aus¬ 
tralia. Nearly every sheep station in Now South 
Wales has lost from one thousand to five thou¬ 
sand head of sheep. Tho total loss is estimated 
at over one million sheep. A traveler writes that 
in riding seventy miles not a blade of grass ap¬ 
peared, where in former seasons flocks were 
accustomed to roam. 
