SS8 
a well-fed hog will cost more than the beast 
will bring. 
Well-bred, well-fed, well-cared-for stock 
is the only kind that is profitable, and many 
farmors are in need of just that kind. 
Well-bred hogs need well-bred farmers with 
intelligence enough to give them proper care; 
for, no matter how well-bred, even a hog will 
degenerate through neglect and abuse. Give 
the hog a place on every dairy farm, treat 
him well, feed intelligently and he will add 
argely to your profits. M. T. w. 
Sandy Hill. 
FROM NEW JERSEY. 
The cheapest way to make pork is a subject 
that I am not prepared to discuss from practi¬ 
cal experience and actual test. I have made 
a good deal of it and from my observations, I 
am satisfied that no other feed can be so 
cheaply raised for feeding hogs from the first 
of July to the middle of November as apples. 
I do not wish to be understood as saying that 
apples are the cheapest food; what I mean to 
say is that apples can be raised for about five 
cents per bushel, and 
at this price nothing 
else is so cheap, unless 
it be grass, with apples, 
and some corn. These, 
for the time mention¬ 
ed, or for any time, 
make a very good feed, 
undone that will make 
pork very fast, if fed 
in reasonable quanti¬ 
ties. I do not believe 
in what in this section 
is called the swill bar¬ 
rel; cleanliness is as 
good for a hog as for 
any other animal. We 
should treat our live 
stock in such a manner 
as to keep them in good 
health, and if we do 
this with our hogs we 
shall hear very little 
of cholera and the vari¬ 
ous other diseases to 
which swine are liable. 
The proper way to 
raise hogs is to have a 
good, warm pen, so 
that they will not suffer 
from the cold, and in 
all moderate weather 
in winter let them have 
a run outside, for the 
hog is by nature a 
cleanly animal. Breed¬ 
ing sows should be kept 
in good condition, but 
not too fat. All others 
should be kept grow 
ing, for each day that 
we keep stock intend¬ 
ed for slaughter with¬ 
out adding to their 
weight causes a loss of 
so much food; that is, 
there is a loss in all 
stock intended for the 
butcher, and in all 
young stock, when not 
improving, and if they 
are once started the 
after-profit is doubtful. 
In case of hogs, I be¬ 
lieve they should al¬ 
ways be in salable con¬ 
dition, and that they 
never ought to be fin¬ 
ished off by putting 
them up in a little dirty 
pen, and feeding all the 
corn they can be in¬ 
duced to eat for a per¬ 
iod of one to six 
mouths. My shoats last year gained in 
weight almost a pound a day when they 
were 10 months old, weighing, when killed, 
about 275 pounds on an average. They were 
of mixed stock, including Berkshires, Chester- 
Whites and Jerseys, with no pure blood. I am 
of the opinion that the Berkshire pure and 
unadulterated is the best general-purpose hog. 
Probably a Berkshire boar and Chester-White 
sow will ive heavier pigs, and might be 
most profitable to the owner. The Berkshire 
gives the heaviest ham in proportion to the 
weight of the animal, and the lightest head; 
or, in other words, the flesh of the Berkshire 
is the most valuable, for it has most of the 
host meat and least of the poor, aud the most 
Berkshires have sufficient bone aud muscle 
not to break dowu. Breaking down 1 have 
found a great drawback to the Essex shoat. 
When I kept Essex grades a broken leg was 
nothing uncommon. A few years back I saw 
a man’s hogs out in the orchard about Christ¬ 
mas without shelter, and the mercury was 
about zero. That man’s farm grows poorer 
each year and the mortgage grows heavier. 
I can call to mind few cases where the owner 
increased his possessions while his stock were 
neglected or half fed. x. j. w. 
Titusville. 
A HOG’S HEAD. 
Our artist believes that the hog is an intel¬ 
ligent animal. He has maintained that he 
could produce an accurate picture of a hog’s 
face, that would indicate superior intelligence. 
The picture shown at Fig. 205 is the result of 
his study. It is the head of a young Berkshire 
pig sent to the stockyards at Jersey City. 
IjintuiiltimU. 
TIMELY NOTES ON VEGETABLES. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
Corn was never finer. The land may be 
peas, beans, corn and other succulent vegeta¬ 
bles in summer, no one cares for cabbage, and 
in winter no one cares for common cabbage 
who can get Savoys, cauliflower and Brus- 
sels-sprouts, so I grow most of the desirable 
kinds. Of Brussels-sprouts I raise a lot from 
seed in May, and another in June. This is for 
convenience in planting more than to hit a 
season, for there is no fear of having them in 
too early, as might be the case with Savoys 
or cauliflowers. Savoys sown about the 
end of May were planted out early 
in July; the same with cabbage and 
cauliflower. But as I didn’t have nearly land 
enough empty then or my full crop, I potted 
the remainder of the plants into four or five- 
inch pots, and plunged these in the ground in 
beds to await vacancies. This isn’t nearly as 
much trouble as might appear, and it keeps 
the plants stocky, growing a little all the 
time, and when they are planted out they go 
right ahead growing. Cauliflowers I sow as 
late as the first week in July. This gives us 
nice stock for storing in frames for winter use. 
winter. But they should be blanched, and 
the easiest way of doing this is to invert 
another empty soap-box over the one that has 
the roots in it, and the leaves grow up white 
and tender. 
Carrots. —Our earliest out-door sowing 
was put in on March 27th. This sowing has 
now all been cleared away and the ground 
planted with celery. Young carrots are a 
delicious vegetable; old carrots are fit only 
for stock-feeding. I have not yet sown our 
winter carrots, but intend to next week in 
ground emptied of potatoes. We often get 
fine carrots when sown as late as the middle 
cf August. The carrots we are now using 
were sown on May 2oth. It is not a question 
of—are the carrots old enough to use? that con¬ 
cerns me so much as—how young are the car¬ 
rots? But, of course, the great majority of 
people are not so exacting about the ten¬ 
derness of their vegetables. 
Beets. —Those we are now using were sown 
May 25th. All previous sowings have been 
cleared away. Our next to come in was sown 
June 22nd. We will 
next week sow a fair 
lot of turnip beets and 
about the 12th, a large 
sowing for winter stor¬ 
ing. 1 used to raise a 
lot of long beets as 
well as turnip varie¬ 
ties for winter, but as 
the call is now entirely 
for turnip beets, 1 find 
it useless to raise the 
long varieties. When 
used as a vegetable, 
that is when simply 
boiled, they are serv¬ 
ed whole and anything 
larger than three 
inches in diameter is 
rejected; about two 
nches across when 
peeled is about right. 
Of course, for slicing 
and pickling larger 
beets are admissible. 
Lettuces.— On ac¬ 
count of the supera¬ 
bundance of rain this 
summer we have had 
lots of lettuce all along; 
but they “bolt” al¬ 
most as soon as they 
begin to heart. But 
after this they won’t be 
so apt to run. We 
will sow a little every 
fortnight till the end 
of August when we 
will put in a large sow¬ 
ing for lettuce for use 
before winter sets in, 
and another sowing to¬ 
wards the middle of 
September for lettuces 
in winter, 
vilen Cove, L. I. 
-« ■» » 
ACTINIDIAS. 
WILLIAM P. BROOKS. 
A HOG’S HEAD. From Life. Fig. 205. 
A. polygama as sold 
by our nurserymen 
probably A. arguta , 
as illustrated in R. 
N.-Y. of July 27; the 
true Actinidia poly¬ 
gama bears white 
leaves on the ends of 
the shoots; valuable 
for its fruit. 
sandy, but water and manure will make a 
crop. We are now using Concord also 
Squautum that were sown May 6. Our ear¬ 
liest corn was a good deal injured by the corn- 
worm, but this trouble stops about the 20th 
of July. We put in a sowing of Evergreen 
the third week of July, one of Concord in the 
fourth week, and will put in one of Cory to¬ 
morrow (August 2nd). Our falls are generally 
open enough to let us get the good of these 
sowings. These late sowings are put in the 
ground cleared of the earl}' crop of corn, and 
in this way we get two crops of corn from the 
same ground. 
Potatoes looked well till 10 days ago; then 
they began to “die off” fast. Rot has not ap¬ 
peared m our crop, but the quality of the 
tubers is not first-class, and a good many of 
them are discolored inside. I have planted 
Savoys in the furrows between the rows of 
early potatoes. I will lift a large patch of 
ripe potatoes next week and sow beets and 
carrots in the emptied ground. I shall also 
plaut a part of it with red celery. 
Cabbage. —While we have any amount of 
Lima Beans.— We picked; our first lot— 
from out-door sowings—on July 29th. 
Parsley.— I sowed a lot in cold frames 
July 17th. This is for winter use. Of course, 
the usual way is to lift some of the summer 
roots and plant them in boxes or frames for a 
winter crop; but these always “bolt” early 
in spring. That sown in July or August will 
not “ Dolt ” so soon and will give good par¬ 
sley till next June. 
Chicory. —I raise a quantity of what is 
commonly known as Whitloaf. It is large- 
leaved chicory. If sown in spring it will 
“ bolt ” before fall, and this renders it almost 
useless as a leaf crop. I sowed it July 17th. 
in rows two feet apart. This is soon enough 
and should give us strong crowns for winter 
work. We store the roots as we do parsnips 
in winter, and keep them as cool as we can; 
frost even doesn’t hurt them. When lettuces 
begin to run short I put in a lot of these 
Whitloaf roots, tops up, in a soap-box filled 
with sandy soil, and put it in any warm place 
that is handy. Growth soon sets in, and the 
young leaves make a very good salad in 
I wish to compliment the Rural upon the 
fine illustration of Actinidia on the first page 
of the issue of July 27. It gives, as far as is 
possible in black and white, a very faithful 
and strikingly life-like representation of the 
plant from which it was drawn. The Rural 
will, I feel sure, be glad to have me point out 
some inaccuracies in the statements which 
accompany the illustration. A residence of 
12 years in that part of Japan in which this 
Actinidia grows most abundantly enables me 
to do this. 
In the first place, as to the name: It is known 
to the Japanese as Kokuwa (ko-koo-wa, with¬ 
out much accent, and the first syllable very 
long; the others hurried). In the herbarium 
of the Sappow Agricultural College it is set 
down as Actinidia arguta. I am not certain, 
however, who is responsible for this naming. 
The earlier specimens collected were all iden¬ 
tified by Dr. Asa Gray, and I think this was 
among them. I am not at present able to 
present other evidence that this is the correct 
name. Fortunately, however, I have consid¬ 
erable evidence that the Kokuwa is not Ac- 
