1889 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
7i3 
THE HOG AT THE SOUTH. 
E. A. BISHOP. 
ling-raising in the South a neglected busi¬ 
ness, hence neither profitable nor popu¬ 
lar; advantages of an Essex-Berkshire 
cross; corn and sorghum for “soiling;” 
sweet potatoes and peanuts fine pork- 
makers; feeding to avoid disease; a local v 
market. 
and there is much less trouble than in cut¬ 
ting and packing. Still I much prefer 
pork put up in the New England way—in 
brine—than with dry salt, as the meat 
does not become so hard and has a better 
flavor. For killing, a sharp, cold day is 
preferable and the water should be brought 
i o a temperature of 160 degrees or at least 
between 150 and 170 degress. A cheap ther- 
, mometer will be found of service here. A 
Ismail shovelful of hard-wood ashes well 
[stirred into the tub of water, will aid in 
'making the hair come off easily. Care in 
dressing helps wonderfully in selling if one 
wants a good price. 
Talladega, Ala. 
In the South, where hog meat forms such 
an important article of food, there are few 
things of more moment in the economy of 
the farm than the raising and curing of 
meat for home consumption. There are, 
however, but few who raise sufficient for 
home use, the great majority depending 
upon the West for their supply. This should 
not be so, for we can raise pork as cheaply 
and of as good quality as the Westerners. 
The average Southern farmer has no pig¬ 
gery, or at best but a makeshift ot a few old 
rails made into a little pen without covering, 
and used for a few weeks in the fall and 
then torn down. The rest of the year the 
hogs shift for themselves to a great extent 
and run at large in the highway, making 
their headquarters for sleeping just outside 
the front fence and in the barn-yard. With 
such care it is not to be wondered at that 
pork-raising is not popular or profitable. 
The pigs should have a good pasture to 
themselves, with running water if possible. 
I have no suitable pasture and am com¬ 
pelled to keep mine up a large portion of 
the time. I find, however, that my hogs 
add no small amount to the income of the 
farm. Of prime importance is the breed, 
and right here at the outset is the source of 
much profit or loss. Much time and food 
are wasted every year by raising the razor- 
backed, piney-wood rooter that, at his best, 
is composed largely of bone, hair and mus¬ 
cle. I have found that the hog best suited 
to my needs, is a cross of the Essex and 
Berkshire. I use a thoroughbred Essex 
boar upon selected Berkshire and grade 
sows. This gives me a thrifty, quick-grow¬ 
ing pig, with small bone and a fine quality 
of meat in the most desirable parts, and a 
small amount of offal. The demand is for 
small to medium rather than large hogs, 
an eight to 12-months-old pig weighing in 
the neighborhood of 200 pounds being a con¬ 
venient size to handle and cure. The course 
of feeding that I find most profitable is to 
feed just as little corn and whole grains as 
possible; a small amount just before kill¬ 
ing time being all I use. This is the whole- 
ear corn ground in a Scientific Mill and 
used to help out the swill and green feed 
for the last few weeks. What Ido feed is 
first the waste from the kitchen and from 
the garden vegetables. 
I sow drilled coni and sorghum in suc¬ 
cession, which are cut, a small load at a 
time, and brought to the barn to be fed 
out. This makes the bulk of the feed and 
takes the place of a pasture. The hogs are 
given fresh water to drink every day. 
Aside from this, I have one lot of land—10 
acres—which is inclosed with a tight fence 
and here, besides other crops, I plant sweet 
potatoes and peanuts, and in the fall, after 
gathering enough of the potatoes and pea¬ 
nuts for seed and home use, I turn in my 
pigs and let them get the rest, staying un¬ 
til the feed gives out or the weather be¬ 
comes too wet and cold. 
For a valuable and cheaply ra>sed hog 
food I would recommend peanuts. Twice 
as much peanut feed can be raised to the 
acre on the same land as of corn, wit h no 
more work in cultivating, and there will be 
no labor in harvesting, as the hogs can do 
that themselves. The sweet-potato vines 
after the crop has been dug also make a 
valuable addition to the food supply. I in¬ 
tend to try silage this winter when my 
other feed gets low, also several hundred 
bushels of turnips. The latter I shall eook. 
The general health of my hogs is excel¬ 
lent, sick hogs and cholera being some¬ 
thing I have had no experience with at 
home, t hough my neighbors often complain 
of heavy losses. A little sulphur put in 
the swill barrel occasionally, and charcoal 
thrown into the pens will aid in keeping 
up the thrift y condition of the herd. Charred 
corn cobs are also good. In short, feed 
corn sparingly and use, instead, green food 
which we can obtain in abundance, and at 
much less cost during the greater portion 
of the year. All of my hogs are consumed 
or sold fresh without curing, as I find this 
the most profitable way of disposing of 
them, there being always a good demand, 
farm topics. 
WHAT TO DO WITH THE STRAW. 
Shouldn't be burned, or allowed, slowly to 
rot in a pile in the field, or sold except 
for fertilizers; may be exchanged for 
manure; should be kept covered: as 
yard litter; its great value as supple¬ 
mentary feed; as bedding for stock; as 
a blazing insect destroyer; as a winter 
mulch for reheat. 
Some farms owing to the particular com¬ 
position of the soil are very productive of 
straw, and the farmer is sometimes puzzled 
to know what to do with it. The alluvial 
land lying along rivers and creeks usually 
produces an average crop of grain, and a 
very heavy growth of straw. As I own 
such a farm myself and have given the sub¬ 
ject much consideration, perhaps I am able 
to offer some useful suggestions in regard 
to the proper disposal of the straw. In the 
first place, let me mention what should not 
be done with it. 
It should not be burned. Burning straw, 
though very common in the West, is not 
much practiced in the East; but I have 
sometimes seen the smoke of burning straw 
piles on the flats along the Susquehanna 
River. Last year the buckwheat straw 
which was thrashed in the field and is not 
considered of any value for feeding to cat¬ 
tle, was generally burned as soon as the 
machine was moved out of the way. 
It,should not be allowed to rot in the 
field where it is thrashed. When there is 
not sufficient barn room, part of the grain 
is frequently thrashed in the field, and a 
big pile of good, bright straw is left for sev¬ 
eral years to be an eye-sore in the field, to 
be plowed around, to furnish an asylum for 
rats, mice and other vermin, and finally, 
when rotted down, it makes but a small 
quantity of manure without richness or 
strength, and it is seldom spread to obtain 
the little value that remains in it. I be¬ 
lieve that of the two practices, the burning 
is the better, as it gets the straw pile out of 
the way at once, and the ashes, if carefully 
gathered up and spread, are of more value 
than the dust of the rotted straw. 
It should not be sold. In Great “Britain, 
where good farming is more general, and 
more pains are taken to make and save 
manure, selling straw Horn the farm is con¬ 
sidered an unpardonable sin, and is strictly 
forbidden in most of the leases to tenants. 
Of course, near the cities and large towns 
straw is sold and manure bought to supply 
its place on the farm. I have often ex¬ 
changed a load of straw for a load of man¬ 
ure—say half a ton of straw for a ton of 
good horse stable manure—and the person 
with whom I made the exchange brought 
the manure to my field and took home the 
straw. There are teamsters here, and I pre¬ 
sume in every neighborhood, who have no 
farms and have more manure than they 
need for a garden, and are always willing 
to exchange it for straw. Long, bright rye 
straw is in great demaud for making paper 
and sometimes fetches nearly as much as 
hay. It might answer to sell rye straw and 
with the money it brought buy some bone- 
meal or other commercial fertilizer that has 
been found beneficial to the soil, but the 
great danger is that the straw would be 
sold and the fertilizer would not be bought. 
What, then, should be done with the 
straw ? As soon as it is thrashed, if it has 
been pitched out of doors, pitch it back 
into the barn again, or into some place 
where it cau be kept dry. A stack in the 
yard, built ever so well, will get wet on top, 
and in the winter will have a thick frozen 
crust on top so that you cannot get any dry 
straw from it without great trouble. • 
The Hon. B. Laporte of this county 
built a straw barn on purpose for straw. 
It stands on a level with the basement of 
his barn and is very convenient for filling 
from the machine, which stands on the 
main floor. The sides are planked with 2x4 
scantlings spiked on far enough apart so 
that cattle when in the yard can put their 
heads between them and work at the straw. 
When they have eaten all that is within 
their reach, more is thrown down from 
above, and dry straw can be obtained for 
any purpose whenever wanted. Mr. Waldo 
F. Brown litters his barn-yard with straw a 
foot deep or more at the beginning of win¬ 
ter. I think it is better to pitch it out into 
the yard a little at a time every day; it gets 
trampled to pieces better, the manure be¬ 
comes incorporated with it more evenly and 
it decomposes faster than if a large quan¬ 
tity were pitched into the yard at once, when 
the decomposition only takes place on top, 
and the under side remains a long time un¬ 
rotted. A large amount of straw that is 
bright and not weather-beaten, can be fed 
with profit to stock, especially to young 
cattle, and a larger amount still, can be 
used for bedding. I stable all my cattle of 
every age and description now, and the 
young animals receive a plentiful feed of 
straw in the morning, which they com¬ 
mence eating very readily, and what they 
leave is taken out of the mangers at night 
and thrown under them for bedding, when 
they are fed hay. It is surprising how 
much straw can be used during the winter 
for bedding cattle and horses, how much 
cleaner and more comfortable they look, 
and what a large amount of good manure 
they will supply. 
In order to make cows and fattening cattle 
eat straw and thrive on it, it must be cut 
fine, moistened, and meal containing a pro¬ 
portion of rye or oats (to make it thick), 
must be mixed with it. 
Being short of hay one season, I wintered 
all my stock, horses cows and eight steers, 
almost entirely on cut straw and meal. 
The steers were fatted, and I never had 
any cattle gain faster. The cows gave a 
good yield of milk and did just as well as if 
they had been supplied with all the hay 
they could eat. I am firmly convinced that 
most farmers who do not use silage could 
feed a great deal of cut straw and meal, 
with more profit than hay. Mr. Waldo F. 
Brown tells of a farmer in Ohio who. after 
his wheat ground is prepared, and before 
drilling in the seed, burns a thin coating of 
straw all over the field, and thinks it pays 
well for the straw and the labor of putting 
it on, by the increased yield of grain and 
the destruction of insect pests. 
A good many farmers, after the ground 
is frozen hard at the beginning of winter, 
draw straw on their wheat fields and spread 
a thin, even layer all over their wheat. It 
prevents winter-killing by keeping a part 
of the snow from blowing off, and if there 
should be no snow, it keeps the plants 
warm and prevents the injurious effects of 
sudden changes—freezing and thawing— 
which destroy their vitality and push their 
roots out of the ground. It acts also as a 
mulch, keeping the surface moist and 
mellow and preventing it from becoming 
encrusted in the spring. Hogs when kept 
in the pen, if abundantly supplied with 
straw, will manufacture more manure out 
of it than any other animals of their size in 
the world. There are ways enough for the 
profitable disposal of straw without selling, 
burning, or wasting it. It requires labor 
to properly utilize it, but no good thing is 
ever obtained without the labor of some¬ 
body. J. V. I. 
Sugar Run, Pa. 
i-tliscfUmifOiis, 
COR RESPOND ENTS’ VI FAYS. 
Stable Manure.— We use stable manure 
on corn and grass land. It may be applied 
to corn land any time in the fall, winter or 
early spring. To meadows and pastures it 
is best applied in the fall and early winter. 
I have never observed other than good 
effects to follow on its application either to 
corn land or pastures. A too liberal appli¬ 
cation to meadows will cause the grass to 
grow rank and coarse and to lodge badly in 
a wet season, while in a dry season it only 
insures a good crop. Applied either to oats 
or wheat, it will generally cause a rank 
growth and lodging. I never knew it to 
prove otherwise than beneficial to corn. I 
have seen dozens of fields of corn in which 
a person could tell to the row where man¬ 
ure had been applied. Three years ago I 
inspected a field of 12 acres of corn, four 
acres of which had received a liberal dress¬ 
ing of good stable manure, and the differ¬ 
ence in growth was so marked that one 
would almost have thought the field was 
planted with two distinct varieties. The 
four acres of manured land actually yielded 
more bushels of corn (I forget just how 
many more) than the other eight. I believe 
there is no crop grown that is more bene¬ 
fited by an application of good stable man¬ 
ure than corn, let the season be wet or dry. 
Manure on Potatoes.—T he effect of 
stable manure upon potatoes has invari¬ 
ably been injurious with me. It causes scab, 
rotting, coarse, uneven, pronged tubers, be¬ 
sides a growth of weeds and grass that it is 
almost impossible to subdue. If, after the 
land is heavily manured, a crop of corn is 
grown upon it, then it is in prime condition 
for potatoes. Some of the finest potatoes I 
ever saw grown in this section were grown 
on such land. I consider it next in value 
to well-rotted clover sod for this crop. The 
chief objections to it are the corn stumps 
which are a nuisance in a potato patch. 
Christian County, Ill. FRED GRUNDY. 
Feeding Hogs.— I believe that it pays to 
keep the pigs of all ages growing; that is, 
it pays better to feed regularly a certain 
amount of feed rather than to turn the ani¬ 
mals out on grass and water for three or 
four months, and then put them in the pen 
and feed all they will eat for two or three 
months, and then slaughter them. Breed¬ 
ing sows should not be fat or over-fed when 
suckling pigs. It is better to let them fall 
off in flesh than to overfeed them with 
strong feed. I have much faith in bran 
and middlings for breeding and growing 
stock. 
Remedy for Lung Worms in Sheep.— 
Turpentine in quantities of one tea-spoon¬ 
ful in a half gill of sweet milk for a 40- 
pound lamb, or double the quantity for a 
large lamb or sheep is a good remedy for 
lung worms. It should be given on an 
empty stomach and for three successive 
days. If the animal is badly infested, the 
dose should be repeated after three days. 
As soon as a lamb does not keep up with 
the flock the presence of lung worms may 
be suspected. E. J. B. 
Titusville, N. J. 
Binkum’s Tool-House — Binkum had 
the best equipped tool-house I ever saw. 
It was his hobby. It was as cleanly 
swept as any woman’s kitchen floor need 
be. Everything was in perfect order. 
Plows, chains, hoes, spades, axes, were all 
arranged in the most orderly manner. 
Even the broom-sticks had been preserved 
until perhaps 70 had been accumulated. 
All implements had been cleaned, polished 
and oiled. It would do any man good to 
inspect that tool-house. The three sons 
would no sooner have dared to soil one of 
those immaculate shiny hoes by digging in 
the ground with it than they would have 
used a watch for a foot-ball. This model 
tool-house was kept securely locked, and 
was made an end instead of a means. 
Biukum seldom allowed himself or any¬ 
body else to use his tools. He had many a 
sneer for the farmers who “ never had any 
tools.” His aversion to work and love of 
whisky landed him in the almshouse and 
the sheriff dissipated the contents of the 
well-ordered tool-house. O. H. 
Greeley, Col. 
As a Historical Novelty in the horti¬ 
cultural line, I send the Rural an apple 
from the oldest apple tree on the Pacific 
coast, or rather from one of the group of 
the four or five oldest trees. The seeds 
were planted by the Rev. Spaulding, Mis¬ 
sionary to the Nez Perces Indians over 50 
years ago, and the trees were for about 40 
years objects of Indian horticulture, and 
during this period—in the winter of 1S6I 
and 62—the mercury dropped more than 40 
degrees below zero, which fact certainly at¬ 
tests the hardiness of the trees. The one 
from which the fruit is sent is about 
feet in circumference near the ground and 
is still vigorous, having made a good growth 
the past summer. J. H. E. 
Lewiston, Idaho. 
[The apple was received in perfect con¬ 
dition. It was about the size of a Bald¬ 
win. Skin bright yellow; flesh white, sub¬ 
acid, tender and of fair quality. Eds.] 
Grafting the Tomato and Potato.— 
Some happy amateur, who, like our com¬ 
mon progenitor, Adam, derives enjoyment 
from tilling and keeping his garden, and 
who has not seen a potato-ball for 10 years, 
has conceived the idea of growing a potato 
stem up close to a tomato stem, inarching 
them together when they have grown suffi¬ 
ciently, and when united stopping the toma¬ 
to growth everywhere excepting through 
the graft, and severing the potato stem below 
the graft. It is possible that the potato 
top, having no tubers to feed, may spend it- 
