344 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Wot. 
PLAIT OF A PI««ER¥. 
[The accompanying cut and description 
of a piggery, which we take from the 
Transactions of the N. Y. State Agricul¬ 
tural Society, received the premium at the 
January meeting, 1848.] 
I forward you my plan of a piggery and 
other necessary fixtures, which I have in 
contemplation, and am preparing to put 
up, on a tasteful and cheap scale, with¬ 
in the reach of every thriving citizen in 
our State. 
The cost of construction will depend 
much on the finish. The ground plan of the two build¬ 
ings, which includes a yard between them, is 40 ft. long 
and 14 feet wide, which may cost from fifty to ninety dol¬ 
lars. A good mechanic has promised to do all the la¬ 
bor, after the foundation was laid, for forty dollars, the 
boards to be planed and matched. Unless the build¬ 
ings are to be painted, I would recommend that the 
boards be put on in a rough state, and white washed 
with a composition of stone lime and water lime. To 
construct a good cellar would cost about thirty dollars 
more. 
This plan might be enlarged; I have designed it for 
six fattening hogs, or for one breeding sow and three 
porkers. “ Millionaires” may require something more 
expensive, but this is sufficiently spacious for the com¬ 
mon citizens of Vermont. The two upright buildings 
represent the swill house and the piggery. Both are 
fourteen feet long and twelve feet wide, the posts ten 
feet. 
The ground plan of the first building contains the 
arch A, for cooking, where boilers and steamers will 
be placed sufficiently large to accommodate the number 
of hogs to be fed. The feeding troughs also, T, T, are 
included in the same building, which is made of white 
oak plank, and extends the whole length of the house, 
except the space occupied by the tubs or vats, I, I, 
which are convenient for the cooked food, swill, &c. 
One of them may contain the warm food, the other in 
a process of fermentation, to he fed at any time. The 
dots on the yard side of the house and feeding trough, 
T, T, represent standards of iron or white oak, arran¬ 
ged along and close «to the outside of the trough, at 
suitable distances to allow the heads of the swine to 
pass between them into the feeding trough. The sill 
on this side of the house is raised and framed to the 
posts two feet above the common level of the other 
sills, and these standards or pins which prevent h' gs 
from getting into the trough or house s are framed into 
the sill above, and the feeding trough; the plank which 
forms the bottom of the trough may project on the 
outer side for that purpose, or the plank may be of such 
thickness as to enter the upper edge. 
B, B, B, are bins for apples and roots, in each of 
which a window opens for the purpose of shoveling 
them in, two of which are seen in the upright part. 
The hogs are to lodge in the pen, and can pass from 
their apartments, P, P, through the yards, Y, Y, to 
the feeding trough, T, T; a partition divides the sty or 
open yard, and extends across the piggery, forming two 
sleeping apartments, P, P, and two yards, ¥, Y; six 
doors and passage ways opposite, D, B, B, X), B, B. 
The main door in the piggery opens into the passage, 
X, feet wide, for the convenience of the attendant 
to carry in straw, &e. The open yards may be used 
for litter, and to manufacture manure; these occupy 
space enclosed between the two upright buildings, and 
are 18 feet long. 
The floor of each building and the yard should be 
flagged with stone or brick, secured from frost. The 
sills of the two main buildings are raised upon a wail 
18 inches. A cellar may be constructed under the first 
building for the storage of roots; if seven feet deep, 
will hold 600 bushels, allowing 2420 cubic inches to the 
bushel. A convenient wheel and windlass is arranged 
in the loft of this house, for handling the hogs at the 
time of killing, and may be convenient for dressing 
other animals. 
There are many piggeries in this State constructed 
about 30 feet long and 20 feet wide, which contain all 
the cooking apparatus, the hogs, grain is the loft, and 
sometimes a wool room, which form a complete nui¬ 
sance. I am opposed to feeding swine in close build¬ 
ings where they make their litter, and cooking food un¬ 
der the same roof. The effluvia cannot be very plea¬ 
sant for man or beast. Truly yours, 
S' W. 
