PORK MAKING AND PORKERS. 
Every farmer, almost, is anxiously inquiring whether 
he can really afford to raise and fatten hogs at the prices 
he gets. And then again, we hear different persons de¬ 
ciding with a great deal of precision, exactly what it 
costs to raise pork under any circumstances. Now, we 
happen to know r , from our own experience and observa¬ 
tion, that while it 
actually costs some 
men a shilling a 
pound, York cur¬ 
rency, others will do 
it for one quarter of 
that sum. "Would it 
not be interesting to 
know the reasons of 
this difference ? 
First, in the breed. 
Some breeds of hogs 
will yield more than 
twice the amount of 
fat and flesh for the 
food consumed, than 
other sorts. In other 
words, they convert 
a much greater por¬ 
tion of the corn to 
useful purposes, and 
let but little of the 
nutriment escape.— 
The China, Berk¬ 
shire, or the Suffolk, 
for instance, (fig. 1,) 
Fiv 1. 
economize the food they eat, 
much better than those sorts which approach the Land- 
pike in form, (fig. 2.) Our own experience satisfies us 
that Berkshires, or even good half-blood Berksliires, 
would make as much 
pork out of a hundred 
bushels of corn, as a ma¬ 
jority of the hogs raised 
in the country would out 
of two hundred bushels. 
Thus, without any in¬ 
creased cost, except the 
trouble of getting the 
right sort, the farmer 
who has his wits about 
him actually saves, clear¬ 
ly and completely saves, 
five hundred bushels out 
of every thousand he 
feeds out. No wonder 
that some men get rich while others grow poor. An¬ 
other great saving is made by cooking the food. But, 
to set a large kettle in a common brick or stone “ arch, 7 ’ 
may hardly pay for the fuel consumed. Economy in 
fuel , as well as in corn, must not be forgotten. Mott’s 
Agricultural Furnace, described on a previous page, is 
one of the best things for cooking with little wood. A 
hogshead, as a steamer, placed closely over the boiler, 
would probably be an additional improvement. It does 
not seem to be essential that the corn should be ground, 
except that it cooks in less time. Prof. Turner de¬ 
scribes a mode of cooking corn in the ear by steaming, 
so economical of la¬ 
bor and fuel, that he 
asserts the labor of 
steaming to be ac¬ 
tually less than feed¬ 
ing dry corn in the 
common way. We 
can only give a very 
meagre outline of his 
plan. A steam vat 
is made at one corner 
of the hog-house, 5 
feet square and 10 
feet high, of a dou¬ 
ble stud partition, 
with dry clay ram¬ 
med in closely be¬ 
tween, being done 
while the boards are 
nailed on from bot¬ 
tom to top. In the 
bottom of this vat, 
there is a barrel or 
box, open at top, 
The Suffolk. with clay also ram¬ 
med all round its sides, which is made to serve as a 
boiler, by means of a sheet iron or sheet copper pipe, 
(copper is best) 8 inches in diameter, running through 
the sides of the box in a horizontal direction. The fire 
is built in this pipe, and 
heats the water on every 
side. The further end of 
this pipe is closed, but a 
smaller pipe, 3^ inches in 
diameter, runs upward as 
a fire flue. A cover with 
wooden holes lies over 
the boiler, and through 
these holes the steam as¬ 
cends into the vat, which 
will hold about 30 bush¬ 
els. Corn is shovelled in 
at the top, till about two- 
thirds full. It is then 
covered tight, and a fire 
The steam rises through the cover, and a part 
The Landpike. 
Root Crops and Weeds. —Many farmers are deterred 
from raising ruta bagas, carrots, field beets, &c., by the 
Labor and expense of hoeing and destroying weeds, al¬ 
though these crops often yield from 500 to 800 bushels 
to the acre. To avoid all this trouble, begin early in 
the spring, if for ruta bagas; and the year before, if 
for carrots or beets, and by repeated plowing and har¬ 
rowing, clear the ground effectually of w r eeds. This 
will save much labor. Then, when the young plants 
are up, hoe them at all hazards , by the time they are 
an inch high. This will require about one-fifth of the 
labor needed two weeks later, or ulien the weeds are a 
foot high. 
Potatoes. —To clear these of weeds, where they are 
planted in drills, pass a fine-toothed harrow over the 
whole surface, just before the potatoes are up, which 
mellows the soil and destroys the young weeds. When 
up, plow from the plants; then a light furrow towards 
them, leaving tlie hills or ridges broad. 
is built. 
is condensed and falls back into the boiler; the corn 
swells and fills the whole vat. The boiler is supplied 
with water occasionally through a tube. When the 
corn is steamed enough, it is let out with ease through 
a door near the bottom, on the floor or into a self-feed¬ 
ing trough, where the pigs obtain just what they want 
and no more. 
After feeding corn in this w 7 ay, an occasional change 
to dry food is useful. Some farmers have found a great 
saving in cooking their refuse or second-rate apples 
with corn. Others have made pork very cheaply by 
allowing their hogs the run of the orchard through 
autumn, finishing the last two or three w r eeks with corn. 
A great deal is often lost by not providing comfortable 
quarters for hogs. A pig is not essentially a dirty ani¬ 
mal—he does not plunge into a pool of muddy water 
because he has a fancy for it, but a cool bath he w r ants, 
and will have, at whatever cost. He will thrive and 
fatten faster, if kept clean and comfortable, according 
to careful experiment. 
Gates —Every gate should be kept in good, self-shut, 
ting, self-latching order. A hole should be bored in the 
post of every gate, and filled with grease, for readily 
applying to the latch or hinge, when the one does not 
play freely, or the other creaks. 
