194 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
morning arid night. They are fattened in a fortnight, often weigh seven 
to ten, and average five pounds. In Workingham, fowls are confined in 
a dark place, and crammed with paste made of barley-meal, mutton suet, 
treacle or coarse sugar, and milk, and they are ripe in a fortnight. The 
London poulterers coop up fowls, and make them fat in a fortnight, using 
much grease in the food. Neither of the three last modes are deemed 
proper, as regards the appearance, flavor or healthiness of poultry which 
they fatten. 
We have confined our remarks to dung-hill fowls, and may hereafter- 
extend them to other species of fowls that are raised upon the farm. 
HINTS FOR THE PIGGERY. 
Winter store keep. —Roots of all kinds, if boiled the better, excepting 
perhaps carrots, parsnips, mangold vvurtzel and ruta baga, which will agree 
well in a raw state; cabbage, peas and beans, or other corn, the run of the 
barn yards and wash.— Lawrence. The economy of raising roots for the 
winter keep of pigs is very great, and the subject is particularly deserving 
the attention of the American farmer. An acre of land will give, if well 
attended, 600 bushels of mangold wurtzel, ruta baga, carrots or parsnips. 
This will keep ten pigs 120 days, giving to each a peck per diem; but 
where they receive the kitchen wash, and the otherwise waste food of the 
farm, half this quantity will suffice to keep store pigs in a thriving condi¬ 
tion. The four quarts of root3 may be considered equivalent to a quart o! 
corn. Upon this calculation one acre of roots well go as far as four acres 
of corn, yielding 40 bushels the acre, in feeding winter pigs; and, estimating 
the corn at one dollar, and the roots at twenty-five cents per bushel, are 
worth about four times as much in market. It affords us pleasure to be 
able to say, that our root culture has been enlarged very considerably dur¬ 
ing the last season, and that nearly every person who has gone into the 
culture has been so pleased with the result, that he he resolved to ex¬ 
tend it hereafter. 
Fatting. —A hog will fatten best by himself, at any rate the fewer the 
better; and it is most conducive to their thriving that they have room in 
their styes. They must be ringed, must be dry, and enjoy that degree of 
warmth which will render them entirely comfortable, the demonstration 
of which is, that they lie upon their side and extended. When the hog 
lies upon his belly and contracted, it indicates a sense of cold, or some in¬ 
disposition. If inaptrude to thrive be attributed to a foul, scurvy or ob¬ 
structed hide, the best remedy is to extend the hog upon a form, and wet¬ 
ting him with lye made by boiling half a peck of wood ashes in urine, or 
salted water, to curry and scrub him clean; then to wash him in clean 
water, and wipe him with a wisp, strewing him over with ashes, and 
putting him into a deep straw bed. The method of pig feeding, to profit, 
is, to begin with inferior victuals, if any difference be proposed in that re ¬ 
spect; to feed moderately during the first fortnight, or longer if the ani¬ 
mals be w'eak and low in condition, and never throughout the whole pe¬ 
riod, to overburthen their stomachs, but rather to keep the appetite keen, 
and the troughs constantly empty, except at meal times, which should be 
three times a day. The pigs having gorged themselves, and blunted their 
appetite, give to each two table spoonfuls of sulphur once or twice a day, 
or in cases of great heat, equal parts of cream of tartar and nitre, and in a 
day or two they will recover.— Lawrence. 
Winter wheat may be sown in the spring. —So says Mr- Low, profes¬ 
sor of agriculture in the Edinburgh university. “ If it is sown in spring, 
it is termed spring-wheat; if previous to winter, summer or winter wheat.” 
By being sown in spring, it changes its habit with relation to the period of 
ripening. “ The produce of wheat sown in the spring acquires the habit 
of ripening earlier than wheat sown in autumn. This change in the ha¬ 
bit of ripening takes place in the case of all the cerelia, and many other 
cultivated plants.” 
FARMERS CLUBS. ~ 
In view of the facts, which must be palpable to all, that our general sys¬ 
tem of husbandry has been bad—and that it continues to be qne of ex¬ 
haustion to our soils—and that we can and ought to improve it—and 
as a very efficient means of bringing about the desired change,—we would 
respectfully propose, that the farmers in agricultural districts form clubs, 
or associations, for mutual and general improvement;—that they become 
subscribers, in their associate capacity, for at least half a dozen agricultu¬ 
ral periodicals, independent of those taken by the members individually; 
that the members meet monthly, or oftener, during the winter months, to 
read and discuss the matters of interest which these journals contain, and 
of their individual practice; and that no topic, foreign to agricultural im¬ 
provement, be permitted to intrude upon these meetings. 
The reason for taking several journals, is, that they may increase the 
stock of useful knowledge, or what may truly be denominated their farming 
capital. The writings upon agricultural improvement, and particularly the 
communications of practical farmers—have become so numerous, that the 
same articles are seldom published in more than one or two agricultural 
papers. The reason for taking them in their associate capacity, and ex¬ 
clusive of their individual subscriptions, is, that the latter should be care¬ 
fully preserved, bound, and kept in the family. They will be worth more. 
for future reference and use, -for the boys who are to become men, than 
they will cost; and if they are taken to the club-room they are liable o 
be soiled or lost. 
Among other advantages which w'ould result from the establishment of 
these clubs or associations, we may enumerate the following: 
1. They would improve the soil and the mind —They would not only 
become a means-of publishing to all, all that might be found excellent in 
the practice of each member, but they would advertise all that should be 
found-new and useful in the practice of the entire agricultural communi¬ 
ty. They would serve to demonstrate errors in practice, where such ex 
isted, explain the causes, and teach the remedies. They would instruct 
in the principles upon which improvements could be made, and teach the 
practise by which they had been made by others. They would elicit new 
thoughts, develope new capacities, excite new emulation, and beget self- 
respect, and a desire to be useful, in the members themselves. Practice 
is as essential to improvement in the functions of the mind, as it is in those 
of the body in the arts of labor. The flint gives fire only when it is brought 
in collision with its kindred steel. So the collision of intellect, in the 
search after truth, most effectually developes its latent powers. Motion 
gives purity to water; if suffered to rest, it putrifies, and taints and poi¬ 
sons the atmosphere. So the mind can only exert its primary office of 
doing good, by being trained to wholesome exercise. 
2. They would be schools of instruction to the young, particularly to 
those who are about assuming the toga, or garb of manhood, and who look 
to their seniors for examples of wisdom and prudence. The information 
which these meetings would furnish, would serve to expand the young 
mind, to stock it with seeds of usefulness, to teach it modes of useful cul¬ 
ture, and to ensure a harvest of usefulness—to graduate its desires, and to 
avert its chimerical wanderings. 
3. They would improve the social and moral condition of their neigh¬ 
borhoods. —Men habitually coming together, to receive or impart instruc¬ 
tion, and to discuss matters of common interest to them all, can hardly 
fail to feel the benign influence of the social virtues, or to cultivate and 
inculcate them. And as these associations would tend to excite laudable 
competition and useful industry, they would diminish the measure of in¬ 
dolence, and of vice, its natural concomitant. 
What we have mentioned, under the three preceding heads, as we oS- 
j served, are but a part of the benefits which would result from agricultural 
associations. They already exist, under the names of lyceums, to a con¬ 
siderable extent, in the New-England states, and in Pennsylvania. But 
we doubt whether their benefits are so palpable as they would be, if, in 
the outset, the attention of their members was directed more particularly 
to practical improvement, by the reading and discussing the contents of 
our agricultural periodicals. Lectures on the sciences connected with ag¬ 
riculture are important as auxiliaries in the work of improvement; cabi¬ 
nets of mineralogical specimens may be collecting with a view to ultimate 
benefit; but the agricultural community are not yet enlightened enough 
upon these subjects to appreciate their value, or to listen to, or study them, 
with that interest, or with that profit which we hope and believe they will 
ere long excite and impart. 
That the preceding remarks may not be imputed to mercenary conside¬ 
rations on our part; and to give an evidence of our desire to encourage 
the formation of the associations we recommend—we make this offer—to 
send the Cultivator, gratuitously, to every association of this kind, which 
shall be organized in the union, during the current year—the evidence 
of which organization shall be a certificate from the post-master of the 
neighborhood—with the addition, that at least six other agricultural jour¬ 
nals have been subscribed and paid for, by the association. And we ask 
the liberty to recommend, that one of the six be the Farmer's Register, 
published at Petersburgh, Va. by E. Ruffin, because this is of a higher 
character, and perhaps of a more durable form, than any other published. 
in the country. 
OLDEN TIMES—1792. 
We omitted to notice, in its order in the Memoirs of the old agricultu¬ 
ral society, a communication from Chancellor Livingston, on the excreto¬ 
ry duct of the feet of sheep, seemingly designed to subserve a beneficial 
purpose, and at that time but partially known to farmers, and not noticed 
by naturalists. 
“ The legs of sheep,” says the Chancellor, “ are furnished wilh a duct, 
which terminates in the fissure of the hoof; from which, when the animal 
is in health, there is secreted a white fluid, but when sickly, these ducts 
are stopped by the hardness of the fluid. I have in some instances found, 
that the sheep were relieved, merely by pressing out the hardened matter 
with the finger, from the orifice of the duct in each foot; perhaps it may 
in some cases be proper to place their feet in warm water, or to use a 
probe, or hard brush, for cleansing this passage.” 
It is now a received opinion, that the stoppage of these ducts, in the 
legs of sheep, by mud or dung, is a prolific cause of sickness, and that 
they ought to be carefully examined and opened on the first appearance 
of indisposition, inasmuch as the obstruction often causes inflammation. 
In 1799, the annual address was delivered before the society by the 
late Simeon De Witt. We extract so much of this address as relates to 
