THE CULTIVATOR. 
41 
tion of air in. the room ; and a vessel of water should 
be on the stove to prevent that peculiar dryness of the 
air so injurious in confined and stove-heated rooms. 
There can be no question but that properly managed, 
one half the fuel now used for warming rooms might 
be dispensed with; as also might much of that used for 
culinary purposes, if the most improved modes, and 
the proper fixtures for economizing it were adopted. 
Let the farmer plant trees, while the man of science 
improves the methods of burning them when wanted 
for fuel, and we may yet bid successful defiance to the 
frozen north. 
Large Litters of Pigs. 
We much question whether two litters of pigs, bred 
for slaughtering alone, from one sow, can be produced 
in the country, exceeding the ones given below, in weight 
or value. Our host of the Syracuse House has fine cat¬ 
tle as well as good pigs, and obtained some of the pre¬ 
miums awarded at the Onondaga Agricultural Fair. 
We copy from the Syracuse Journal. 
“Mr. Rust, of the Syracuse House, killed, the present 
week two litters of pigs from the same breeding sow ; 
one of 32 in number, 15 months old; and the other 11 , 
eight months old. The first averaged 313 lbs. each, 
making a total of3,756 lbs. weight; and the latter 207 
lbs. each, making a total of 2,277 lbs. weight. The 
whole amounted to 6,033 lbs. or a little oyer three tons , 
which, at the present low price of pork, is worth $301 
€5.” 
The number of pigs which have been produced at a 
litter does not seem to be generally known by farmers. 
The average number, as proved by the records of many 
breeders, is from seven to eight at a litter, but this num¬ 
ber is sometimes greatly exceeded. The greatest num¬ 
ber on record, we believe, in this country, previous to 
the present year, as the product of a single litter, was 
twenty-three; but the following, from a Hartford jour¬ 
nal, shows that even on this point there has been room 
for improvement. 
“ Messrs. Cheney and Shepherd, of Chatham, Mid¬ 
dlesex county, were favored with a litter of Berkshire 
pigs, from one sow, amounting to twenty-eight in num¬ 
ber. We took the trouble to ascertain the fact, found 
that it was correct, and think it will outdo any thing of 
the kind on record.” 
This is indeed, pretty well for brother Jonathan; but 
he must try again, or John Bull will still bear away the 
palm of producing the most, as well as the biggest hogs, 
as the following extract from the British Husbandry 
will show: 
“ Twenty swine are estimated to produce 150 pigs, or 
on an average, seven and a half pigs each, for their 
first litter. Instances are indeed on record, of a sow, 
which in 20 litters, produced the extraordinary number 
of 355 pigs; as well as of another having farrowed 37 
at one birth, and from 15 to 20 are not uncommon. 
Large litters are not always the most profitable, as they 
usually have among them many weakly individuals, 
which can never be reared with advantage.” 
Ice Houses. 
Although we do not consider ice houses as absolutely 
essential to the health or comfort of the farmer, yet as 
a little ice water in the fervid heats of summer is cer¬ 
tainly refreshing, and if properly regulated in quantity, 
perfectly safe, a few hints respecting the best mode of 
preserving ice or snow may be acceptable. In making 
an ice house, two things must be kept in view; first, 
that the vault or pit be dry; and secondly, that its walls 
be constructed of some non-conducting material. A 
northern exposure will be the best for the ice house, but 
this is not absolutely essential. Protection from the 
sun by trees or buildings, is also an advantage where 
convenient. If the pit dug for the house is not in gra¬ 
vel that will admit the water that drains from the ice 
to pass off freely, a drain must be made, and it should 
be so constructed, that all access of the external air 
through .it should be cut off. The frame of the building 
should not touch the sides of the pit, and on the bottom 
the points of contact should be as few as possible. The 
space between the outer and inner boarding of the build¬ 
ing should be filled with tan, to exclude the air, and a 
double roof well filled in with the same material will 
be advisable Doors, convenient for the reception of 
the ice, and also for procuring it when wanted, must be 
made so as to perfectly exclude the external air, and 
prevent all circulation within. If the vault will admit 
of it, double doors, with a space of several feet between 
will be best; and this space will be an excellent place 
for preserving fresh meat, keeping butter cool, &c. 
Whether ice or snow be used, it will gradually give way 
on the sides and top, and these spaces as fast as they 
enlarge, should be filled with clean straw, which is one 
of the best of substances for this purpose. Formerly 
it was thought that ice alone would answer for preser¬ 
vation, and it was always procured, though sometimes 
at considerable expense. Now, it is said that snow is 
far superior, and if it will keep as well, it must be; as 
much of the ice obtained from rivers and ponds is very 
far from being in that state of purity which is desirable 
for summer drink. 
Nothing more is necessary, than to gather the snow 
when compact and dry, throw it into the pit, and pound 
or tread it down as firmly as possible, keeping all moist¬ 
ure from it during the operation. As the snow contracts 
during the summer, clean straw must take its place, and 
roof and all, should be painted white, or whitewashed, 
as often as is necessary to ensure a perfect whiteness. 
The necessity of this precaution will be obvious to all. 
Making Pork. 
The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture contains the 
record of some experiments made by M. Bengtrapp, to i - ___ 
test the value of several articles in fattening swine He ^““Ys Retrievable, without great inconvenience and 
brought up separately, five couples of pigs, and obtained 1 s 
and the age of the animal is also determined, beyond 
which no premium can be given. 
We think there are many places in this country, 
where similar associations might be instituted with de¬ 
cided advantage, and the payment of a trifling annual 
premium, not in ordinary cases exceeding the value of 
a day’s labor, secure the poor man against a loss which 
and in the ordinary state of 
after a certain length of time, the following results 
Food. Increase of weight. 
55 decalitres of peas,. 22 st. 7 lbs. 
283 “ balls of wheat, 24 st. 3 lbs. 
96 “ buckwheat,.... 26 st. 10 lbs. 
98 “ boiled potatoes, 20 st. 4 lbs. 
175 “ “ carrots,.. 28 st. 2 lbs. 
Couples. 
1 st, got 
2 d, “ 
3d, “ 
4th, “ 
5th, " 
sacrifices. 
Green Vegetable matter for Manure. 
The value of green vegetables, when put under the 
soil and submitted to the process of decomposition, does 
not appear to be fully appreciated by the farmer. The 
more rapid the growth of a plant, the more efficacious 
is it in restoring exhausted soils, a result, perhaps de- 
The decalitre is equal to 15 pints, or nearly a peck ol j on the fact, that such plants derive a large por 
* l - •>- tion of their support from the atmosphere, and of course 
return to the earth more than they take from it. Buck¬ 
wheat and clover are striking instances of this power in 
green crops to fertilize soils, and both have been exten¬ 
sively used for this purpose. Green manuring has been 
more used for grain crops than for roots, but the follow¬ 
ing experiment made by Prof. Parks, in 1839, will show 
that the good effects are not less conspicuous on roots 
than on grain. 
“ I had a trench opened of sufficient length to receive 
six sets of potatoes, under three of which I placed green 
cabbage leaves, while the other three had nothing but 
the soil. When the crop was dug up, the plants over 
the cabbage leaves yielded about double the produce of 
the other.” 
lbs. of pork. 
a 
in this w r the purest of snow or ice may be had the 
whole yn gjw -411 that part of the building above ground, 
our measure. What is meant by the balls of wheat, 
unless it be what we term bran or shorts, we are unable 
to determine. On these experiments the editor of the 
Journal remarks:— 
“ These results, though interesting, are not entirely 
satisfactory, because it is not mentioned whether the 
pigs were ail of the same age and weight, nor is it sta¬ 
ted whether the quantity of food marked in the table 
was as much as the pigs could consume. We have al¬ 
ways believed that peas were the most nutritious food 
that could be given to pigs; [It must be remembered 
that Indian corn is not grown in Great Britain, and 
therefore unknown for feeding pigs.— Eds. of Cult.'] 
and this experiment confirms the belief, as may be seen 
by comparing the relative increase of weight obtained 
from the various kinds of food, viz ; 55 decalitres of 
peas gave 22 stone 7 lbs., or nearly 6 lbs. of pork for 
one decalitre of peas ; whereas from 28 st. 2 lbs. were 
only obtained from 175 decalitres, or about two and a 
half lbs of pork to each: giving the peas the advantage 
of two and a half to one. Next to the pea, the most 
nourishing food is the buckwheat, which gives nearly 
four lbs. of pork to every decalitre. The lowest pro¬ 
duce was from the wheat balls, which was only one and 
one-fifth lb. of pork to a decalitre. The boiled potatoes 
gave three lbs. of pork to one decalitre.” 
The relative value of the kinds of food here enume¬ 
rated, would stand as follows : 
1 peck of peas will make. 6 
1 “ buckwheat . 4 
1 “ boiled potatoes..3 “ 
1 “ “ carrots. 2£ “ 
1 “ wheat balls.. 1 1-5 a 
The relative value however, of the several articles, 
after all, must be determined in part, by the quantity 
that can be grown on an acre, and the expense of feed¬ 
ing each kind of food. Thus, if 500 bushels of carrots 
can be grown on an acre, and but 25 or 30 of peas, the 
acre of carrots will make, at the rate calculated, above 
5,000 lbs. of pork, and the acre of peas 720 lbs.; thus 
giving the carrots, after deducting the expense of cook¬ 
ing, greatly the preference. The same remarks will hold 
true of the boiled potatoes, which are much cheaper than 
either corn or peas. There can be no doubt, however, 
that the product stated from each kind of lood in the 
above table, will be found to greatly exceed the amoun 
usually obtained by the farmer in the common mode ol 
feeding 
Mutual Insurance on Cows. 
There are multitudes of honest, poor laboring men in 
this country, particularly in the neighborhood ol cities, 
or where the population is mostly mechanical or manu¬ 
facturing, whose main reliance lor support, after their 
daily labor, and certainly that of their children is de¬ 
pending on their single cow, which the law has secured 
beyond the reach of the rich or the grasping creditor. 
But the law does not guarantee them against disease, 
and very often the unfortunate poor man, by the loss of 
his cow, finds himself and his children at once reduced 
to want, and at the same time without any means of re¬ 
pairing his loss. Every one is aware that such is the 
case in every part of our country—and appeals to the 
benevolent not unfrequently arise from this source. 
The same state of things lias long existed in England 
and Scotland, among the small farmers, the cottagers, 
and manufacturers; and the evil was so severely felt, 
that public attention was at last turned to the subject, 
and associations called cow clubs, conducted on the 
principles of mutual insurance, have been introduced, 
and wherever tried, are spoken of in the most laudatory 
terms. 
The principle on which these associations are form¬ 
ed, is exceedingly simple ; consisting in the main of only 
insuring members, who become such, by contributing to 
the funds of the association such a sum annually, as 
shall be deemed proper, or which an experiment shall 
prove necessary, in order to meet any loss that may oc¬ 
cur. The rate of contribution in the different societies, 
varies somewhat; as the liability to loss, owing to se¬ 
verity of winter and other causes, is greater in some 
districts than in others. The rates of annual subscrip¬ 
tion, range from 50 cents to $1 25 per annum; and the 
range of loss per cent, from 2£ to 41. If the cow of a 
member of the association dies, the committee of the 
body examine the case, and if the loss is not owing to 
wilful carelessness or neglect, the individual is award¬ 
ed a sum usually sufficient to purchase a good cow, 
which must be appropriated to this use and no other. 
A certain sum is however fixed upon in the regulations 
of the society, which is not to be in any case exceeded; 
Experiment with. Wheat. 
The following results of an experiment made with 
several varieties of wheat, we condense from the Lon¬ 
don Express, and consider interesting as showing seve¬ 
ral particulars in the English mode of cultivating this 
grain, such as manuring, time of sowing, quantity of 
seed, and the yield per acre : 
Varieties. 
■ji 
3 
U 
o 
s-i 
D 
S 
£ 
Jersey Dantzic, 
Round White, 
Coturianum, 
4 Jersey Hoary, 
5 1 W ellington White, 
6 Golden Drop Red, 
286 
581 
543 
283 
804 
189 
Ap 
£ 
10, 
!0| 
10 
Ol 
o 
p 
nd 
O 
Ph 
r—I 
4-' 
O 
EH 
U 
09 
P< 
O) 
o 
p ' 
h3 
O 
t-i 
Ph 
JH| 
09 
on xn 
• r-t r-j 
A) rr 
C*_f 
° 09 
> 
09 
9 12 
9 ] 2k 
65! 
1241 
116 
71 j- 
190, 
471 
36i 
35i 
35 
40 
38 
40 
60 
60 h 
Sep 
Au. 28 
60 Sep.10 
59 “ 7, 
6 O 4 Au. 28 
61iSept7. 
Mr. Clarke, the experimenter, says—“ The soil on 
which these wheats were grown, is an alluvial loam of 
medium quality, well fallowed, and manured with 14 
good loads of rotten dung, 5 bushels of crushed bones, 
and forty-five bushels of sod ashes per acre, sown with 
Swedish turneps on ridges, which were drawn and cart¬ 
ed into graves or heaps the two or three first days in 
December, the land immediately plowed and the wheat 
drilled in with a common Suffolk drill, at the time stated 
in the table/’ 
We imagine that were almost any of our western farm¬ 
ers to treat their wheat lands to such a manuring as Air. 
Clarke gave his, their crops would not suffer in a com¬ 
parison ; but the fact of his wheat being sown on the 
9th or 10th of December, shows that a course of culture 
admissible there, would be impracticable here, a truth 
applicable in more instances than this. 
New Silk Worms. 
The British have recently added to their already over¬ 
grown East India possessions, the province of Assam, 
and the exploration of the country has brought to light, 
many rare, and some before unknown productions. 
Among these, a Calcutta journal describes some half a 
dozen varieties of silk-worms, which produce large 
quantities of silk used in the manufacture of fabrics. One 
of these, the muga worm, is never reared in the house. It 
is fed on the trees where they are reared, and when one 
tree is stripped of its foliage, the worms by a simple and 
expeditious process are removed to another. Their term 
of feeding is about thirty days, when they descend, are. 
secured on plantain leaves, on the dry leaves of which 
they spin their cocoons. The silk is not in one continu¬ 
ous thread, but has to be spun as cotton or worsted. 
Three crops in a year are produced. The arinda 
worm, is another of these new worms. Like the former, 
the silk is coarse, but very strong and durable. It has 
sometimes in that warm climate produced ten or twelve 
crops in a year. The silk of these two species of 
worms, constitutes much of the clothing material of the 
Assamese, being preferred as cheaper, because more 
lasting than cotton. Some of the other kinds spin a 
thread like the common silk-worm, but of great strength 
and lustre; and the moths of one of the species mea¬ 
sures not less than ten inches across its wings. 
There is in the United States, a large green worm, 
the larvse of a species of saturnia , and frequently called 
the apple-tree worm, that spins a cocoon producing silk 
much resembling the kinds described above. A year or 
two since, we detected two of them on a gooseberry 
hedge, where they fed till they spun their cocoons. 
