7S 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of the others, with points agreeing materially. In conse¬ 
quence of some complaint about size, Mr. Hawes selected 
the males from very large animals; one of these at fifteen 
months old, measured from end of snout to the root of the 
tail, six feet five inches—and girts five feet six inches in com¬ 
mon condition: the other, two months younger, nearly the 
same size. I challenge the United States to produce two 
animals of their species and age, of any other color than 
what I have named, as a standard color for Berkshires, to 
compare with them in point of size or beauty. I am offered 
$200 for the oldest, by M, Beach, Esq. of Ohio. I have 
one sow, purchased of the Shakers at Watervliet, at $150, 
raised by Mr. Hawes, measuring from the end of her nose to 
the root of her tail, six feet ten inches, and in girth, five feet 
ten inches, in breeding order. 
The Shakers of Watervliet slaughtered fifteen full bloods 
last fall—the whole number being what are called runts and 
cullings of litters, from fifteen to seventeen months old, and 
their average weight was 356 lbs. One killed at the Shaker 
village at Lebanon, two and a half years old, weighed 800 
lbs. Mr. Shaw, of Rensselaer county, slaughtered one that 
weighed 556 lbs. I killed one at sixteen months, weighing 
over 400 lbs. I sold one to Mr. Curd of Lexington, Kentucky, 
which he advertises as the “ Master,” and which is sup¬ 
posed by good judges to weigh at least 1000 lbs. Mr. Beach 
of Ohio, informs me, that many half and three-fourths blood 
have been slaughtered in that state, weighing, when from se¬ 
venteen to eighteen months old, from 450 to 500 lbs. Mr. 
Hawes informed me, that it was not uncommon for them to 
reach from 600 to 850 lbs. in England. There is, therefore, 
the most conclusive evidence, that so far as regards weight, 
fhfi Berk,shires are all that can be desired.;; 
Habits. —The habits of these animals are much more quiet 
and docile than those of the rest of the great swinish family: 
their native ferocity is softened down amazingly. I have 
never known a sow to eat her pigs, a thing that frequently 
occurs with other breeds; they come to maturity much soon¬ 
er than the old stock, and are extremely prolific, producing 
from ten to fifteen at a litter, and are very certain to raise 
the whole. Some of my sows, and those of my neighbors, 
have raised twenty-five pigs per annum for years. 
When two of these pigs of nearly equal size, are put toge¬ 
ther, a severe conllict immediately takes place, the result of 
which is final, these two never fighting again. Berkshire 
pigs, if fed at regular and stated periods, precisely, (and 
they are much more accurate chroniclers of time than most 
of our wooden clocks,) will finish their meals and return to 
their nests, wiiere they will meditate grave as judges, and 
possibly as profoundly. 
The Berkshires improve every breed by crossing ; giving 
length and solidity to the little Chinese, converting that part 
of the belly which formerly went to lard, to firm and good 
pork; they give rotundity and beauty to the old razor backs, 
infusing unwonted life and vigor through their comparative¬ 
ly dry bones. The sows will often take the boar within 
three days after the pigs have all been removed, which 
should not be neglected, as a few frustrations will sometimes 
prevent the sow from taking the boar at all. The young 
Berkshire pig, I consider one of the most beautiful objects in 
the animal creation, as he gambols in the sun—his sleek skin 
distended almost to bursting, as if unable longer to form a 
barrier against the genial streams of life, as they course 
through the miniature veins, impatient to swell into the fu¬ 
ture monster; and endowed with an instinct falling but little 
short of reason, and in some respects far exceeding it. 
Feeding. —Many valuable essays on the feeding of swine, 
have appeared in the columns of the Cultivator, in the past 
year, which are as applicable to the Berkshires as any others, 
so that I deem it unnecessary to say much under this head, 
more than that feeding should always be done with judg¬ 
ment, and by system. I feed them three times per day, at 
stated periods, which they will know to a minute—and as 
they expect no feed between meals, they remain during 
these intervals perfectly quiet; they will thrive better in this 
way, than on twice the quantity of food given them irregu¬ 
larly, or in such a way as to keep them in a constant worry 
and expectation. My practice is to mix a large quantity of 
water with their food, which they drink with the food it 
contains, and which has the effect of making them more 
quiet till the next feeding. 
I am decidedly opposed to high feeding for any breeding 
stock. I have found it very pernicious in all cases, and many 
times fatal, as the constitution of any animals must eventu¬ 
ally give way to it. It is quite too much practiced on young 
pigs, for the laudable purpose of bringing them forward ra¬ 
pidly, and being afterwards discontinued, the pig is spoiled; 
high feeding is no way to produce or improve a breed. I 
shall advise to feed light, and change the dish often. A lit¬ 
tle pounded charcoal, I have found an excellent tonic or cor¬ 
rective of the stomach for pigs. The sun and water, are 
considerations indispensable in a piggery. Pigs should be 
fed as separately as convenience will permit, otherwise they 
will be all that their name implies. 
Sows.— In the sows taking the male, I never interfere with 
the course of nature, further than to have the litter come in 
at a proper season, viz: spring or fall. I have abandoned 
the long standing opinion, that sows never should be im¬ 
pregnated young, since, though the young sow may not have 
reached her full strength and maturity—nature, which is a 
great economist in this as in all other things, will diminish 
the number of pigs accordingly. A sow I raised, which 
measured seven feet from snout to root of the tail, and was 
in girth six feet, had her first litter at eleven months 
old, and bore eight pigs. For experiment, a gentleman took 
two sow pigs of equal size and vigor, and of the same litter, 
one was impregnated at six months, the other at eighteen 
months, each having their regular semi annual litters. At 
the end of three years, the one impregnated at six months 
was the largest, and by far the best milker and breeder. Be¬ 
sides this, a number of similar experiments have been made 
within my knowledge, and with similar results. Sows 
should be kept quiet after pregnancy, with room for exercise 
and air, and furnished with water, and kept separate, to 
prevent thrusting, crowding, or fighting. A clover pasture, 
where it can be had, is much preferable to the pen for breed¬ 
ing sows; but it should be one in which they are not liable 
to be worried by dogs, or other animals. They should nei¬ 
ther be over fed or starved—for by the first course, you may 
lose the pigs; and by the last, you will have a swarm of 
cannibals, which would be about as bad. Never admit the 
boar to the sow while she is in a heated state from driving or 
worrying, but let her remain three or four hours at least, to 
become cool and quiet. 
The Boar. —The service of the male will be equally good 
and efficient, and the pigs will attain the same size they 
would, although he may not have attained half the age and 
size of his stock. He should not be allowed connection with 
too many sows at first, or indeed never, as in this case nature 
will become her own executioner. Never suffer the boar to 
be put to a sow in a hot day, till he has been permitted to 
cool himself in a puddle of water, which he is sure to do, if 
there is one in his yard. I have known a number of instan¬ 
ces, where neglect of this precaution has proved fatal to the 
boar. Not having such a reservoir in my yard, I make a 
practice of throwing a pail or two of water over them in hot 
weather. Having done this a few times, when I let the 
boars out they would come and lie down to receive the wa¬ 
ter, before they would notice the sow. For any further di¬ 
rections respecting the management of this animal, I may re¬ 
fer the inquirer to the December number of volume 6th of 
this periodical. 
I would observe, that I received in October last, per the 
brig Henry Bell, from Reading, Berkshire, England, for a 
fresh cross, two males and two sows, with colors agreeing 
with my former stock, entirely unconnected with each other, 
and also with my former breed. One boar I sent to M. 
Beach, Esq. Lebanon, Ohio—one of the sows, my neighbor 
Z. Standish, Esq. has, who also has a number of very fine 
breeding sows of my former stock, and will be able to sup¬ 
ply his friends abroad with some fine specimens of the breed. 
There was such an increased demand for these animals last 
year, that I have been to considerable pains and expense in 
preparing for it again. Gentlemen from abroad desiring to 
obtain them, would do well to make an early application to 
me at No. 253 Washington street, Albany, N. Y. 
JOHN LOSSING. 
P. S.—The Shakers of Watervliet have a number of fine 
breeding sows, impregnated by my imported boars. Their 
piggery, for characteristic neatness, regularity and economy, 
is surpassed by none in the country. J. L. 
On the Cultivation of the Sugar Beet. 
Of the different species of roots for the support and suste¬ 
nance of stock, the sugar beet seems destined to become the 
most extensively cultivated throughout North America. It is 
finer grained, sweeter; more delicate and agreeable to the 
taste than mangel wurtzel, at the same time it is more nu¬ 
tritious, and gives as large a yield, and is equally thrifty, 
hardy, and as susceptible of an extended a cultivation in the 
various latitudes. Fed raw, it is preferred alike by the horse, 
the ox, the cow, the sheep, and the hog, to every other root, 
with perhaps the exception of the parsnep, and cooked 
it is only inferior to the most farinaceous kinds of the po¬ 
tato. It makes the finest of wool, the most juicy and 
delicate of meat, the largest quantities and richest of milk 
and butter in winter, not inferior to that produced from the 
sweetest pastures in summer. When not grown too large, 
it also ranks high among the table edibles; and is perhaps 
the most luscious and palatable of roots to the taste of man. 
Being then the largest of yielders, the most certain of crops, 
the easiest handled, secured, and fed, and above all, a great 
ameliorator of the soil on which it is grown, we think we 
are not over sanguine when we assert, that in a very few 
years its cultivation will become so extended, as to make it 
the largest and most valuable of our root productions, and that 
it will work out for the United States, even a greater wealth 
and independence to the agriculturist than the growing of 
turneps has to England. 
Of the probabdity of the beet rivaling the cane in the pro¬ 
duction of sugar, we shall discuss in a future number; it is 
sufficient in this to know, that as food for man and beast, it 
deserves paramount attention, and it is to be hoped that all 
those who have engaged in its cultivation, will endeavor to 
extend the knowledge and practice of it as much as possible in 
their respective neighborhoods. With a view of adding his 
mite to so desirable an object, the writer subjoins below 
such information as his limited experience enables him to 
give. 
Soil and its Preparations. —The best soil for the pro¬ 
duction of the sugar beet, is a deep, light, and moderately 
rich loam, resting on a clay subsoil, but very large crops have 
been taken from" thin gravels and sands, and the hardest 
clay; but in these cases they had undorgone a potato cropping, 
thereby manuring the preceding year, and a slight covering of 
compost, ashes, plaster or lime, the spring they were planted 
in beets. A very rich soil, such as the deep alluvial bottoms 
of the west, is no tso proper; the roots grow too large and rank 
in it, and are consequently coarser and less nutritious, and 
do not abound with near the saccharine matter that is found 
w'ith those grown on poorer ground. 
Plow deep and roll and harrow fine, and have the ground 
in lands of about one rod wide, with the furrows between 
them well hoed out. so as to drain the falling water off, espe¬ 
cially if the subsoil be at all tenacious, as most of the 
western lands usually are. 
The Seed and its Preparation. —The white Silesian 
sugar beet is the best variety, as sweetest, finest grained and 
crowing largest. Soak the seed at least two days previous 
to planting, in soft tepid water, and then roll it in plaster or 
ashes so as to prevent its sticking together, and facilitate the 
sowing. It is indispensable that the seed be well soaked, 
otherwise, owing to its outward coating the pericarp being 
very hard, it may not vegetate at all, or so late as to make a 
fair crop out of the question. I have frequently had it in 
soak a whole w'eek, and sowed the seeds already well sprout¬ 
ed, and though followed by long heavy rains, they were the 
quickest up, and gave the largest produce. The first and 
second weeks in May is the most proper time to plant in this 
latitude; further north or south, of course later or earlier, ac¬ 
cording to climate. 
Planting. —It can be sown broadcast like the turnep, but 
as weeds are likely to spring up in most soils and prevent its 
grow’th, and the labor of exterminating them much greater in 
this way, it is preferable to sow in drills. For this purpose, 
the drill-barrow may be used the same as in planting theruta 
baga, but the beet seed is much more difficult to deliver 
evenly through a small aperture than the turneps, and 
though I have used a great variety of barrows for this pur¬ 
pose, I have never yet had one that worked well and could 
be depended upon, especially in tenacious or heavy loamy 
soils. It is preferable therefore, to take a piece of joice four 
inches square, or a round stick of the same diameter half or 
just as long as the lands are wide, fill this with iron or wood¬ 
en teeth in wedge shape, as far apart as you wish to have 
the rows, put a pair ©f fills to this, and hitch on a stout man 
or steady horse, and once or twice going through the land, 
completely drills it from one to two inches deep. Then fol¬ 
low immediately with the seed, dropping it by hand, or from 
a long necked bottle, or tin cup with a hole in the bottom, 
and a stick handle attached to it, shaking the cup or bottle as 
you walk along, and following sharp with the eye to see that 
the seeds are evenly dropped. Faithful children of ten years 
old, can do this with more ease and facility than grown per¬ 
sons. As fast as dropped cover with the hoe; in heavy soils 
about half to three-fourths of an inch deep, in sand or light 
gravel twice this depth. 
The rows may be from one to three feet apart for a field 
crop—two and a half to three feet is the best. This distance 
enables one to use the cultivator for weeding, without dan¬ 
ger of cutting or covering the plants by the dirt being thrown 
up as it passes through the rows. The product is not so 
great per acre from wide rows, but land being cheap and la¬ 
bor dear in America, we must study to facilite manual opera¬ 
tions,.at the same time that we have some calculation'to a good 
yield. Four pounds of seed per acre is generally considered 
enough, but it is better to have a dozen extra plants to thin 
out, than to be obliged to transplant one. Those trans¬ 
planted do not thrive half as well as those that remain where 
they vegetate; besides, the labor of so doing is more expen¬ 
sive than extra seed and time of thinning. I therefore mean 
in sowing to have a good seed dropped as near as every two 
or three inches in the drills. 
After Culture.' —As soon as the weeds begin to appear, 
run the cultivator through the row and follow with the hoe. It 
is very essential that the ground be kept clear of weeds, espe¬ 
cially for the two first months, and three hoeings with the 
use of the cultivator is generally sufficient for the season. 
As the plants attain a height of about three inches they 
should be thinned to a distance of about four inches' leaving 
the strongestand healthiest; then during the season as they 
grow, gradually thin out the remainder, leaving the roots in 
the rows at least about nine or ten inches apart. If 
left too thick, they shade and choke eacli other in growth, 
and the product is not so great as when well thinned. These 
thinnings are valuable to feed to stock during the summer, and 
are frequently considered equal to half the expense of culti¬ 
vation of the whole crop. 
Harvesting. —Chaptal decides, when the leaves begin to 
decay and turn yellow, is the best time to gather the beets, 
for if left longer than this in the ground, the roots grow hard 
and strong and do not yield so great a per cent of saccharine. 
This of course will take place earlier or later in different cli¬ 
mates, and is undoubtedly as good a rule as can be given, 
it being adopted after a strict chemical analysis of the beet 
in its growth by that eminent agriculturist. If the soil be 
light, as the roots generally grow so much outof the ground, 
they can be pulled up by taking hold of the tops with the 
hand—but if more tenacious, the dung-fork is the best in¬ 
strument that I know of for digging them up. Let part of 
the hands be at this operation and the other part follow with 
large knives or bill hooks; taking up the root with one hand, 
top off the leaves with the other, and toss the roots into 
small heaps to dry through the day, and if left out over night 
and there be danger of frost, let them be lightly covered over 
with leaves or straw; a hard frost injures the roots and makes 
them more liable to decay. They may then be taken to a 
well ventilated cellar, or be pitted in heaps of 100 to 200 
bushels. The beet is rather apt to heat and commence 
sprouting if thrown into large heaps, or packed away in the 
cellar. If put in the latter place, any other roots except the 
turnep may be placed at the bottom, and the beets on top, 
and if in pits the same roots or straw in the centre. All the 
beets then have a good ventilation, and an opportunity of 
throwing off the impure air; and to facilitate this, after cover¬ 
ing the heaps with dirt, holes should be made every few feet 
on the top of them, and wisps of straw be placed in such 
holes. In this way the writer has experienced no loss or 
deterioration in the value of the root, but has preserved them 
till May, as fresh, sound and sweet as when first taken from 
the ground the preceding fall. In a climate as mild as south 
Ohio, they might be preserved all winter in tolerable tight 
sheds and barns. 
Feeding. —Throw them on to the ground or floor, and take 
a hay knife or spade, and a man will slice up a bushel a 
minute sufficiently fine to prevent cattle choaking on them. 
The best way to cook them for stock is by steaming, but 
they can not be kept so over two days in warm weather 
and a week in cold, without undergoing a fermentation, and 
losing the saccharine matter so grateful to the taste and so 
essential to nutriment. Either raw or cooked, my stock fre¬ 
quently prefer them to meal or corn. Raw Ithink them as nutri¬ 
tious as any root whatever, and as far as my limited expe¬ 
rience extends, three bushels of beets with neat stock, is 
equal to one of Indian meal. Hogs demand less bulk to fill 
themselves than cattle, and perhaps their value to them 
would be about as four to one. 
Product. —Four hundred bushels is a fair yield in field 
culture, but six and eight hundred per acre is about as com¬ 
mon. The writer grew at the rate of 1,150 bushels to the 
acre the past year on a hard clay soil, and his average field 
product was about 600 bushels on the same soil. He has 
heard of 3,000 bushels being produced-to the acre on rich 
loams. Several of my roots the past season weighed 16 lbs. 
each, and 10 lbs.jis^not unfrequent; now' admitting this last 
weight to each root, and that seven rows stood in the width 
of a rod, which would make them about two feet apart and 
the roots one foot apart in the rows, and allow 60 lbs. to the 
bushel, we should have the enormous product of 3,080 bush¬ 
els to the acre; but roots so large are coarse, stringy and not 
unfrequently hollow and have much less saccharine in pro¬ 
portion to their bulk, than smaller ones. Those of about 
5 lbs. weight are far superior; and these standing one foot 
apart in the row's and five rows in the width of a rod, making 
them about three feet apart, gives the large yield of 1,100 
bushels per acre, which is quite as great a product as it is 
desirable to strive for, and upon the whole perhaps the 
most profitable. 
