148 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
i Courtenay’--A Woburn Sow. the proporty of Sr. 8. 35. Martin, of Kentucky.— [Fig. 72.] 
(Copied from the Western Farmer and Gardener.) 
Swine ““The Woburns. 
Editors of the Cultivator —In your July No. there is an in¬ 
quiry by A. C., about the Woburn hog, and a request from you 
that I should reply, and would accompany the reply with a cor¬ 
rect plate. I will now proceed to reply, and will furnish you 
with a correct plate and description as soon as a plate can be 
procured. 
The Woburns that I have were first introduced into Kentucky 
in 1829, by a merchant of Winchester, (Ky.) Shortly after their 
introduction, I procured of him a pair of pigs, and after his 
death, which happened in 1833, I purchased his old sow, which 
I called Pennsylvania. In 1837, I procured three hogs of the 
same breed from Virginia, accompanied with a certificate that 
they were pure blooded hogs of the “ Duke of Bedford’s breed.” 
These three were called Belmont, Belmona, and. Accident. I 
send you a plate of Belmont, taken when he was nine months 
old.—(fig. 74.) 
These hogs, when I got them, were called indiscriminately 
Bedfords or Woburns. But after an extensive trip through 
Pennsylvania, New-York ; Massachusetts, and other states, 
looking for them, and finding the hogs generally called Bedfords 
in those states, were not the same kind of hog, I called mine 
entirely by the name of Woburn, to distinguish them from the 
numerous varieties of Bedfords. 
Three or four years ago, Mr. John Blackman imported from 
England three pigs of the Woburn breed; they were thin fine 
haired hogs, and I expect it is from these that the pigs spoken 
of by your correspondent have originated. Those hogs of Mr. 
Blackman’s had the form and appearance of Woburns, except 
in hair, of which they were nearly destitute, showing a deep 
cross of the Neapolitan hog. So much for his first question. 
To the second, as to size and disposition to take on flesh 
when compared with Berkshires? I would answer that the 
warmest advocates of the Berkshires admit that the Woburns 
are larger. I have tried many experiments as to their fattening 
qualities, all of which have resulted greatly in favor of the 
Woburns. An experiment was made in Jessamine county, Ky., 
by Isaac and Wm. Barclay. They fed a Woburn and a Berk¬ 
shire boar for thirty days, to ascertain which would gain most. 
Wm. Barclay was a strenuous advocate of the Berkshire, and 
Isaac of the Woburn. The gain of the Berkshire was fifty-seven 
pounds; that of the Woburn was one hundred and seven pounds 
in the same time. This experiment was so decisive that Wm. 
Barclay purchased some of the Woburn stock, and after having 
had further proof, admits their superiority. 
Another experiment made by Mr. Fanning, of the Tenn. Agri¬ 
culturist, and myself, in which half-blooded Woburns were fed 
against black Berkshires, my pigs gained an average of 20 lbs. 
more in 61 days than his did in 120 days; the father of these 
pigs was a white Berkshire boar that I imported from Eng¬ 
land. 
Though many of the advocates of the Berkshires admit the 
Woburns will gain flesh fastest, they contend that the Woburns 
are the greatest consumers. For the purpose of testing this 
matter, we shall shortly have some of each stock fed by some 
disinterested person by measure. Before my proposition to 
feed by measure was accepted, I made the following experi¬ 
ment :—I put up a sow (Marion) of the Woburn stock that was 
eleven months old, very much reduced by suckling pigs, on the 
fifteenth day of June, and had her fed on five pounds of corn a 
day, and in ten days her gain was twenty-seven pounds. No 
doubt a part of this gain was filling up; but it was very appa- 
ent that she had fattened. The next nine days she was so much 
indisposed that she only eat thirty pounds of corn, and weighed 
the same she had done before, having neither gained nor lost. 
At the commencement of the next nine days she was still so un¬ 
well as not to eat her allowance, and eat only forty pounds of 
corn, and her increase was twelve pounds. Under very unfa¬ 
vorable circumstances, Marion gave an increase of 39 lbs. in 28 
days upon 120 lbs. of corn. She was in a close pen and had 
during the time nothing else but water, and some salt with 
ashes mixed with it. 
Now let us see how this will compare with Berkshires. On 
page 67 of the present volume of the Cultivator, in Letters from 
the West, A. B. A. says, “I had twenty-two Berkshire swine in 
a small pasture during the month of August, where the herbage 
was so completely dried up as to give them no feed from it. I 
accordingly ordered them four bushels of corn per day, but this 
did not seem to satisfy them, and they were roving about the 
pasture uneasy, and I soon found losing flesh.” Here is twen¬ 
ty-two Berkshire sows (for he tells us afterwards that they 
were sows) losing flesh upon four bushels of corn, which at 
55 lbs to the bushel, is exactly ten pounds each. 
To the inquiry how would they cross with the Berkshires, I 
would answer, that the Woburns cross well with all hogs that 
I have tried them with; with the Berkshires there is size and 
earlier maturity added by the Woburn, and beauty of a shorter, 
sleeker coat of hair, by the Berkshire. 
To the inquiry, where can they be got, I answer that Mr. 
Blackman’s Woburns can be got in Butler county, Pennsylva¬ 
nia, and such as I have can be got of me near Colbyville, Ky. 
SAMUEL D. MARTIN. 
Colbyville, Ky ., July, 1841. 
Soap should never be used until is a year old .— You cannot 
make your soap too strong, if you will give it age. S. R. 
The Sugar Beet and Hohan Potato. 
To the Editors of the Cultivator —I have delayed any reply 
to the numerous notices of my remarks, which have appeared 
lately in the Cultivator, on the sugar beet, &c., until I could, 
as well as might be, learn the progress in the cultivation of 
this root to public favor in our country. 
Now, after a number of trips through districts where three 
years ago the beet was freely grown, not a patch of it is to be 
seen ; nor, notwithstanding the cultivation of this root was in¬ 
troduced into our country many years ago, for the purpose of 
manufacturing sugar, yet not an establishment for the purpose 
exists in our country, where a man might go to purchase his 
sugar. I am, therefore, induced to believe that, the public is 
satisfied that this root, containing as it does no starch or olu- 
ten —(the grand elements of all seeds and roots known to be rich 
in nutriment) —but little sugar, and nothing else except a little 
mucilage and woody matter, although it is a pleasant addition 
to a good diet, is not worth growing for the purposes of being 
fed to cattle or hogs. I am induced to believe likewise that a 
business, which has always proved itself to be a hard up hill 
business in France, where it can be better conducted than here, 
and where it would undoubtedly be discontinued the moment 
Other sugars were admitted free of duty, will find little or no 
favor in our country. 
Allow me to give one illustration—it will show the value of 
splendid crops of beets, such as your correspondent, Mr. 
Diehl, proposes to raise, and such as probably would grow 
upon our rich Western prairies, and I have done. A gentle¬ 
man in this county, selected from a luxuriant field of beets, 
one remarkable for its solidity, symmetry and beauty, such an 
one as any man would be proud to raise, and such an one as 
would have gained a premium at any agricultural exhibition. 
It weighed 18 lbs. He dried it carefully, and then weighed it 
again; it now weighed 1 1-4 lbs., having sustained a loss of 
92-100ths; it was reduced to a mere billet of wood. 
With respect to the Rohan Potato, so far as I can learn, seed 
brought from the South gives the first year a yield almost in¬ 
credible ; but the second year it yields no more than an ordi¬ 
nary potato upon the same amount of land. I have said they 
were inferior to some other kinds for feeding to cattle, &c. To 
ascertain if it were true, I dried an equal quantity of this and 
the pink eye, and the Rohan lost 16-100ths more than the other. 
On slicing them one would almost drip whilst the other was 
comparatively dry. Some imperfect experiments showed that 
equal weights of both dried to the same degree gave very nearly 
equal quantities of starch. 
Although Judge G- and his chivalrous companions per¬ 
formed the feat of devouring this root, yet I do not learn that 
even he has adopted it, to the exclusion of other kinds of pota¬ 
toes, for his table. S. GUTHRIE. 
Sacket’s Harbor, N. Y., Aug. 3, 1841. 
Shape of the As.— (Fig. 74.) 
Messrs. Editors —In this 
age of invention I have thought 
strange that no improvement 
has been made on the form of 
the Ax; an instrument so ne¬ 
cessary to the farmer. 
I send you the shape of an 
ax, (fig. 74) that is considered 
by those who have used axes 
of this form, really an im-. 
provement. You see this form 
is circular on the edge. Near 
the center, on a line drawn 
from the two points, the 
ax should be thicker than 
axes commonly are so far 
from the edge. From that 
thickest, spot A, the ax should 
taper on the lines, with a very small curve to the edge each 
way. This shape of the ax secures two properties which are 
valuable to an ax. One is, it does not stick when struck into 
wood ; the other is, it chips admirably. 
As axes are commonly made with little curve on the edge, 
and nearly of a thickness, when used with a strong arm, they 
sink even the points into the wood, and stick. Then it requires 
an effort to get them out, the helve is in danger of being crack¬ 
ed, and time to strike several strokes is lost. This is a hin¬ 
drance to the chopper. 
There is another impediment. The ax cuts a wide chip, of 
course it is thinner, it bends, sticks at the points of the ax, and 
does not rive off. One, two, or three strokes must be taken to 
fling the chip out. If these strokes are not well directed, the 
chip is cut again and a stroke is nearly lost. 
By this improvement, these impediments to the chopper are 
prevented. The ax with such a circular edge does not stick 
in the wood; it cuts a narrower chip, of course it is thick¬ 
er, does not bend, but rives off, so that a chip is flung off al¬ 
most every stroke. 
If this improvement in the ax will be of any advantage to 
the farmer, he is welcome to it. 
A Friend to Agriculture. 
Lewis, Essex co., N. Y ., 1841. 
Improvement of the Soil and the Mind. 
Messrs. Editors— Permit a plain farmer to express his sin- 
cere thanks to James M. Garnett, Solon Robinson, and others 
of a kindred spirit, for the noble and efficient efforts they are 
making to improve the agriculture of our country. Such cor¬ 
respondents to the Cultivator and other agricultural papers, 
are doing an amount of good which is not, we think, at present 
either rightly understood or fully appreciated. Time only can 
reveal, when abundant harvests shall wave over districts of 
country, now sterile and worthless from improvident cultiva¬ 
tion, and when the whole agricultural community of our coun¬ 
try shall become highly enlightened and elevated, the impor¬ 
tant nature of the services they are rendering. The spirit of 
improvement which these men have been so active and zealous 
m promoting, has already given an impulse to agriculture and 
advanced the interests of the farmer to an extent which is not 
conceived of by those who have bestowed but little reflection 
on the subject. The district of country in which the writer 
resides, affords a striking example of the truth of this remark. 
Some twelve or fifteen years ago, the system of agriculture 
here universally practiced, was so rapidly impoverishing the 
soil, that the majority of our farmers looked to emigration as 
the only alternative; numbers of farms were annually thrown 
into market and sacrificed, and wave after wave of our popula¬ 
tion was successively rolling away to the West. Now this tide 
of emigration has not only ceased to flow, but is beginning to 
ebb. The developments of the capacity of the soil (the greater 
proportion of which was originally exceedingly fertile and pro¬ 
ductive,) for improvement, have been truly astonishing. Many 
old fields, that were naked and gullied, now present an even 
surface, beautifully clothed in green—and our lands have 
greatly advanced in intrinsic, as well as in market value. 
This favorable change in the agricultural prospects of our 
country, certainly entitle those who have been instrumental in 
bringing it about to the thanks and gratitude of the farming 
community. But there is another sense in which the services 
of those who have been instrumental in bringing about this 
change, can never be too highly appreciated. It is this, that 
like the former venerable and lamented editor of the Cultiva¬ 
tor, they are laboring not only to improve the soil, but the 
mind. To excite in the breasts of farmers a thirst for know¬ 
ledge, that they may become educated and well informed, 
rightly understand their own interests, and faithfully and in¬ 
telligently discharge to their country the high and responsible 
duties which devolve upon them. How much depends upon the 
success of this effort will be apparent when it is considered 
that the farmers of this land (out-numbering and out-voting at 
the polls more than five to one all other classes combined,) 
constitute that great majority, who have a direct and absolute 
control over the destinies of the republic, and whose high ele¬ 
vation in virtue and in knowledge is the only perfect security 
we can ever have for the perpetuity of our free institutions. 
The opinions which we entertain upon this subject, and which 
we have thus briefly expressed, may possibly be thought some¬ 
what extravagant, but, nevertheless, let the editors of agricul¬ 
tural papers, with their many able correspondents and coadju¬ 
tors throughout the country, continue to direct their efforts, 
steadily and singly, to " the improvement of the soil and the 
mind,” never suffering their zeal or ardor for a moment to 
abate until we are blessed with a soil highly improved, and an 
agricultural population highly enlightened and elevated, and 
we believe that then, and not until then, will our national 
prosperity and our national institutions be based upon a solid 
foundation. Liberty, Fa., July, 1841. H. W. M. 
Hay Kig-g-ing-s—Answer to Inquiry. 
Messrs. Editors —Your correspondent, of N. J., inquires in 
regard to a kind of hay riggings which are best adapted to car¬ 
rying heavy loads over rough roads, and one that will sustain 
the center of gravity longest; and which one man can handle. 
Therefore, I herewith give you a description of my rigging, 
which, I hesitate not to say, for hauling grain of any kind or 
hay, for sustaining the center of gravity, and for the facility 
and ease with which it is " shipped and unshipped,” cannot be 
equaled by any that have come under my observation. 
It is one which I consider “perfect," (please to excuse my 
commendable ostentation,) made with my own hands, and it 
can speak for itself, for it has several peculiarities to recom¬ 
mend it to every farmer who has not such an important imple¬ 
ment. And, first, it is very light and strong, and. one man can 
take it to pieces, and unload it in five minutes. Secondly, it is 
not “ top heavy," and will transport safely as heavy loads, and 
sustain the center of gravity as long as any that I have ever 
used. And, thirdly, grain in the sheaf, and hay can be carried 
equally well on it, and when that season of the year is past 
when it is to be used, one man can take it to the “farming 
utensil house ” and stow it away in the "dry,” with occupying 
but a small space;—whereas, one of ahuge "nondescript” form 
must remain wherever it can be unloaded handiest, decaying 
in the Weather, which is a bad streak in farming. But to the 
description. 
The dimension and form of it are as follows :—It consists of 
two ladders, fifteen feet in length, in the form of a horse’s hay¬ 
rack. The side pieces, or poles, are made of light pine with the 
bark pealed off, and about four inches in diameter, connected 
together by rounds fifteen inches apart, made of white oak, 
which extend above the pole to hold the hay. These are set on 
the wagon, and two light pieces of scantling, for supporters, 
pass under the top pole, over the bottom one and under the 
reach. These are fastened to the sides by means of pins. The 
ends are then secured by boards passing from one side to the 
other, with the end hollowed so as to fit snugly to the pole, 
and bound with hoop iron, and a pin prevents it from slipping 
off. 
Now, this is precisely such a rigging as each farmer should 
have, if he wishes to have one that he can depend upon in all 
cases. Those which are built on a common wagon box or a 
square frame, placed between the stakes, and sometimes with 
hoops bent over the wheels, are a kind of “ Joe Bunker,” that 
you will not find about me! 
Now, in regard to the center of gravity, it is that point in a ’ 
body, upon which being acted upon by gravity, it will balance 
equally in all positions. Therefore, the center of gravity, in a 
load of hay, is higher in proportion to the height of the load. 
But in an ordinary load of about a ton it is about a foot above 
the top of the rigging; which brings it about seven feet from 
the ground. Now, the base of the wagon, being over four feet, 
one side must, consequently, be elevated above the other, some 
fifteen inches before a perpendicular line, falling from the cen¬ 
ter, will strike beyond the base, or that part of the wheel which 
touches the ground. Then, so long as the center of gravity 
lies within the base, we need apprehend no danger of turning 
over. 
Farmers, try it and satisfy yourselves; and if my position is 
not correct (which is founded on experiment,) or if I do not 
have a right view of the subject, I will thank any one to correct 
me. It is, indeed, strange to me that when many farmers see 
an(J feel a great inconvenience arising from having such un¬ 
wieldy, huge implements to handle, they will persist in the 
same course. This is not as it should be! 
Farmers should always consult convenience , neatness and 
taste; and when they are following that which is wrong, and 
’tis pointed out to them, and they become convinced of it, they 
should lose no time in setting themselves right. 
Tompkins co., N. Y., 1841. Verus Practicus Colonus 
0“The "drawing” mentioned in the note to the above, will 
be " acceptable.” 
