MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

should be so near to the dwelling house that it may not be troublesome to carry the wash to the swine, and yet so far off that the people in the house may not be stunned with their noise. A warm cot must be made in some convenient part of their pasture, for them to lodge in.

To prepare a pasture for them, let the ground be broken up, tilled and manured, and then laid down with clover. For swine are more fond of this grass than of any other, which our country produces. Let the quantity of land be so proportioned to the number of swine that they may keep the grass from running up to seed. For this will prevent waste: and the shorter the grass is, the sweeter it will be, and the more tender and agreeable to their palates.

I suppose that one acre of rich land in clover, will support twenty or more swine, large and small together, through the summer; and bring them well forward in their growth; but they should have rings in their noses, to prevent their rooting out the clover.

It has been proved, by many trials, that hogs in such a pasture, may be kept in good plight, without any other food. Some say they may be half fattened.

Arthur Young, Esq. of Great Britain, in the summer of the year 1766, pastured sixty-four swine of various sizes, on two acres of clover ground. And allowing two pence half-penny per week, one with another, their feedings amounted to seventeen pounds, sixteen shillings sterling. Their keeping was set at a low rate, six months feeding for one swine being 58 5d. and the profit of the clover put to this use is astonishing. He assures the public that all these swine grew very fast. And in his opinion, this use of clover is greatly preferable to making it into hay. I think this is not to be doubted, though the crop of hay were supposed to be the greatest that is ever obtained.

It should be remembered, that the pasturing with swine will enrich the land more than pasturing with other beasts, and hereby the profit of the farmer will be increased. And if a common clover lay will produce a good crop of wheat, much more may be expected of the same kind of ground, after pasturing swine upon it; as their dung adds much to the fertility of the soil.

Hogs may be turned into their pasture about the first of May, and kept in it till the last of October. And if in May and October the grass should not be quite sufficient for their support, some potatoes or other roots may be thrown to them.

The fence about the pasture should be so tight and strong that the swine will not need to be yoked; because yokes do much towards preventing their growth, as I have found by letting yoked and unyoked ones of the same litter run together in a pasture. It will be of great advantage to a hog pasture to have plenty of water in it through the summer. Running water is best, as it will afford them the most wholesome drink, and at the same time serve as well as any other for them to wallow in; and it will keep them clean, which is no small advantage.

The best way of managing swine, is to keep them always in middling plight. Not too fat lest their health should be in danger, especially when the weather is hot; not too lean, lest this should give them a ravenous appetite, and tempt them to eat things that are not wholesome for them. Those that have been long starved, cannot be made fat without great expense-sometimes more than they will repay with their flesh.

MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

When it can with convenience be so ordered, it is an excellent piece of husbandry to make a hog pasture of an orchard.__Their dung is allowed to be the very best manure for the trees. They will keep the ground light and loose, destroy insects that infest the trees, and feed heartily upon the premature apples, which the farmer is too often tempted to grind up for cider. And the shadow of the trees will be very grateful and comfortable to them in summer. An orchard may be prepared with clover as well as any other piece of ground. But it should be remembered that, when the trees in an orchard are young and small, swine should not be permitted to go among them; for there will be danger of their wounding them, and stripping off some of the bark.

As a substitute for the usual mode of ringing hogs, Mr. Tubb, an English breeder of stock, recommends to shave off with a razor, or sharp knife, the gristle on the tops of the noses of young pigs. The place soon heals over, and the pigs are thus rendered incapable of rooting. Loudon recommends to cut the two tendons of their snouts with a sharp knife, about an inch and a half from the nose. This may be done with little pain and no prejudice to the animal, when about two or three months old.

IV. The business of fattening hogs is generally performed from the commencement of October. Some farmers, and those who understand their true interests, commence somewhat earlier. According to the opinion of Rev. Mr. Elliot, the best time in the year to shut up hogs to fatten them, is the month of August. The beginning of September; however, is sufficiently early to make them fat, provided they be of a proper breed, before the weather comes to be extremely cold.

Certain it is, that he that attempts to fatten his hogs in winter will be a loser, for it has been found by long experience, that they do not gain in their flesh near so fast in a frosty, as in a temperate season.

Whatever system of fattening swine may be adopted, it is of essential consequence that they be kept warm and clean, especially in cold and damp weather, during the period of fattening; and that they also be supplied with abundance of litter, the cost of which will be amply repaid by the increased proportion of excellent dung thereby obtained. It has, indeed been frequently asserted, that swine thrive better while fattening, if they be allowed to wallow, at home, in their own filth, and abroad in mud and wet, because they delight in it; and thence it is assumed as certain, that it tends to their advantage. Such an assertion, however, is rather the offspring of prejudice, than the result of real experience: we know that animals, when oppressed with heat, will plunge into water in order to cool themselves; but it cannot be inferred from this circumstance, that it will be necessarily beneficial to them, especially when fattening. Besides, as there is an analogy between the disorders of this part of the brute creation, and those of the human race, as well as in the causes whence they originate, we shall here only remark, that swine are liable to be affected by drinking too much cold water, or wallowing in iniry or humid places when overheated.

Not only, however, should these animals be kept warm and dry while fattening, but they should also be confined, if possible, by themselves; or, at all events, there should be as small a number in the same stye, and as much out of the hearing of the cry or grunt of other hogs as possible; otherwise upon their first confinement, they will pine and decrease in flesh, notwithstanding they have abundance of food given them. By this means they will be enabled to take more frequent and uninterrupted re

1

DISEASES OF HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE.

pose, which greatly contributes to promote their fattening; besides which, all those inconveniences will be effectually obviated, which often occur from hogs worrying each other, and from the weaker being deprived by the stronger of their fair proportion of food.

Regularity of feeding should likewise be especially regarded, as it has great influence in facilitating or retarding the fattening of swine; hence it will be proper to give them a full allowance of food three or four times, or at certain other stated intervals in the day, as convenience or other circumstances will allow. And if any animal should have surfeited itself, (which is no unusual occurrence, where due regard is not bestowed on the point last stated,) by eating too large a proportion of food, it will be advisable to give about half an ounce of flour of sulphur in some wash, once or twice in the day, for two or three successive days. By this simple remedy their palled appetite will be restored more effectually than by administering antimony, or any other drug that has been recommended to use in fattening swine; for, however such articles may possibly have succeeded in a few instances, it is obvious that they cannot be generally employed with advantage, and may not unfrequently be productive of hurtful effects.

It is recommended by various writers to give to fatting hogs dry rotten wood, or the ashes or cinders of the blacksmith's shop; others recommend charcoal. Nature, it is thought, points out these, as preventives for several diseases, to which fatting swine are liable. The precise effect of these articles, it is, perhaps, difficult to ascertain. The rotten wood may act as an absorbent, and the cinders and charcoal serve to correct the superabundant acid in the stomach. Certain it is, that fatting swine will devour these substances with avidity, whenever they require them. I have not lost a fatting hog, says Judge Peters, for more than thirty years, when I used it, (rotten wood) but have suffered by neglecting it. Some of my neighbors met with frequent losses of fatting hogs, till I informed them of my practice; of which I was told by a woman from East Jersey, before our revolutionary war. She said it was then known and practiced there.

To the good effects of charcoal, the Editor can bear his own testimony, having made use of this, for his own fatting hogs for several years. He has found similar good effects to result from the use of pounded oystershells. When sufficiently softened by exposure to the air, fatting swine will be found to eat them with avidity.

SECTION VI.

DISEASES OF HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE.

1. HORSES.

The brute creation are, in general, liable to fewer maladies, or complaints than mankind; and as their diseases are, with some exceptions, less complicated, they are of course more easily relieved. Many of the diseases which afflict brute animals, might be prevented by more care, it being certain that these are often the result of the negligence or erroneous treatment of their owners. 66 They are either exposed too much to the rigor and changes of the weather," observes Mr. Lawrence, “or

DISEASES OF HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP, AND SWINE. they are gorged with food, or denied a sufficient quantity, or supplied with such as is unwholesome. Hence we learn the chief causes of their maladies. Learn to prevent them, instead of undertaking the tedious, unsuitable, and often hopeless task of learning to cure theni." Although many diseases incident to our domestic animals might, as the above writer suggests, be prevented by care and vigilance, yet they will sometimes get sick, under the most favorable circumstances, and for some of their maladies, no certain cures have as yet been discovered. It would greatly swell the limits of this work, were we to enumerate all the maladies incident to the animals which stand at the head of this article. We must therefore confine our attention to a few of those which are of most common occurrence.

BOTTS. There are two varieties of the insects which produce the botts, one larger than the other. The larger kind are covered with down of a brownish color, with darker shades. The female deposits her eggs, generally, on those parts of the horse, where he can bite himself, especially on the anterior of the legs; but never under his throat. When she approaches the horse, she supports her body nearly upright in the air, and with one of her feet bends out a hair, on which she deposits an egg, and thus she continues to do for a short time, and then retires, probably to rest herself, when she returns to her charge. The smaller kind are covered with a darker and thicker down. Wings transparent, and without any shades. The female deposits her eggs under the throat, and no where else. As she approaches the horse, she instantly darts up under his throat, and deposits an egg with incredible expedition, and then goes off, but soon returns again and again, to the great disquiet and trouble of the horse, causing him to throw up his head with violence. Each kind varies in size; but in general, they are about three fourths of an inch in length.

The larvæ produced by the eggs of the above insects, penetrate through the villous, into the muscular coat of the stomach, forming small cavities in the same, and then hang by their hooks, irritating and wounding the animal. If at any time they lose their hold, they immediately catch again. Not any part of the stomach is exempted from them; but they are most numerous near the passages into and out of the stomach. They are of all insects the most tenacious of life, at this period; and at this time of their existence it is, that they prove so destructive to horses.

The following experiments were made at different times, and on the larvæ three fourths grown or more.

DISEASES OF HORSES.

Mercury is not so effectual in destroying the insects as is generally believed. September 16, 1806, immersed a number of small botts, with one which was full grown, in a strong solution of corrosive sublimate; the small botts died in sixty minutes; but a full grown one was taken out of the solution, six hours after its immersion, apparently unhurt.

From the preceding experiments, for which we are indebted to an able Essay on the Natural history of the Bott-Fly by Dr. Adams, published by the Medical and Agricultural Register, it is apparent that it must be extremely difficult to destroy the larvæ in the stomach of a horse, under any circumstances, by the use of any remedy, which would not be worse than the disease.

Various applications have indeed been proposed, such as rum, aloes, jalep, brine, linseed oil, pepper, tincture of tobacco, tincture of pink root; but none of them have proved effectual. But, while we are not able to suggest a specific for this most terrible of all evils, which afflict the horse, two points deserve attention—the one by way of preventing the existence of botts in the stomach of the horse, the other by way of palliating the sufferings of the animal, when they do actually exist.

The best method of preventing the bott is perhaps once in ten or fifteen days to scrape off the eggs deposited by the insect. This should be done through the season of their appearance, July, August, and September. A sharp knife may be used, taking care not to scrape the eggs where the horse will be likely to eat them while he is feeding.

When botts are found to exist in a horse, the chief object should be to remove irritation and inflammation. This should be done by blood-letting and the free use of mild oils. Blood-letting has a tendency to remove the inflammatory disposition, and should be the first resort, and should be frequently repeated; at the same time that mild oils are administered. Drenches may be used, but the chief dependence should be had upon allaying the irritation and inflammation by the means suggested.

WORMS. Besides botts, horses are sometimes troubled with other kinds of worms, such as teres tænia and ascaris.

The teres or large round worm, says Loudon, sometimes occasions mischief, when it exists in great numbers, such as a staring coat, binding of the hide, irregular appetite, and clammy mouth. The best remedy is the spigelia marylandica or Indian pink, in daily doses of half an ounce. Tania are not common in the horse, now and then they exist, and are best combated by weekly doses of oil of turpentine, three ounces at a time, mixed by means of the yolk of an egg with half a pint of ale. The ascaris or thread worms, are best removed by mercurial purgatives. The existence of worms may be known by the appearance of a yellow matter under the tail, and by the disposition the horse has to rub his fundament. Blaine recommends the following vermifuge; powdered arsenic, eight grains; pewter or tin finely scraped; Venice turpentine, half an ounce, make into a ball and give every morning. He also recommends salt to be given daily with the food, which agrees with our own experience as one of the best vermifuges known, it is a fact acknowledged by the residents along the sea-coast, that horses troubled with worms will often voluntarily drink largely of sea water, and thus cure themselves.

COLIC, flatulent, or spasmodic, called also gripes, fret, or gullion, is an important, because a frequent, disease, and because it frequently destroys either quickly by its irritation, or by its degenerating into the red