MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

the corn commonly raised on a good sized farm, to get into a decent condition for the barrel.

Within a few years, however, more attention has been paid to this important subject; more valuable breeds have been introduced, which have been crossed to advantage in the country. We have crosses from the Chinese, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, and English breeds. Of the latter, we have the Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Suffolk, Sussex, Lincolnshire, Hampshire and other families. In general, however, there is room for extensive improvement, in respect to our swine. Among the breeds deservedly in high repute in New England, at the present time, is the Bedford or Woburn breed. The history of its introduction is both curious and interesting, and for it we are indebted to the Hon. Oliver Fiske, of Worcester, Mass., as we are to his zeal for its extensive dissemination, in various parts of New England, and other sections of the United States.

According to this gentleman, the breed-a boar and a sow-were sent by the Duke of Bedford-after whom they are in this country called-but in England are better known, it is believed, by the name of the "Woburn breed,” as a present to Gen. Washington. They were committed to the care of an English farmer by the name of Parkinson. This man took a farm in the neighborhood of Baltimore; but, instead of sending the swine to Gen. Washington, he sold them. Being highly esteemed by Gen. Ridgely, of Maryland, who became acquainted with their excellence, he sent a pair of them to Col. Pickering, of Massachusetts, in a vessel bound to Salem. From Col. P.'s stock, Mr. John Reed, of Roxbury, obtained the breed, and of the latter, Dr. Fiske obtained parts of several litters, which he transferred to Worcester. The pure breed is, perhaps, nearly the perfection of the race—judiciously crossed with our native breed, greatly improves the latter. To the excellency of the above breed, Gov. Lincoln and several other gentlemen have borne the most ample testimony. See New England Farmer, Vol. III. p. 222.

The importance of a general introduction of such a breed of swine as the foregoing, to the farming interest of the land, can scarcely be estimated. Although the keeping of a moderate number of even the old breeds, was advantageous to the farmer, and almost essential, inasmuch as they would feed upon things which would otherwise be of no considerable service to him; yet the fattening of such swine usually proved a serious tax upon the granary, and often before the farmer's pork was in the barrel, his stock of corn was exhausted. Too much apathy in respect to the improvement of this part of the farmer's stock, it is believed, still generally prevails.

Next to the importance of a good breed, is the proper management of them. That management will vary according to their age and other circumstances. The suggestions we design to make will respect these animals, distinguished into the following classes ;-1. Sows with pig; 2. Pigs; 3. Store Pigs; and 4. Fatting Hogs.

I. With respect to sows with pig, it is obvious that they should be better fed than either of the two following classes, in order that they may be enabled to supply their young litter with the necessary supply of milk; but while care is thus taken to keep them in good condition, equal caution is necessary that they be not too fat. Thus, for such a litter in the

MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

spring, tares and cabbages, combined with the waste milk and wash of the house and dairy, may be employed with advantage; or, if the supply from the dairy be not adequate to the demand, a wash may be prepared with oat, barley, or other meal. For those which litter in autumn, lettuces have been found very wholesome and nutritive, in addition to the wash; and in the winter season, potatos, Swedish turnips, and other roots, previously prepared by boiling, should be added.

II. With regard to young pigs, they may be fed, after being weaned, in the same manner as sows; but it is eminently important that their food should be so nutritious as that they should be continually in a growing state. No food is better for them, it is well known, than milk; and nothing scarcely promotes their growth more rapidly than corn soaked in milk, or milk thickened with corn and oatmeal combined. It may be remarked, also, that young pigs seldom do well when constantly confined in the pen. More than at any other period do they need to range abroad. They require also a warm and dry shelter, especially in the latter part of autumn, and during the season of winter. From inattention to these points, the growth of pigs is scarcely a moiety of what it would otherwise be, besides, that they require a much greater amount of food.

III. Store pigs are those which have attained nearly half their growth, and for these, every farmer who has it in his power, should have a good enclosed pasture, it having been found by experiment, that in a pasture of moderate dimensions, and properly managed, the same number of hogs may be kept in better condition, and probably at only a quarter of the expense, than if they were kept in the pen, upon Indian corn, or even up

on roots.

The hog pasture, observes Mr. Dean, in his New England Farmer, 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 feeding amounted to seventeen pounds, sixteen shillings sterling. Their keeping was set at a low rate, six months feeding for one swine being

MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

5s. 5d. and the profit of the clover put to this use is astonishing. He assures the public that all these swine grew very fat. 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 till the last of October. And if in May and October the grass should not be quite sufficient for their support, some potatos 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 serves as well as any other for them to wallow in; and it will keep them clean, which is of 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.

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 dan ger 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

MANAGEMENT OF HOGS.

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 miry 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 repose, 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 pallid 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.

DISEASES OF HORSES, CATTLE, SHEEP AND SWINE.

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 practised 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 oyster shells. 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. They are either exposed too much to the rigor and changes of the weather," observes Mr. Lawrence," or 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 almost hopeless task of learning to cure them." 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 great ly 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 com

mon 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 deposites her eggs,