The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-08-22
From the Ohio Farmer.
Visit to Ravenna

& Ole day last week We made visit
10 HaveHna, Portage county, Ohio.
RaEsnna is a busy, quiet and wealthy
Nfllage, full of good people, and of
course an e1eellent place to 1--we in
Thel purhose not being to stay in the
town we pressed into service our old-
friend S. d. Harris-not the Colonel,
but D. of the DEMOCRATIC PRESS,
another full breasted, genial editor
and went up TO see the
FARAT OF FRANZ FORD, n (
Situated about three quarters of mile
north of the village.
Going TO Mr.. Ford's farm is some.
thing like going to County Far, for
he not only has collection of every
thing, but. the best of their kinds.
Friend Harris, we believe was aston
ished to find that he had lived so near
so good stock and fruit farm, and had
heretofore. limited knowledge of its
extent and variety of productions. By
the way. the National Convention at
| Baltimore July 9th, heightened his ses-
innate of agricultural industries, and
has put him TO looking after their in
terests of late( Ye % .' g - 80 a',.
Mr.. Ford has a vineyard of num-
Der of acres in fruit. mostly of Con-.
COIO dAAA 4NC6f w q AOtIC-
| ed some indication of rot but nothing
serious. The vines will yield about
half crop this year. .l{H. s1-ii saa
OF blackberries and raspberries he
has all choice varieties, among the for
mer, the Eittatinny, Lawton and Mis-
souri, Mammoth are the most abun-
dant. 'Wehad an opportunity of see
| ing the sEthornless," of which we spoke
last season and gave an illustration.
This variety must of necessity be-
come popular, for it has four impor-
tant advantages :: First, excellence of
flavor; second, prolificness; third, the
canes are entirely thornless, being
as smooth as a willow bush, and
| fourth, hardness 4Tl 3tttls s9issaa alA
We ate sparingly. of these berries
Mr.. Harris Li6erdzzy-and both pro-
nouncedi them superior Gin flavor to
any blackberrles upon Mr.. Ford's
farm. The yield exceeds anything
we taye ever before seen; the BUSH
es were literally . loaded and, too,
where growing compact and under
neglect. Mr.. Ford informed US that
the winter has had no effect upon the
r66ts,i none have been lost from the
thousands he has grown.au saeits9isi
| II Apple; and pear trees upon this farm
which are numerous and select, are
| loaded with fruit-in fact SO far as our
| observation extened and from what
could be learned from others, Portage
county will have an immense harvest
of these fruits the present season.
Peachesssare not gplenty, and Fof late
but little attention; has been given in
that section to their cultivation. .saol
rive have not space at this time to
! GO Into detailed description of Mr.
FordSs method of cultivating vines,
vegetables and nursery trees for both
| fruit and shade, but So far as grape
growing is concerned he does not be-
heHeiin entire clean culture; expert
ence has taught him, as it has some of
the leading viDeyardists on the lake
islands, that "a light growth of grass,
sufficient to cover the surface between
| the lows and shade the groundduEing
the fruiting season,si is a benefit We
were talking with DIR. Townsend, i of
North Bass Island, at one time upon
| this subject, and he stated that:a veg
etableD groWttlf-eit weeds or grass
l--took up the moisture from the earth
during the early:part of the season and
had O. tendeneY to prevent mildew,
While clean culture would seem most
agreeable, to advocate Natures laws
in this case,;it appears, sternly oppose
the theories of man. iasissn Htfa Tls1a.,l
MIR. Ford believes an Berkshire
swine, and has some, of the best spec
linens of that breedIWe have met with.
They live, grew and fatten upon what
they, gather from the pasture. For
the fall and winter feed of these and
/ his sAlderney stock, he grows sweet
corn. This lis a practice which we
can heartily commend From our
OWN experience we know that the
fodder of sweet corn is, worth nearly
double that of common gourd seed
corn for stock of any kind; cattle will
eat even. the roots with relish, and
swine will fatten readily upon the
tender stalks and matured grain. n
The Berkshire is very quiet breed.
We learn from, fsHarris on, the Pig
(now beit. understood that we mean
Joseph Harris, for we did not see
S. D.. onsa, pig) that seventy-fye per
cent of the food is ordinarily eonsum-
ed to support the vital functions of
| the, hog, aad, that coarse restless an
imal will gain in flesh and fat in pro-
portion to the food consumed, only
half as fast as q quiet refined animal.
| ;.ssTo assumeF that a rough, coarse,
savage. ill-bred, mongrel hog will re-
quire only one-sixth more food to run
his machinery, then a,quiet, refined,
well-bred Berkshire, Essex or Suffolk
pig, will not, be considered extraya-
giant and vet it undoubtedly follows
that, for the food consumed, the quiet
pig viii gain in flesh and fat, twice as
fast as the other, If in addition to
| this he will eat, twenty-five per cent
more food he viii gain four times afs
aThe two great great aims of every e5verg.idie pdig
i breeder SHOULD be to lessen the de-
mands on, the stomach for offal ,or
least valuable parts, and for, unnecss-
sary activity on the one hand, and on
the other to increase the power, of the
j stomach and digestive and dissimila.
tive organs as much as possible"
slg Here issa lesson fto, such farmers as
are keeping stove pipe breeds of hogs;
the swine sraisers who are making
! money out of their business, are those
who look particularly to the item ot
proportionate yield Of flesh for feed
given, for. in, this lies the matter OF
profit and loss. !, The improved Berk-
Shire is a medium sized breed, and
the white upon it confined to four
: white feet, a strip inrthe face and a
few white hairs, behind each shoulder
Mr.. r Ford will have on exhibition al
| The State and Northern Ohio Fairs
some of his thorough breds, and
among, them his royal boar which,
not, in flesh, weighs about fEe hun
dred pounds. ,.rgsS.s.I1,[..
IEWill. hardly be necessary,to speak
of MI. T ord s poultry stock, for be
has, taken away such q large number
| of premiums from public exhibitions.
! that his fowls are very generally
known He has forty varieties, and
Eoyerdone thousand fowls including
pigeons geeses ducks, etc. jmem44au
IbT HheRday was hot and feiend Harris
having no special interest in uncook-
ed chickens, we repaired to the house.
and after hearty dinner .left) the