The tribune. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1874-1876, 1875-03-03
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
Swine Breeding.

said it must be admitted, as a rule, that
the true Office of the pig was to use and
economize food which would otherwise
be wasted or sold at profit, but still
farmers could sometimes better afford
to feed corn or wheat to well-bred pigs
than to sell 1T at the market price. He
did not know any more profitable branch
of farming than raising pigs and selling
them at four months for from 81 to So a
head He was certain that pigs could
be raised that would dress more than
fifty pounds at four months old, and by
studying the wants of the market and
paying more attention to quality, we
should be able to hold our own against
the West. The aim should be to pro-
duce choice meat and rich manure. Mr..
Harris said he had endeavored to find
out how much pork there was in a pound
of corn, and he ad found that two
pounds of corn would produce little
more than one pound of increase. Lib
eral feeding while the pig was growing
would not only be more economical but
they would get more rather than less
meat. One hundred pounds of corn,
over and above the amount required to
sustain the vital functions, was capable
of producing sixty one pounds of dressed
pork. Science had produced pig
nearly perfect in form, with small pro
portion of bone and offal, and what was
now wanted was a pig with strong diges-
tive apparatus. The pig must have q
good appetite in order to make pork, and
should be kept warm, dry and happy in
his pen, with no disposition to run about
and stick his nose into other peoples
business. The restless native pig re-
quired twenty-five pounds of corn q week
to keep him alive, while the quiet and
nleditative Essex pig only needed thir-
teen pounds; and he believeda pig could
be bred that would do even better than
that. In feeding pigs, the first object
SHOULD be to reduce the cost of running
the machine. If pigs were kept in a
damp, wet, or dirty pen, more food was
required to keep up the heat of the body
Regular feeding was important, because
irregularity in this respect induced rest
lessness and indigestion. If two pounds
of corn, over and above the amount re-
quired to sustain the vital functions, was
capable of producing pound of dressed
pork, farmers should understand that
every extra two pounds of corn required
to keep up the heat in cold, damp pens,
was an actual loss, not of two pounds of
corn, but of one pound of dressed pork.
On the subject of pig-manure, Mr.. Har-
ris said he estimated that he got II;
cents worth of manure week from
pig whose food cost him 37l cents. He
presented tables showing the value Of
the manure obtained from feeding vari-
GUS kinds of grain and roots. Pig ma
nure was very liable to be wasted, there
was 80 much urine connected with it,
and great care should be taken to absorb
the liquid, which was very powerful
manure.
Observation-Disclosures and Drilled.
DIR. e. NJ. Pendleton, Professor of
Agriculture in the Georgia State College
of Agriculture, has made some expert
ments In sowing wheat broadcast, and in
drills, the results being largely in favor
of the latter system. In the first place
less than half the quantity of seed is
required per acre, if sown in drills, than
broadcast, this being no small item saved
where large area of land is cultivated.
The yield reported is nearly fifty per
cent. in favor of drilling, besides, for
every bushel of wheat obtained from
broadcast sowing, one hundred and
thirty-seven pounds of straw were pro-
duced, and from the drilled only ninety
nine pounds. From this showing it
would appear that n man in raising
thirty bushels of wheat per acre in drills,
gets half ton less straw than by the
broadcast system; consequently drilled
wheat is the least exhaustive of fertility
in proportion to the amount of grain
produced.
In the experiments referred to, it was
further shown that culture of the grow
ing crop produced decidedly beneficial
results. After the crop was well started
In spring, q subsoil plow was run between
each two rows, breaking up the earth,
but throwing none against the plants.
If stirring the soil about corn in sum-
mer is beneficial, we can see no good
reason why it should not be for the
young wheat plant. Whether the in
crease in yield and quality of grain will
be sufficient to pay the extra cost OF cul-
ture remains to be determined by a
series of experiments extending through
several years. One or two failures or
successes are not to be taken as conclu-
sive in demonstrating the value or
worthlessness OF such systems of cul-
ture.
Sawdust is bad for floors of the hen
merry. Fowls are likely to pick it up and
fill their crops with it, and it is bad for
them. A clean earth floor is far better.
Even plank floor is better.
No one has yet discovered that paris
green, applied to potato vines to kill the
Colorado potato beetle, poisons the
tuber. On the contrary, careful expert
ments made to determine the fact prove
that it does not.
If you want to increase the wood
growth the coming season prune any
time before the sap starts, only you are
not advised to choose day when the
ia Il. =.