Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1885-02-13
farmfrs' Column.
Give fools their gold 4 knaves their power
Let fortunes bubbles rise and fail;
Who sovs a field or trains a flower,
Or plants a tree. Is more than all.
Cheap Live Stock for Farmers Of Small
Means.

Cheap Live Stock for Farmers Of Small
Means.
In the great majority Of cases, says
writer in Western paper, hogs are
the most profitable animals for farmers
of small means to raise. They can get
returns from them quicker than from
horsee, cattle, and sheep, and this is
most important consideration. Pigs
dropped early in spring can be made
to weigh two hundred pounds each
by midwinter, when pork is in the
greatest demand. Horses cannot be
sold to persons who desire them for
work till they are about four years of
age. Few farmers of small means can
wait that length of time for pay for
their labor and farm products. Calves
Of the best beef breeds that have ex-
csllent shelter, pastures of tame grass
and clover, and plenty of grain, may
be put in good condition for the butch
err when they are thirty months old.
Farmers of small means, however and
especially those who live in a section
of the country that is newly settled,
have not the facilities for fitting cattle
for the market at so early an age.
They generally have poor shelter for
their stock OF none at all. They have
nothing butwild grass to furnish pas
ture or hay. They cannot easily obtain
animals Of improved breeds to keep.
They may keep sheep to better advan-
tage, as they can obtain money from
the sales Of their feeces when they are
one year old. They can also sell early
lambs in the fall. 1t requires consid-
cradle capital, however, to get good
start with sheep. The purchase Of
fifty ewes and one buck calls for more
money than poor man who is paying
for his place and supporting family
can raise. He can, however, obtain
half dozen sows with pigs, and from
them raise sufficient pork to meet his
financial wants. Pigs multiply SO
quickly that the expense of getting a
large number is slight. The breed
can be improved in shert time and
at small cost.
1t costs less to provide suitable shell
ter for hogs than for any other stock
kept on the farm. During the season
of quite cold weather they require to
be kept warm and dry, but shelters
may be built for them of very cheap
materials. 1t is not necessary to en-
ploy mechanics to put up buildings 10
protect hogs. The walls may be built
of logs, stone, or very cheap lumber.
The roof may be covered with straw
laid on poles. If the drainage is good
no floor is needed. A larger number
of farm products may be utilized by
feeding them to hogs than to other an
finals. They will gain during summer
if they have plenty of clover or tender
grass. They will eat and derive uene-
fit from all kinds of grain, vegetables,
fruit, and milk of which no use can
be made. They will eat nuts and wild
plants and devour vermin. Less labor
is required to harvestand prepare food
for hogs than for any other animals.
They will dig artichokes as they re-
quire them for food. They will she'll
corn from the cob and eat the heads
of all the small grains. They are less
particular than other animals about
the way their food is prepared. The
hog is not dainty animal.
No very expensive machinery is re-
quired on farm that is chiefly devo-
ted to the raising of hogs. There is
no occasion for spending money for
threshing. In sections where corn
does well it will be likely to be the
leading crop raised for fsttening hogs.
Only pillow and cultivator are neces-
sary for raising this crop. 1t can be
harvested by the use of hand tools and
fed without being shelled. The same
tools are all that are required for rails
ing artichokss or potatoes. The spec
ial machinery required on farm de-
voted to production of wheat will cost
more than all the tools needed on a
farm of the same size that is devoted
the raising of hogs and the animals
necessary to stock it.
There is little trouble about mar.
keting hogs in any part of the West.
There are buyers in almost every town
that has railway station or steam
boat landing. A farmer can change
hogs into money quicker than he can
wool. Hogs can be slaughtered, pack
ed, and held for rise in the market
much easier than beef or mutton.
Beef and mutton bring the best price
when they are in the fresh state, but
pork brings more after 1t is cured.
Nearly every farmer who desires and
has the means to do 80 can sell his
hog products at home directly to con-
sumers, some time during the year.
The practice of selling nearly all the
hogs in the neighborhood alive as
soon as they are fattened. and of TAX
ing them to some large city to be
slaughtered and packed, has become
so common that there is rarely pork
enough left in a hog raising district
to supply the inhabitants. Every
spring and summer large quantities,
not only of lard, hams, and bacon,
but ..pickled pork, are sent from this
city to the districts from which the
hogs that produce them came. Many
farmers who have the means to wait
six months will, in many cases, be
large gamers by slaughtering their
hogs, curing the meat, and trying out
the lard and keeping them to supply
the local demand, which will be brisk
in the course of few months after
the time hogs are ordinarily Sold
american Farmer.