The record-union., 1894-01-25
FARM And ORCHARD.
Farming Requires Bright Intellect
and Study.
Raising wheat-A Sensible Answer to
ssDoes 1t Pay TO Raise Wheat.''-
Why and How 1t Pays.

Not many years have transpired since
1t was believed that anybody could farm
1t well enough" The farm became the
''catch-all'' for persons who failed to
make a living at any other or all other
businesses. The bright young men OF the
farm were sent to learn professions. but
the mediocre and the numbsculls were
kept at home to till the soil. How poorly
they have done it is proven by the tact
that as rule, wi Rh exceedingly rare ex-
ceptions, farming up to date in this coun-
try has only been system of exhaustlng
the soil of its plant food, as witness the
sbandoned farms of New England, where
tilling the soil first commenced. AS this
territory filed up, farmers pushed on to
New York State, where the same system
of soil exhaustion was pursued, and
where now abandoned farms are nu-
merous. The farmer leaves trail of i'm
poverished soil behind him as surely as a
snake leaves its trail in the sand. Most
of this comes of the best talent seeking
other channels of business, leaving the
poorest to till the soil.
1t would be better for the country were
there an equitable division of talent
among the various kinds of employment
In two years time a young man can be-
come full-1edged lawyer or doctor; but
farming is so much more intricate that a
lifetime is scarcely sufficient to compre-
hend it fully. Sir J. 3. Lawes has de-
voted over half century to its study, and
now lamentS that he knows SO little COM
pared with what there IS to know. There
is no business or profession that requires
so bright an intellect and so deep study
fully TO comprehend as that OF agricult-
ure, and this fact is just beginning to be
realized. To be successful farmer at the
present day requires constant reading
and experiment. Such one must be a
studious, reflecting man. So many con-
ditions and circumstances confront him
from day to day, that often hundreds of
points should be considered before wise
step can be taken.
These PREDATORY remarks were induced
by reading an article in a late English
paper in relation to lean pigs and bacon
pork. Millions and millions of hogs are
grown in the w est, and much of the pork
in the form of bacon and otherwise finds
a market in Great Britain; yet how few
pork producers know just what quality
of meat that market demands; and if this
quality is not furnished, of course the
grower must be content with An inferior
price. q combination of English dealers
issued a circular which embraces the fol-
lowing statement: I'm consequence Of so
many feeders continuing TO make their
pigs too fat, and the great difficulty we
find In disposing Of over-tat bacon, we
are obliged to take some very definite
stems to obtain leaner pigs" Then the
circular proceeds TO state scale of prices
which has been adopted, and which is
dependent on the leannesS of the pig as
we'll as on the weight, the leaneSt but
plump commanding the highest price.
The circular then continues: "We
would impress on feeders the deslrability
of breeding only such swine as are of good
frame and growth, and refusing to feed
for bacon purposes all short, thick pigs,
which must prove unsatisfactory to them
as To us. They will undoubtedly best
serve their interests by studying the pub
lie taste, thus creating an increased de-
mand and a higher standard OF prices for
their pigs.' l commend these remarks
to the consideration Of the pork growers
of the West. adding. that the best pigs as
herein described bring in England about
two cents a pound more than the short,
fat pigs, and, of course, this ratio should
prevail here. There might not be any
difference il price in a small quantity,
but in carload and larger lots any large
slaughterers would pay more.
The breed has something to do with the
quality of pork most in demand. This
of bacon sides. He must be thick through
the shoulder and hams. low on the legs
the bones be comparatively small and
the offal of minimum quantity. The
Chester Whites fill this bill as well as
any, although the Poland-ChiDas are
about as good. Some other breeds are
medium in these respects, but the Berl1-
shires, especially as now bred and fat
tened in the West on sail corn" are far
from being what is required for best
prices. They are too short and "squab-
by" mere Jumps of fat. and yet, proba-
bly, more of these are fattened in the
West than of all others combined. And
then they are black hog, which is often
an objection. To a certain extent feed
has more to do with the quality of pork
than the breed. Specimens of almost any
breed can be made almost bundles of
fat by feeding to encourage the growth of
fat and not the growth of muscle, as is
largely done in the West when corn is
the sole grain feed.
These same pigs could be made to pro-
duce greater weights, with a much greater
proportion of lean meat, by feeding for
both muscle and fat. Breeding sows
should be fed little grain other than wheat
bran and middlingS. Spring pigs should
be at pasture in summer and until corn
ripens. Their grass feed should be sup
plemented two or three times day with
a slOp made of bran four parts by meas
ure and one part of middlings. This
will give growth of bone and muscle
both. When corn ripens sufficiently they
can be pushed with that until fat enough
to be disposed of. This course will give
q greater weight of desirable meat than
an exclusive corn diet will of pork not so
desirable. Those who do not grain their
pigs at all through the summer miss
their best opportunity to get the most
--o1a- For f1I 70 f-
six months of age a Chester White or
Poland-China pig should be made to
weigh $50 or 300 pounds, with large pro-
portion of lean meat, and the bacon sides
nicely marbleized with a ''streak of fat
and streak of lean."
/ do not know as it can be avoided, but
the system prevailing in the West of hav-
ing hogs follow cattle and CLEAN from
their droppings is most filthy and repre-
hensible. Hogs are naturally the clean
est domestic animals we have, and about
the only ones that will retire TO a corner
TO void their droppings, ii they have oD-
portunity. They will not poliute their
own food like horses, cattle and sheep.
But man has made them filthy, and he
sufferers the consequences by their
various diseases. Sweet and sufficient
feed of the right varieties, pure water to
drink, clean environment and protection
from inclemenJ weather. are wnat make
clean, desirable, profitable pork. The
English claim TO have system of meas
urements and gauges by means of which
Inc various thicknesses OF fat and lean in
live hog can be accurately determined.
How shall we farmers learn all such
necessary things unless we read and
study more than is required of lawyers
and doetors.-Dr. Galen Wilson of Clear
field County, Pa, in the American
Farmer and Farm News.
RAISING WHEAT,
In estimating the value of crop of
r- hant tho hnnafitS Of tillnl.. -. -