The Savannah morning news., 1902-02-17
FARM AND GARDEN.

/ Hog RaIHtnE IN the SOuth-tnsectt-
cides and Fungicides-The Best
Breeds of CattIe-CuItiVating
Young Orchards-Brief Notes
About Farming Interests.
There is nc. reason in the world why
the South-the extreme South-should
not grow not only the home supply Of
| pork, but three times that quantity
really, if only every individual farmer
/ did but his reasonable duty in the
matter. 1t almost seems prepos terous
that any farmer, acting the part Of
real farmer, should attempt to carry
on the operations OF a farmer and yet
not attempt to raise the animal which.
! perhaps, above all others, should be
/ styled the animal of the farm, the
| food-furnishing animal of the farm. A
man may tire OF mutton, of kid, OF
beef, even of chicken, but it is rarely
the case that one tires of all the va
rious forms of meat food that the hog
is converted into, to wit: Spare rib,
back bone, salt pork, breakfast bacon
ham, souse, jowl, brains, pigs feet
| counting also the various ways all
these may be prepared for the table.
1t is par excellence a peat dish of in
finite variety.
rs hog meat demoralzing to the spir-
itual nature of man?" is a question
answered in the affirmative by Eu-
ropean wise man. We consider this
matter without regard to the phlo-
sophical niceties involved in the wise
mans discussion of it, The only moral
we purpose to inject into the question
was that of farmer acting the roll
of farmer and yet manifestly obliv-
ious to the morale involved when a
farmer fails to grow his own home
supply of meat. How much we have
need to learn from the farmers OF We
old countrie!
We have few real farmers in the
extreme South. We viii have some
day. But climatically, there is no rea-
son why we should not grow hogs. 1t
is a fact that under conditions alike
of management of service they are less
subject to cholera" in Georgia than
they are in the North and Northwest
1t must be remembered that the term
cholera stands for several diseases
nearly everywhere in the United
States.
The prime cause of each and all is
the injudicious feeding of dry corn.
wherever there is th6Mlongest period of
the absence of green food there. on
general principles. is where there is
the greatest fatality from "cho1era;'
which disease oftener than not is bowel
trouble caused by Indigestion con
ditlon easily promoted by persistent
feeding of corn, a lack of pure water
and too little succulent food
Here in the South, where the fullest
a nf fslif 10
portunity hog can get something
green direct from the field every month
in the year. with perhaps an exception
now and then
But let us allow two months, even
three, in the worst winters, Where
there was no grazing or roofing; how
easy it is to supply this essential green
and succulent food in another way for
that period of time Think how easy
II IS to have turnips and artichokes
Tor bridging over our mild and short
| winter. We viii not name sweet DO
tatoes in this connection, though we
know of some who have used this cas-
| lly made crop quite economically for
helping out the green diet And then
how available is September or Octo-
ber-sown rye, barley. oats, bur clover.
not to mention certain perennial grass
| es that may constitute the permanent
| meadow or pasture that are yet to be
strong features of Southern farming
at no distant day.
| We leave to the last the naming of
the two principal plants for pork pro-
| duction in the South. These are Ber-
| muda grass and sorghum.
| From first to last we have no doubt
an acre, a rich acre. of course. of
sorghum, will produce more pork than
like acre of anything else that can
be used for the purpose. Such a crop
| in it's perfection, to wit. after seed
! have matured is the most exhaustive
crop that land can grow, but at the
same time it yields the greatest
amount of pork-producing food that
| given area can possibly yield. This
is not new to many pork raisers north
and northwest of us. but it is some
thang that many Southern farmers
! have yet to learn.
Our persistent hardy, royal Ber-
| muda, along with sorghum will be the
strong foundation upon which future
| successful pork production will rest.
| The other things named will stand in
! due order as auXiliaries to bring the
work to a satisfactory conclusion. But
little dry corn (nearly always a part
| of it rotten. and at best provoking dis
| easel will play very small part in
! 1t. A little of it may be used towards
! the perfecting of an already well de-
veloped carcass of 900 pounds. but it
| will be very little compared to what
has been used under most erroneous
| impression of what constitutes ra
tional hog breeding S. A. c.