158 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



tatoes are a good food but they should be fed cooked. Clover 

 is a good food for a brood sow in winter and Dwarf Essex rat e, 

 sown early, will furnish good pasture for the pigs. If you have 

 skim milk, feed it; if not, feed the " house slops ' ; with the 

 middlings. " An acre of rape will furnish pasture for 20 hogs 

 all summer." When the pigs reach 120 pounds add to the wheat 

 middlings, skimmed milk and rape, some corn meal, to put a little 

 fat on the meat; and, when they have readied 150 pounds, turn 

 them over to the butcher. By following these rules, pork may be 

 made for three cents per pound. I make it for about two and a 

 half cents, but I buy the refuse beans from a bean picking factory, 

 and grind them. They make an excellent food. Charcoal made 

 from cobs, mixed with hard-wood ashes, w T ith a little salt and 

 some copperas, put in a box in the pen where the pigs can get at 

 it, will keep them healthy. 



Question. — What is the best food for young pigs? 



Mr. Woodward. — Skim milk ; next, wheat middlings, or both, 

 mixed. When they are old enough to eat green food, give them 

 Dwarf Essex rape; red clover is also good, but rape is the best, 

 because it will grow right along through the dry weirther. 



Mr. Smith. — A gentleman recently gave me this formula : Eor 

 pigs four weeks old, 150 pounds of skim milk, 20 pounds of wheat 

 middlings and 15 pounds of corn. 



Question. — Is there any profit in pork at present prices ? 



Mr. Witter. — It depends upon the man. No man can succeed 

 who has no liking for his business. If you have, it is very profit- 

 able. The secret of success is to push pigs quickly to an early 

 maturity. 



A EEW REMAEKS CONCERNING CALVES. 



Question. — How can you test the milking quality of the heifer 

 or calf? 



Mr. Woodward. — There are certain indications that go to show 

 the good cow, and we may find them in the calf. But, one may 

 spoil the best breed and the most promising calf, by ovei feeding 

 or with improper foods. Do not get it fat but keep it in a grow- 

 ing condition. Oats and bran are good foods, with sweet skim 

 milk, and early cut clover hay as soon as the calf is old enough 

 to eat it. 



Mr. Smith.— I have made up my mind that oats are fully as 

 good as bran, if not better for a calf. But there is great danger 



