31 



rows 24 inches apart, and in hills about 20 inches apart in the row.^. Six pigs, 

 averaging a little over 100 pounds each, were turned into the plot on October 3 

 and allowed to harvest the crop, which lasted them three weeks. They were fed a 

 light meal ration while eating the tubers. The six pigs gained 197 pounds in 

 three weeks, and consumed only 189 pounds of meal. This is a most extraordinary 

 result, but it must be remembered that the experiment lasted a very short time. 

 The experiment certainly indicates possibilities for this crop. Pigs eat artichokes 

 very greedily. 



Pasture vs. Soiling. — Some experiments at the Ontario Agricultural 

 College indicate that more rapid gains with a smaller consumption of feed 

 per pound of gain can be secured by soiling pigs than by pasturing. This 

 is especially true of young pigs, and the writer's experience leads him to believe 

 that pigs should weigh at least 100 pounds before being turned on pasture, to get 

 best results. There i^= considerable extra labor in cutting green crops and carry- 

 ing them to the pigs under the soiling system, which brings the two systems fairly 

 close together from the stand-point of economy. 



Amount of Grain on Pasture.— Growing or fattening pigs cannot 

 be produced satisfactorily on pasture alone, but a grain ration is necessary. The 

 Montana Experiment Station found that hogs fed a full grain ration on pasture 

 gained, on an average, 1.39 pounds per hog per day, and required 412 pounds of 

 grain for 100 pounds of gain. Hogs fed a half ration of grain gained .98 pounds 

 per hog per day, and required 291 pounds of grain for 100 pounds of gain. Thus, 

 it will be seen that the hogs fed a full ration on pasture made more rapid gains, 

 but consumed much nv.re grain for every 100 pounds of gain. 



The Ontario Agricultural College fed two lots of pigs five weeks on clover 

 and ten weeks on rape. One lot received a full meal ration and the other a two- 

 thirds meal ration. As in the Montana experiments, the hogs fed a full meal 

 ration made more rapid gains than the others, but they consumed 421 pounds of 

 meal for 100 pounds of gain, as compared with 353 pounds meal for 100 pounds in 

 the lot fed the two- thirds ration. 



It seems to be clearly demonstrated that it is a mistake to feed hogs all the 

 meal they will eat when upon pasture, unless it becomes necessary to do so near 

 the end of the feeding period in order to fit them for market. (See also Missouri 

 recommendations.) 



Methods of Feeding Alfalfa.— Bulletin 123 of the Nebraska Experi- 

 ment Station reports a series of winter tests with varying proportions of corn and 

 alfalfa. The tests covered three years, and they appear to have been carefully 

 conducted. 



Summary of Resulis. — (1) The gains made by the rations containing one- 

 half alfalfa were much slower and more expensive than those obtained from any of 

 the other rations. The tests during two winters showed that a fattening ration 

 should contain less than half alfalfa, but a ration of half alfalfa and half corn was 

 found quite satisfactory for wintering brood sows. 



(2) When half the ration consisted of alfalfa, alfalfa meal gave faster gains 

 with less grain than chopped alfalfa, but the difference was not enough to pay for 

 the extra cost of the alfalfa meal. 



(3) The average of four tests with 160 pigs showed that rations containing 

 one-fourth alfalfa produced slower gains than a ration of corn alone, or of 9 parts 

 of corn and 1 part of alfalfa. It would seem that a ration containing one-fourth 



