33 



it is worthy of note that in the Ontario trials the roots were pulped and mixed 

 with an equal weight of meal, the hogs being fed all they would eat of the 

 mixture. 



In the writer's experience, hogs fed roots are thriftier looking and possess 

 better appetites than hogs fed meal alone, and it is no doubt due to their influence 

 upon the general health of the animal that roots are able to make such a favorable 

 showing. The degree to which the general thrift of the animals is injured by 

 exclusive meal feeding will be reflected in the relative feeding value shown by 

 roots and grain, and this fact renders extreme variations quite possible. 



Generally speaking, it may be said that sugar beets possess the highest feeding 

 value among ordinary roots, and are most readily eaten by swine. Mangels, Swede 

 turnips, and carrots may be counted practically equal in value, but hogs eat 

 mangels with greater relish than they eat turnips. 



Potatoes. — At the Wisconsin Experiment Station, 441 pounds of potatoes, 

 cooked and fed to swine, proved equal to 100 pounds of cornmeal. In " Feeds and 

 Feeding," Henry summarizes experiments, where 400 pounds of potatoes proved 

 equal to J. 00 pounds of mixed meal. In connection with these investigations^ 

 Professor Henry says : " In general, we may say that a bushel of corn is worth 

 four and one-half bushels of potatoes for fattening purposes when cooked and fed 

 with corn meal. Potatoes may have a higher value than the rating here given, in 

 furnishing variety in ration to growing animals." 



Potatoes must be cooked for swine, and this item of expense cancels some of 

 the advantage which they possess over roots as a feed for swine. 



Pumpkins and Squashes. — Pumpkins belong to the same class of feeds 

 as roots, giving bulk and succulence to the ration and thus promoting thrift. 

 J. H. Orisdale, Central Experimental Farm, has a high opinion of pumpkins for 

 swine. He says : " "We cook them and mix meal with them, and I don't think 

 there is anything that will surpass them as a cheap fattening ration." He also 

 states that the pigs like the seeds best, and that no injury comes from feeding the 

 seeds. Excellent results were obtained at the Xew Hampshire Experiment Sta- 

 tion from feeding raw pumpkins, with meal and skim-milk. 



The Oregon Experiment Station found that a 200-pound hog consuming 26 

 pounds of cooked pumpkin and a small amount of shorts gained 1.2 pounds per 

 day. Other investigators have found that 273 pounds of grain and 376 pounds 

 of raw pumpkin produced 100 pounds of pork. Some experiments show that 

 cooking pumpkins does not add to their value. 



The squash may he counted as equal to the pumpkin in feeding value. 



Apples. — Apples do not appear to possess a high feeding value, but may 

 often be used to good advantage to give variety and succulence to a ration. They 

 are perhaps most suitable for mature breeding stock, but a hog should never be 

 expected to subsist upon apples as the main part of its ration. 



Skim-Milk. -The results of nineteen trials with eighty-eight pigs at the 

 Wisconsin Experiment Station are well summarized (by Henry in "Feeds and 

 Feeding." It is a well-known fact that when a small proportion of skim-milk is 

 fed with meal, the milk shows a higher meal equivalent than when a large pro- 

 portion is fed: that is to say, it requires a smaller amount of skim-milk to be 

 equivalent to a given amount of meal when a small proportion of milk to meal is 

 used. Henry summarizes the Wisconsin results as follows: v 



