20 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



food is an objection. The prevalent custom of deferring the 

 fattening until cold weather is not good economy. Much 

 food might be saved, and a hog's growth much increased, if 

 this fattening process was well under way before cold weath- 

 er comes on. Give such animals a warm, dry shelter; for 

 warmth is equivalent to food, and the comfort and quietude 

 thus secured tend to the secretion of fat. 



HOG-PEXS. 



It is worse than folly to expect an animal of any breed to 

 do well if kept in small and filthy pens. Farmers who can- 

 not afford to give their pigs a dry place, but oblige them 

 to live in a hole reeking with filth and mire, eating out of a 

 trough perhaps half full of the same material, ought never 

 to own, or have the care of, a hog of any kind, let alone 

 any of the improved breeds. 



It is painful to see such stock, as is too often the case, de- 

 prived of suitable shelter, their pens open to rain, snow, and 

 mud, the little straw they chance to have as wet as rain 

 and mud can make it, squealing their discontent "in tones 

 that drown the wintry blasts." Shame on such neglect and 

 abuse ! Treat and let them live the very aldermen of the 

 farmer's stock ; and then, if they do not flourish and grow fat 

 under such easy circumstances, they are not worthy of their 

 name and breeding. However desirable it may be in point 

 of convenience to have the pens within easy range of the 

 kitchen, yet it is a barbarous custom, and one which cannot 

 be too severely censured. ]\Iany an otherwise attractive 

 farmer's home is made unhealthy, besides being unsightly, in 

 consequence of the offensive smell and noise that penetrate 

 the house because the owner must needs give the hog house 

 and yard a commanding position in the foreground. If the 

 pig-sty be placed where it properly belongs, it certainly will 

 not form a part of, or be closely connected with, the dwelling 

 where the farmer and his family live. 



MAKING MANURE. 



If properly managed, the hog can be made of practical 

 use in the manufacture of a large amount of valuable ma- 

 nure. The excrements of the hog, owing to the concen- 

 trated food upon which it is fed and fattened, are among the 



