FAKMEES' INSTITUTES. 99 



they will be even and sure. But with all these suggestions in regard to the 

 selection of breeding stock carried out, a failure is inevitable unless proper 

 attention is given to the general comfort and the feeding of the mothers at all 

 times, but more especially during ths period of gestation. A large share of 

 farmers are too careless and indifferent to the wants of their domestic animals 

 at this critical period. Want of proper food, of comfortable shelter and places 

 of rest, worried by dogs and more cruel men and boys, it is no wonder that dis- 

 ease, abortions, and weakened vitality of tlie race ensue. And I venture the 

 assertion, without fear of contradiction, that, generally speaking, the pig is the 

 most neglected and abused animal we have under domestication, and none yield 

 a better j^ercentage of profit when properly handled and cared for. My experi- 

 ence and observation have taught me that sows kept for Ijreeding should neither 

 be starved nor made very fleshy ; but should be fed with a view to the most per- 

 fect health and vigor. Confining in a close pen is decidedly injurious. They 

 should have sujBBcient range for exercise, with such a variety of food as their 

 instincts call for. As the time of f arro\ving approaches more generous feeding 

 is required, as there is an increased demand upon the "vitality of the sow which 

 should be met by a full diet. But this, instead of being a stinted allowance of 

 dry corn, thrown out in a snow-bank, on the ice, or in the mud, as the case may 

 be, should be composed mostly of green, succulent, and light diet, carefully 

 avoiding all heating and stimulating food. House and daily slops, bran, shorts, 

 or coarse provender, -with good pasture range in summer ; in winter some kinds 

 of both vegetable and animal food is advisable. I would discard diy corn alto- 

 gether. About the time of farrowing the sow should have a well sheltered place 

 by herself, free from all annoyances, and little or no feed the next day after, as 

 a pail of swill often proves fatal to the sow, especially in hot weather. In the 

 rearing of pigs the sow should have good pasture range, and the trough should 

 be made in such a way that the pigs can eat with the sow, which they will soon 

 learn to do, and thus relieve the mother, and be prepared to go by themselves 

 at eight or ten weeks of age, without materially checking their growth, after 

 which time tliey should have about the same kind of feed as given the sow, until 

 fairly weaned. After the weaning, in the absence of clover pasture, I have 

 never found any feed better adapted to their growth and development than corn 

 with a liberal mixture of oats, ground together. In the absence of oats, plenty 

 of bran or coarse middlings mixed with corn meal works well ; and in the absence 

 of corn and oats they Anil do finely on mill-feed alone. 



The feeding of sAvine at the time of fattening is a point of vital interest to all 

 engaged in j)ork-making, and in no part of farm management do the majority 

 of farmers act more regardless of economy and their own best interests, and do 

 their work ui so slovenly a manner as in this j^articular. The complaint may be 

 heard from many farmers the country over, "My hogs are not fattening as I 

 would like to see them, and as they ought to for the feed they have. I give them 

 all the corn they can eat." Still the results are unsatisfactory. Visit their 

 pens, and you will see evidences of an indiscriminate waste of feed and valuable 

 time at a season when the porkers should be making rapid strides toward their 

 last resting-place, the pork-barrel. Yes, waste of feed, — corn (in the ear, of 

 course.) enough on the floor to feed them from one to three days, and more (if 

 dry and hard) than ought to be given them during the whole process of fatten- 

 ing. If your visit is made at or near the hour of feeding, the pigs are too dull to 

 show themselves ; not because they have eaten too much, but because their a2:)pe- 

 tites are cloyed, and they have no relish for the dry, hard, uninviting morsels 



