286 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



the judicious blending of the two together, the best results are 

 obtained. 



It is a problem whether fatting pork at the present prices 

 pays. As a general rule, it is best to get an early spring pig, 

 and fatten, and kill it at from eight to ten months old. With 

 proper care and feeding, a pig at that age will make from 250 

 to 300 pounds of pork, while if it was wintered over and kept 

 until eighteen months old, probably it would not make more 

 than 350 or 400 pounds. The extra 100 pounds would not 

 pay for keeping ten months. For the dairy farmer who keeps 

 hogs to eat his milk, it is better to get fall pigs and get them 

 started while he has milk, and before very cold weather ; they 

 can then be cheaply kept through the winter on small potatoes, 

 roots or apples, and be ready in the spring to take his milk, 

 while spring pigs would not be able to take all of it from May 

 until July, during the greatest flow. 



At present prices, corn is, undoubtedly, the cheapest feed for 

 hogs. In looking over the reports of experiments of the amount 

 of pork a bushel of corn would make, in the Report of the 

 Department of Agriculture, and other sources at my command, 

 they vary in their results from seven to sixteen pounds per 

 bushel, some stating that seven pounds of meal make one pound 

 of pork. Allowing that a bushel of meal makes ten pounds of 

 pork, which we think is more than it will average ; we will 

 allow for a pig ten months old, what milk, slops and other things 

 of not much value, used to make 100 pounds of pork. This, 

 if the pig weighs 300 pounds, leaves 200 pounds to be provided 

 for, which would take 20 bushels of corn. This at 80 cents, the 

 average price during the season, would be $16 ; the cost of 

 the pig, $5, in, would make $21 ; 300 pounds of pork at 7 

 cents would be $21. Allowing the manure to pay for tending, 

 would make about an even thing of it. 



Nathan Caswell, Chairman. 



HINGHAM. 



From the Report of the Committee. 

 Nearly, if not quite all of the different breeds kept in this 

 vicinity were present, either as full-blood animals or crosses 

 between the most desirable kinds. The show was pronounced 



