210 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



to plunge in; the other end is sloping with creases in the cement forming little 

 steps to enable sheep and hogs to walk out. Adjacent to the vat and separated 

 from it by an eight-inch cement partition, is a dry chamber five and one-half 

 feet long, two and one-half feet deep, and eighteen inches wide, for an attendant 

 to stand in and hold or handle sheep, as the vat is used for both sheep and hog 

 dipping. One end of this chamber is raised nearly a foot to enable the attendant 

 to assist sheep up the incline. The cement floor around the vat is so graded that 

 the drippings are returned to it. This illustration shows, also, the drain pipe 

 leading to an underdrain with the valve in the dry chamber below the floor level 

 of this part. This vat was easily constructed, inexpensive, durable, and is entirely 

 satisfactory. 



PART II. 



FORAGE CROPS FOR SWINE. 



Fig. 12 represents the arrangement of the lots for swine. In 1903, lot 1 produced 

 rape, lot 2 succotash, lot 3 peas and oats, and lot 4 sugar beets; in 1904, lot 1 

 produced succotash, lot 2 peas and oats, lot 3 sugar beets and mangolds and lot 4 

 rape. No. 5 is a permanent June grass pasture and No. 6 furnishes yardage for 

 sows and young pigs housed in the brooder hou^e C. No. 7 grew cow peas, soy 

 beans and carrots in 1903 and rape in 1904. The lots numbered 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 

 are used almost exclusively for yardage for exercise. 



The permanent fences surrounding this area consist of forty-eight and fifty-eight 

 inch woven wire; the inner divisions vary from thirty to thirty-six inches as 

 heretofore described. The gates are ten and twelve feet in width, wide enough 

 to permit the passage of a team and the necessary implements of tillage, as well 

 as the movement of hog cots. The gates A A and B B are hung to overlap so as 

 to turn hogs either one of two ways v/ithout inconvenience. This arrangement 

 of lots permits of the production of a variety of forage crops and the carrying 

 out of a very intensive system. Such minute subdivision and the growth of all 

 the varieties we are using, may not be necessary under the average farmer's 

 condition. We desire it to be emphatically understood that this report of forage 

 experiments is merely preliminary. It is the purpose to continue these lines of 

 work until unquestionable results have been secured. 



Succotash for Swine 1003 and 1904. — In 1903 lot No. 2, Fig. 12, was sown to a 

 succotash mixture on May 8th; the ground was spring plowed. This mixture 

 consisted of corn 1 peck, peas 1 peck, oats 1 peck, and barley 6 quarts. The mix- 

 ture was sown by an ordinary grain drill at the rate of 2^^ bushels per acre. 

 This crop was not pastured off by hogs as intended, owing to inability to finish 

 the necessary fencing before the succotash got too large to pasture. It was cut 

 and weighed immediately after the time of cutting, between June 24th and July 

 6th, yielding 7,629 pounds of green fodder from the one-third acre. At this rate 

 one acre would have yielded 22,887 pounds, or 11.44 tons. The growth was dense 

 and tall; all the grains showed well except corn, which was from poor seed. 



In 1904, lot 1 Fig. 12, was sown to a succotash mixture, differing slightly from 

 the previous year; this crop was sown May 7th and was preceded by rape in 1903. 

 In this case the mixture consisted of corn, oats, peas, rape and millet sowed 

 in the following manner. After the ground had been prepared for seeding, a mix- 

 ture of millet and rape, equal parts, was sown broadcast on the land by hand using 

 a pint of each to the one-third acre. The corn, oats and peas in equal parts by 

 measure, were then mixed and sowed by a grain drill at the usual depth, the same 

 operation covering the rape and millet lightly. All the plants of this mixture made 

 a good even start except the millet which grew slowly, but some soon out- 

 distanced the others. Illustration 2 shows the relative size and proportions in 

 which these five plants grew in the mixture. The plants were secured by cutting 

 out two or three small areas, representative of the lot, and then separating out 

 the plants •f the various sorts which were photographed for this illustration. 

 These samples were taken July 12th. at which time the entire crop averaged 

 three feet in height, but many of the pea vines were much longer than this. 



