117 



FEEDING EXPERIMENTS WITH PEANUTS. 



PASTURING PEANUTS. 



A lot of 6 Poland China pigs immediately after weaning 

 were enclosed with a portable fence in a field of Spanish pea- 

 nuts. The aim was to ascertain the amount of pork that 

 could be produced by a given area of this crop. 



The pigs were not allowed to range over' the entire field 

 but were kept on a small area until all the peanuts were eaten, 

 the inclosure being moved as often as necessary. Shelled 

 corn was fed daily, so as to make growth more rapid. 



From the first day, the nuts were eaten Avith great relish, 

 and as long as the vines remained green and tender a large 

 proportion of the leaves were also eaten. The pigs were 

 placed on the peanuts September 8, when the crop of nuts 

 was not yet fully matured. The peanuts had been planted 

 May 5. 



Before beginning to weigh the pigs, a week was allowed 

 for them to become thoroughly accustomed to their food. 

 Afterwards weekly weighings were made. 



At the beginning of the experiment the pigs weighed 

 184.3 pounds; at the eud of the experiment six weeks later, 

 they weighed 880.7 lbs., having more than doubled their weight 

 in six weeks. 



The gain was 196.4 pounds. To produce this growth 

 there were eaten 373 pounds of shelled corn, and all of the 

 peanuts and some of the leaflets on an area of 7,673 square 

 feet, which is a little more than one-sixth of an acre. 



The following is the financial statement of the above 

 result, valuing pork at 3 cents per pound gross and corn at 

 40 cents per bushel : 



DR. OR. 



By 196.4 lbs. pork at 3c $5.89 



To 373 lbs. corn at 40c per bu 82.66 



To balance ; value of 7,673 sq. ft. in peanuts 3.23 



$7.53 17.53 

 A profit of 13.23 on 7,673 square feet is at the rate of 



