123 



Corn vs. cowpea pastura(/e and corn. 



When corn was fed alone it took nearly twice as much 

 corn to make a pound of growth as when the pigs had access 

 to both corn and cowpeas. The pigs on pasture had a better 

 appetite, ate more corn, made nearly three times as much 

 growth as the pigs on an exclusive corn diet, and made that 

 gain at less cost per pound. 



Assuming that the whole field was similar to the area on 

 which the peas were weighed, yielding at the rate of 13.2 

 bushels per acre, the area of 7,280 square feet, on which the 

 pigs were pastured during six weeks, yielded 132 pounds of 

 shelled cowpeas. This is equal to 1.1 pounds of cowpeas, 

 together with 3.07 pounds of corn, for every pound of growth 

 made by the pigs. Thus we have 4.17 lbs. as the total amount 

 of mixed grain required to produce one pound of growth, 

 against 5.86 pounds of corn, when corn was fed alone. The 

 better effects of the mixed ration may be due to one or all 

 of the following causes : 



(1.) To the undetermined amount of leaflets eaten ; 



(2.) To the more nitrogenous character (or better quality) 

 of the mixed ration; 



(3.) To the better appetites of the pigs on a mixed diet, 

 resulting in the consumption of a larger quantity of corn and 

 in more rapid fattening than occurred with the lot on an 

 exclusive corn diet. It is a well established principle that 

 rapid fattening of pigs is effected with less food per pound of 

 growth than is slow fattening. 



