THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



301 



of the cooking bouse, extends to the open front of the 

 whole erection, and forms a yard for store pigs, from the 

 age of being weaned, till drawn into the feeding sties, 

 according to the forward condition. Shelter sheds are 

 placed along the side- wall of the store -yard, and low in 

 the roof, in order to preserve warmth, that is so essential 

 to the welfare of swine. The young pigs are placed in 

 this yard immediately on being weaned, are fed for a 

 time with wheys and milks, mixed with meals, and 

 gradually entered into the food of vetches and clovers 

 during summer, and raw potatoes and turnips during 

 the win'.er. Ample litter of straws and chaffs is supplied 

 to this yard, and the best is the strawy litter from the 

 stables, which being warm in the dung of the horse, 

 supplies warmth to the pigs ; and being mixed with their 

 saponaceous excrement, a manure of great value is 

 formed. The refuse of the green vetches and clovers 

 adds to the mixture in the varied composition. In this 

 yard is shown the great value of swine, as manufacturers 

 of manure. The green food of summer, in clovers and 

 vetches, induces a large discharge of urine, which im- 

 pregnates and renders soluble the woody fibre of the 

 refused stems, and the straws that are used as litter ; 

 the cold saponaceous excrement is mixed with the 

 warm fjeces of the horse ; while the noses of the animals 

 being constantly employed in searching for food among 

 the litter, turn over and mix the whole mass of sub- 

 stances in a very beneficial manner for the purpose of a 

 vegetable compost. The yard must be frequently 

 covered with litter, and thinly and evenly spread : 

 the different substances must be mixed in the layers, 

 in order to produce a similarity of composition 

 and condition in the mass when it is carried to the 

 manure heap in the fields, and placed in the layers of 

 alternate qualities. This attention is necessary to every 

 preparation of manure in the farm-yards — a level sur- 

 face, frequent coverings with litter, thinly and evenly 

 spread, and a thorough impregnation of every part with 

 the urinary moisture of the animals. If any part is 

 seen to be too dry, it must be laid level, and covered 

 with moist substances ; if too wet, the dry litter of the 

 stable must be strewed over the place, and each part of 

 . every yard must be thoroughly treated with moisture in 

 the proper quantity. A regular attention will prevent 

 any deviations from this essential rule. 



The season of curing bacon extends from October 

 to the end of March, and during that time there may 

 be preserved two fattenings of hogs in succession. The 

 pigs in the store-yard, that are of the proper age and 

 most forward in condition, are placed in the feeding- 

 sties, in two together, by the first of October, and will 

 be ready in the beginning of January : a second lot is 

 drawn into the sties from the store-jard, and will be 

 ready in March, which concludes the season of curing. 

 The management after that time is wholly in the breed- 

 ing-sties and store -yards. Brood sows are best re- 

 stricted to two litters of pigs in a year, and an 

 average of eight in a brood will afTord a full supply of 

 animals to be manufactured. More litters may be got 

 in a year, but the vigour of the pigs becomes puny, and 

 the sow is much exhausted by the severe employment 

 of suckling. A less frequent propagation produces a 

 more vigorous progeny ; and not only in swine, but in 

 every animal whatever ; and if the system were adopted 

 pursued, the result might wholly reproduce the animal 

 organization. 



It has been very satisfactorily ascertained <;hat swine 

 are benefited by cooked food in a very large degree; 

 wffile other animals, as horses and cattle, show a pro- 

 motion that does not compensate the labour of prepara- 

 tion. The physical constitution of the pig, and its 

 delicate intestines, may account for this differential 

 benefit. Bacon pi^s are fed twice a-day, by break of 



morning, and in the early evening before sunset, with 

 cooked food, in steamed potatoes mixed with meals of 

 any kind, moderately thickened, and given in a milk- 

 warm condition. This preparation is done in the food- 

 house before-mentioned, which contains the steaming 

 apparatus and the meals in readiness. It is two storeys 

 high, and the second floor is dry for the meals, which 

 are kept there for use. The daily allowance to the pigs 

 is ample to the full satisfaction, but none to remain in 

 the troughs to become cold, and produce a nauseating 

 effect. The quantity the animals can daily consume is 

 soon ascertained, and regulated accordingly. During 

 the last month of fattening, one daily meal is given of 

 uncrushed grains, as oats and barley, and especially of 

 beans, which contain the tannin principle, and impart 

 a muscular firmness to the flesh, and the whiteness that 

 so much recommends the quality of the bacon. This 

 firmness is a chief point by which the flesh is judged. 



Brood sows are constantly fed with liquid substances, 

 as milks and wheys mixed with meals, which promote 

 the secretion of milk for the hard task of suckling. 

 Dry food for a time, after the pigs are withdrawn, much 

 encourages the salacity. Weaned pigs are treated for a 

 time with warm gruels of meals and milk — thin and 

 warm at first, then gradually thickened and used luke- 

 warm into a cold condition, when the animal becomes 

 a gradual consumer of clovers and vetches, and raw 

 food. 



It is very advantageous that a few small pigs from 

 weaning have the liberty of wandering over the feeding- 

 yards at pleasure, and to sleep and nestle in some chosen 

 corner. A hole in the lower part of the gates lets the 

 animals in and out the yards, in which they eat the 

 crumbles of the turnips, and search for pickles of grain 

 among the straws of litter. The surface of the yards is 

 turned and tossed about by search with the noses, and a 

 beneficial mixture is effected of the diff'erent substances. 

 Pigs, in a limited number, are brought forward in this 

 way in a very fresh condition for the feeding sties, and 

 when assisted with light grains laid on dry ground, the 

 full fattening is done as well as in fattening cribs. The 

 meat may not be so large in quantity, but the quality is 

 superior both in texture and firmness. 



The mode of rearing and feeding swine now detailed 

 may be done on any farm according to the extent, from 

 one brood-sow to four, which will afford fifteen to sixty 

 pigs yearly. The intervening numbers will fill the dif- 

 ferent extents of occupation. Every method must be 

 systematic — large or small, the performance must be 

 regular and orderly, with a constant adhesion to the 

 rules that are adopted. The buildings must be provided, 

 and the food allotted ; the care must be bestowed, and 

 the attention unceasing. From want of systematic regu- 

 lations, there constantly happens desultory and languid 

 performances, which fail to produce any valuable results, 

 and sink into weak and unprofitable establishments. 

 Swine yield more flesh from the food consumed tiian any 

 other fattened beast : the quality is very nutritious : it 

 takes the salt more readily than any other flesh, and, 

 from the smaller quantity required on that account, the 

 cured article is not so salt in the use as other flesh from 

 animals. It enters very largely into the consumption of 

 naval stores, and for domestic use the flesh is very ex- 

 tensively entertained both in a fresh and cured condi- 

 tion. No other animal food enters so largely into 

 general consumption ; yet in some few cases only has 

 the manufactory of the flesh been reduced into system, 

 as with sheep and cattle — food is grudged, and attention 

 withheld, and the animals wander about the farmery 

 despised and unvalued. No farm is established without 

 an arrangement for swine, than which no animal will 

 yield so much flesh for the food consumed, or is fattened 

 with so little cost. - J .D. 



