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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



one large-bred pig fat would make several smaller- 

 bred ones " up." A great help to profitable pig 

 keeping is warmth, and confinement, and regularity 

 in feeding ; as by also keeping the skin of the 

 animal clean by washing and brushing occasionally. 

 If two animals of the same litter be put into two 

 different sties, and have the same quantity of food 

 each, the one that is kept warm and with the skin 

 clean will gain more weight than the other. I found 

 that out, one winter, when Jack Frost was astir, 

 before I put up a new pig-shed. My man was 

 feeding a lot of pigs alike, only some were in 

 common sties and others in a warm shed. The 

 difference was very strikmg : those kept warm fed 

 nearly half as fast as the others. This induced me 

 to build a long covered shed sixty feet long and 

 eighteen feet wide, that would hold seventy porkers 

 or fifty bacon pigs, where, when the thermometer 

 has been below freezing point outside, it has inside 

 been very warm and comfortable. The pigs have 

 their food warm in winter, and are never starved by 

 the cold : they are bedded with clean straw every 

 other day, and the shed is kept rather dark. The 

 manure made is of first quality, and fit to use for 

 turnips. 



Perhaps some of the readers of this paper would 

 like to know a little about the dietary of my pigs. 

 I have not included sugar in my hst of feeding in- 

 gredients. I have never gone higher than new milk, 

 which they always take without sweetening. In 

 the first place, I must say I exhibit at a few of the 

 leading agricultural meetings, and I am generally, 

 if not at the top of the ladder, not many spokes 

 off. I keep my breeding stock different to my show 

 stock, as I do not like Ijreeding animals to be over- 

 fat ; but show animals are obliged to be fat, or the 

 judges will pass them over. The over-feeding of 

 prize animals is a very great evil, but one that 

 cannot be very well remedied. A show of lean 

 breeding animals would be a very lean show indeed 

 in many respects : an exhibitor must always sacri- 

 fice some of his best animals to please the public 

 fancy. I think there is less risk in fat breeding 

 pigs than any other animal. I have had several 

 very fat sows pig, and have never lost any. I gave 

 them nothing but a very little bran and water a 

 week before pigging, and but little after for a week, 

 while I put a little castor oil in their food directly 

 after pigging. I have the greatest trouble in re- 

 ducing the male animals, as they will nearly hunger 

 to death before they will part with their fat. I 

 generally turn them into a large yard, and give 

 them plenty of water and a wurzel or two every 

 day, or turn out to grass in summer. To my re- 

 gular breeding pigs and stores I am giving boiled 

 rape-cake and barley-meal one feed a-day, and one 

 feed of raw potatoes or wurzel ; and if in summer, I 

 turn them to grass, or soil them with clover in the 

 yards. I never have any of the skin of my white 

 pigs crack from eating clover. I soil a good many 

 every year. A week or two before the sow pigs I 

 contrive to put her into a loose box, with a railing 

 round to keep her from crushing the pigs. I can 



always tell when she is going to pig by trying if 

 she has milk in the paps : if a sow gives milk 

 freely she will pig any time. I then contrive to be, 

 or have some one near at hand, to take the pigs 

 away as she pigs them, as the sows are sometimes 

 uneasy and will crush them. After she has pigged.- 

 I feed her with warm water and bran, and then give 

 her the pigs and leave them ; because the less they 

 are disturbed the better. I always feed the sow 

 sparingly at first, as I have sometimes found, when 

 a sow has been fed too liberally at first, the flow of 

 milk is greater than the pigs can take ; consequently 

 the ure becomes hard, and the sow is very uneasy, 

 and will scarcely let the pigs suck her. If such is 

 the case, the best way is to rub the ure well with 

 the hand three or four times a-day. Small-bred 

 sows are commonly very quiet and tractable. 

 Generally, when the pigs are three weeks or a 

 month old they will scour, if proper care has not 

 been paid to the sow's feeding. I never could get 

 a man that could get me a litter through without 

 scouring. I have tried different plans, but the one 

 I have found most successful is always to give the 

 sow a tablespoonful of the following mixture in her 

 food : Mix together 2 lbs. of fenugrek, 2 lbs. of 

 aniseed, ^ lb. of gentian, 2 oz. of carbonate of soda, 

 and 2 lbs. of powdered chalk. The sow gets very 

 fond of this, and the little pigs, too, like it. Give 

 the pigs also plenty of cinder ashes to root amongst. 

 I prefer oats, wheat, and a little barley ground to- 

 gether, for sows giving milk. I have never tried 

 the sugar diet, but I have found new milk fresh 

 from the cow work wonders in a short time. 

 "Warmth, cleanliness, 'and regularity in feeding, 

 a little good food and often, are the main secrets in 

 rearing young pigs. I never like to see food left in 

 a pig's trough : just give what they can eat up, and 

 no more. When pigs are put up to feed, they 

 should be kept warm and quiet : five porkers or 

 three bacon pigs are plenty together. The pen they 

 are kept in need not be very large ; but the pigs 

 should be wrung, and a little fresh bedding spread 

 about every second day. Pigs like to be kept 

 warm, but plenty of fresh air must be allowed to 

 circulate through the pens, or else disease will soon 

 show itself. According to writers on the chemistry 

 of pig feeding, it takes S^lbs. of starch to make 

 1 lb. of fat ; Sj lbs. of barley to make 1 lb. of live 

 weight, and 5 lbs. of barley to make 1 lb. of pork. 

 If pork can be sold at 6d. the lb. and barley bought 

 at id. the lb., there is plenty of profit in pig 

 feeding, if the sort be a good one ; and there is 

 a certain stage in the feeding of a pig when very 

 little weight will be gained for the food consumed. 

 The last five or six years I have suffered very little 

 from the disease incidental to swine flesh. By not 

 transgressing Nature's laws, diseases have been 

 very scarce in my herd of swine. The York Cum- 

 berlands seem to be very hardy, and not so sus- 

 ceptible of disease as the larger breeds. I once 

 bought a large-bred boar that got all his stock 

 subject to inflammation of the lungs. 



