1919] ANIMAL PRODUCTION. 273 



A lot of 52-lb. fall pigs fed shelled corn and a mixture of corn gluten feed and 

 tankage (1:1) free choice required 150 days to attain a weight of 250 lbs., 

 and consumed 3.5 lbs. of corn and 0.8 lb. of the mixed supplement per pound of 

 gain. A similar lot fed corn and luimixed tankage reached the same weight in 

 13G days and used 3.6 lbs. of corn and 0.36 lb. of tankage for a pound of gain. 

 When corn, tankage, and gluten feed were self-fed in separate feeders, it took 

 157 days, and the consumption per pound of gain was 3.46 lbs. of corn, 0.41 lb. 

 gluten feed, and 0.3 lb. tankage. 



In a study of buttermilk powder r. tankage, self-fed with corn, the require- 

 ments per pound of gain were in the former case 2.5 lbs. of corn and 0.9 lb. of 

 buttermilk powder, and in the latter 3.1 lbs. of corn and 0.8 lb. tankage. The 

 buttermilk fed lot made 30 per cent better gains. When corn was given in 

 one feeder and a mixture of tankage and buttermilk powder (9: 1) in another, 

 the gains were incivased 10 per cent over the straight corn and tankage fed lot. 



In the course of investigations on forage crops it was found that young alfalfa 

 and blue grass plants have a protein content as high as 40 per cent of the dry 

 weight, but that as the season advances the percentage is reduced below 10. 

 On the other hand, Dwarf Esses rape maintains a fairly constant protein per- 

 centage throughout the growing period. 



" It has been determined that the lactic and acetic acids found in silage are 

 easily digested and utilized when fed to swine. This means that the acids of 

 rape silage would do no harm to growing pigs. It has also been found that rhe 

 sulphuric and phosphoric acids which are formed when a grain or other 

 high protein ration is digested are easily neutralized and are harmless to 

 growing pigs. It is not necessaiy? therefore, to neutralize the acidity of a 

 ration if it is otherwise satisfactory." It ^Aas found that an ounce per day 

 of concentrated sulphuric acid properly diluted could be incorporated in a 

 pig's ration without injurious effects. The ingestion of a " fairly large amount 

 of alkali" was also harmless. 



" We have some interesting preliminary developments indicating that the 

 more rugged type of swine, as exemplified in the Tamworth or Yorkshire con- 

 formation, are of greater practical titility than the smaller, heavier types. 

 Nevertheless, our tests indicate quite strongly to date that the deeply covered, 

 large type of lard hog is highly efficient. The outstanding lesson to date is that 

 the small, short, low-down, refined, heavily jowled, bulging 'hammed' pigs that 

 develop early and stay fat continuously will have a high production cost 

 after the 200-lb. mark is reached, and, furthermore, may experience consider- 

 able difhculty in reaching the heavier weights, because this type is more prone 

 to pulmonary difficulties." 



Alfalfa meal for fattening pigs, J. M. Evvard {Breeder's Oaz., 75 {1019), 

 No. 16, p. 918). — At the Iowa Experiment Station two groups of weanling pigs 

 averaging .52 lbs. in weight at the start were fattened on grain and tankage 

 fed separately in self-feeders. The first lot, whose grain ration was shelled corn 

 only, reached an average weight of 225 lbs. per head in 115 days. The second 

 lot, which received a mixture of ground corn and ground alfalfa, did not attain 

 this weight until 138 days, a 20 per cent longer period. The second lot consumed 

 less tankage than the first, but the data on feed cost of gain indicate that about 

 1.8 lbs. of alfalfa and 3.2 lbs. of corn were required to replace a pound of tank- 

 age. Without counting the additional 23 days labor, the alfalfa-fed lot was thus 

 not profitable. 



Swine management in Idaho, O. E. McConneli. {Idaho Sta. Bui. 116 {1919), 

 pp. 3-35, figs. 1^). — A brief treatise on swine management under Idaho con- 

 ditions, including swine types, housing, feeding, and management, and preven- 

 tion of disease. 



