FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



PKOFITABLE PORK PRODUCTION. 



BY N. A. CLAPP, SOUTH LYON. 



Of all the animals that roam the fields on the farm there is none that is 

 so often cursed by both saint and sinner as the hog. He is spoken of in 

 derisive terms and described by a long list of adjectives that express 

 intense internal feelings. But in spite of all the bitter denunciations and 

 ill usage and neglect he has been compelled to endure, he occupies a very 

 prominent position in commercial circles and supplies a necessity that 

 can not be easily dispensed with and for which a good substitute has not 

 been found. 



The meat of the hog is sought after for several reasons. It is both pal- 

 atable and nutritious. Who will decry the crisp spare rib, the rich tender- 

 loin or sweetbread? The sugar-cured hams and shoulders and the broad 

 side bacon are almost a positive necessity among the meat supplies, as 

 they are easily kept and always available when needed. It bears the 

 changes consequent upon commercial, operations and transportation bet- 

 ter than most other animal products. It has been the meat used by the 

 laborers that have felled the forests, dug our canals, built our railroads, 

 run the machinery in our factories, built our cities and paved their streets, 

 and, in fact, has been a potent factor in the meat supply with a very large 

 percentage of those, who, by their toil, keep in motion the wheels of our 

 modern civilization. It is one of the most economical or cheapest of the 

 meat foods used and can be the most economically produced. 



We believe we are safe in asserting that in these United States, the hog 

 and his products have lifted more mortgages, paid more debts, bought 

 more necessities and comforts for the family, and made more homes happy 

 than the product of any other animal kept on American farms. Broad 

 as this assertion may be, the vast sums could be greatly enhanced if better 

 blood were used in breeding, better judgment used in making selections 

 for breeding, and better care bestowed and more skill used in feeding and 

 handling all the way from the breeding pens to the slaughter houses. 



OLD METHODS. 



In the earlier days of our farm operations it was the universal custom 

 to have the pigs come in the spring of the year, keep them along through 

 the summer on slops, skim-milk, grass and little, if any, grain, until fall, 

 turn them into the woods if there was a supply of nuts for them to eat, 

 keep them there until winter, when they were taken into the barn yard 

 and fed just grain enough to keep them along until spring, when as soon 

 as the grass started they were turned out to grass to live through the sum- 

 mer, go to the stubble fields in the fall and eat nuts until winter, and 

 then taken to the yards to fatten for market. 



In those days the hog-killing day was one of the events of the year. 

 Neighbors changed works, made bees, and the exciting experiences that 

 were met with were amusing and sometimes dangerous. The man or boy 

 who got through the day without turning a somersault on the frozen 

 ground, or come in sudden contact with some other one. was considered 



