172 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Munson, who advises against the free use of corn to breed- 

 ing and growing stock, said : 



While we are studying the corn it would be worth our while to pre- 

 pare the seed bed better if we want to increase the busfhels. If you 

 have the right kind of a seed bed you can raise without a doubt, from 

 three to five more bushels to the acre than if you have the same kind 

 of seed in a seed bed badly prepared. I have found that, as a rule, I 

 can not feed much corn to my hogs. I do not believe that corn is the 

 feed for a breeding hog. During the winter I feed my hogs only about 

 two ears of corn. When I put them in the fattening pen I feed them 

 plenty of corn, but it will not pay for any breeder to feed his hogs too 

 much corn. It produces fat — not bone. My brood sows get nothing 

 but a very light slop and plenty of exercise. They have had good pas- 

 ture and they are not worth giving corn if they will not be good on that. 



This again brought j\Ir. Swallow to his feet with the remark : 



You think it about the right thing to- feed them plenty of corn while 

 they are on the pasture? You have to give them some corn. I have 

 always had to. Iowa corn is a pretty good article to have around. 



To this Mr. Munson replied : 



I do not want you to understand that I do not feed any corn at ali. 

 I feed 2 per cent corn and 2 per cent oats. Now I have seventy-five 

 brood sows that are not getting any corn at all and they are not going 

 to get any. I can raise pigs without corn. My pigs that are running 

 on white clover are not getting corn, but good slop. Now, I have two 

 sows; one lacks seven days of being a year old. They are not fat when 

 they have their pigs and their pigs do not get fat when they are sucking 

 them. 



Air. ]\IcTavish steered the discussion into a talk on alfalfa. He 

 said : 



It is just along this line that I would like to have shown what 

 should be the balance for our corn. I believe we will all admit that 

 the pasture is the thing to balance our corn. It is the thing to give 

 health, vigor and strength to the animals. But some men will talk 

 about a hog pasture and think a pasture of four or five acres sufficient 

 for a large number of hogs. Some men have timothy pastures and 

 think their hogs as good as the man's who has a good clover pasture. 

 But we can have something better. We can have alfalfa. We can raise 

 it in this country. Mine is doing fine so far, but, of course, it must 

 come through the winter before I can tell what will become of it. It 

 we can raise it we can give it to our hogs, and we know they need it. 

 But you have to use brains in this hog business. You have to use it in 

 order to have the best success, and it seems that, as Mr. Swallow has 

 said, it would be well to put our hogs on a pasture that is suited to 

 them, and then feed them all the corn they want. I have done so at 



