570 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



given a little lukewarm water, or better still, a little warm milk; 36 

 hours after she may be given a very light feed of oats or mill feed, but 

 be sure to increase the feed gradually to avoid trouble. We should never 

 feed sour milk or any sour feed until the pigs are eight or nine weeks 

 old and even then given gradually. Care must be taken to give the sows 

 and pigs plenty of exercise; if not the pigs are liable to get the thumps 

 and die. Do not overfeed the sows while the pigs are small, as the 

 result, you are aware, is to dry up the sow, and then you will begin to 

 wonder what is making the little pigs squeal, when the chances are the 

 little fellows are not getting enough to eat. The pigs may be weaned at 

 10 weeks old or even sooner if a second crop is desired. It is exceedingly 

 difficult to raise fall pigs unless you can have September or early October 

 pigs for the reason that they do not get strong enough to withstand the 

 cold weather. Get the sows and pigs on grass as soon as possible. Clover 

 pasture, in my experience, has proven best. By all means keep the pij-' 

 growing. 



Pigs are very fond of pumpkins and I believe they are good for them. 

 They seem to take the place of oats. Those fed with corn in the fall, 

 when you are getting them on to full feed, produce excellent results. 

 Pigs and hogs require salt once a week, and when you are crowding 

 them very hard they will bear salting twice a week. Perhaps the best 

 way to give them the salt is by mixing the salt with wood ashes, but if 

 you have not wood ashes they can be salted by scattering the salt in a 

 discarded pig trough and then by putting a few oats over the top of it. 

 They will not get more salt than is good for them. The salt aids diges- 

 tion and at the same time causes them to drink more slop. Now I think 

 the best time to feed fattening hogs their regular feed of oats is before 

 you feed them their corn in the morning. This seems to put a saliva 

 in the hog's mouth and aids very materially in digesting the feed of corn 

 that is to follow a little later. 



We should be regular in the time of feeding and also never feed 

 more than they will eat up clean. I believe a hog to be the most profitable 

 should be ready for market at 8 months old and he should weigh from 

 225 to 250 pounds at that age. 



THE RED HOG. 

 George D. Black, in Breeders' Gazette. 



The rise and progress of the Duroc-Jersey is a rather striking phe- 

 nomenon in the realm of animal industry. Not very many years ago it 

 was so uncommon at the fairs as to be an object of curiosity. The claim 

 made for it then was that it was remarkably prolific and hardy, but the 

 types varied and were not very prepossessing at best. The specimens 

 that I saw ten years ago wei'e coarse in form and hair, and presented 

 a poor picture compared with the Poland-China at that time. As one 

 looked at them there seemed little likelihood that here was a hog that in 

 ten years would be widely spread over the United States, would bring 



