THIRD ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART V. 215 



fenced hog tight throughout, so that every field can be used, if desired, 

 as a hog pasture. 



Corn is well called king of the field, but the king must have his 

 queen and to modest blooming glorious clover may well be accorded this 

 proud distinction; and when they are harmoniously united in the bond"? 

 of the balanced ration what marvelous results are produced! 



There was a time when the $10 pig was largely in evidence. The past 

 few years have seen the passing of the $10 pig and the $1,000 hog. Both 

 served a good purpose in advertising improved stock. Twenty dollars for 

 a pig and $100 for a hog are safe prices which represent value received 

 on both sides of the deal. 



There are those who speak lightly of pedigree, but the well informed 

 buyer insists on having this much-abused article with the stock he buys. 

 There is only one animal in my mind who can be said to carry the pedi- 

 gree on his back and that is the thoroughbred razor back. 



Comparing cost of beef and pork production we find the advantage 

 of the hog quite in favor. 



In experiments at Ames covering three years of time, with six breeds 

 of swine and twenty-two different lots of hogs, it required on an average 

 4.23 pounds of dry matter to make one pound of gain. The highest 

 amount required being 5.06 pounds and the lowest 3.19 pounds. With 

 young cattle the amount of feed required to make one pound of increase 

 ranged from 7.27 pounds to 20.54 pounds, the average being 9.70 pounds. 



There is one item that must not be overlooked. It is the most im- 

 portant from a financial standpoint in the whole business. That item is 

 printer's ink. Transportation and printer's ink are the greatest moving 

 agents in this progressive age. In this respect Iowa is perhaps favored 

 beyond any other state. In the way of farm papers Iowa stands in the 

 foremost rank. Now a newspaper is a baited hook. The subject-matter 

 is the bait, while the advertising matter is the hook. The value of a 

 paper as an advertiser depends largely on the character of the bait. If 

 it is wholesome and attractive we may expect the hook to do effective 

 work. From this point of view Iowa papers are of the best. There is one 

 feature I never like to see in a farm paper and that is the whisky adver- 

 tisement. 



Imagine, if you please, Wallaces' Farmer with Uncle Henry's Sunday 

 school lesson on one page and on the opposite page a flaming advertise- 

 ment of four full quarts of Rocky Mountain Rye for $3.20 put up expressly 

 for family use (that would tickle the devil himself). That is not the Iowa 

 idea, and Iowa's influence is so strong that it is not safe for even an 

 Omaha farm paper to carry a whisky advertisement. 



Now, to sum it all up, with the best facilities for producing good 

 stock, a good market near at hand and the best of advertising mediums, 

 surely the outlook for the breeding of pure bred swine in Iowa is bright. 



