364 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



better, a tight feeding floor. The amount of corn fed should vary with 

 the weather; more when the weather is very cold. Nature demands that 

 the sow be fed liberally, but not on food that will fatten her. 



It is a dangerous practice to let horses and colts run with the brood 

 sows. The cattle will do no harm if they are dehorned. She should be 

 provided with good warm sleeping quarters where she is not crowded. 

 While she needs her daily exercise she also needs her rest at night. 



Still another matter should be looked after, and that is that she 

 should not be compelled to crowd through narrow gates, jump over bars 

 or crawl through broken fences if you are depending on her to raise you 

 a good litter of pigs next spring. 



GROWING PEAS FOR FATTENING SWINE. 



The Farmer, St. Paul. 

 In areas where peas will grow well, and where the growers have not 

 yet introduced the machinery for harvesting them to the best advantage, 

 why should not peas be grown on which to fatten swine in the fields 

 where swine are to glean? Of course where fodder is wanted, the straw 

 of the peas well saved would be worth more than the labor of harvesting 

 the crop with the aid of a pea harvester, but even in the absence of such 

 a machine, why should there not be much profit in growing peas for the 

 object named? A good crop should run from 20 to 30 bushels per acre. 

 Peas are not only one of the best fattening foods known, but they make 

 a grand quality of pork. Two bushels of seed of the small varieties are 

 wanted to sow an acre. There would be no other cost in growing this 

 food after the seed was sown unless it should be in the harrowing the 

 ground before the seed had come up. The pigs would do the harvesting. 

 They could be turned in on a small part of the crop as soon as the pods 

 were full. Then, when the crop was quite ripe, they could have access to 

 all of it. By sowing at two or three intervals, the pigs would have ample 

 supplies for two or three months. In less than that time they would be 

 in fine shape for market. Other pigs to be fattened later could be allowed 

 to glean after the pigs first turned in had gathered the larger share of the 

 crop. The pigs thus gleaning would not need any other supplement than 

 water. This they ought to have access to at all times, lest they should 

 take injury f'-om eating so many peas at the first that when they drank, 

 the water would swell the peas and burst the stomach through dis- 

 tension. But this danger is only imminent at first. Have any 

 tried the plan? It ought to work admirably in northern Minnesota and 

 North Dakota. The crop will yield best when sown early, but it may also 

 be sown later than other small grain crops and still do well. The pea 

 crop would leave the ground richer in nitrogen than it found it. And the 

 burial of the straw would add humus to the soil. Farmers, why would this 

 not be a good scheme? Have any of you tried it? Then let us hear from 



