ELEVENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART XI 595 



who suffers most. Those who have raised their pigs cheaply frequently 

 find that they have made a profit on the operation taken as a whole, 

 even when they have been forced to fatten 4-cent hogs on 50-cent corn. 



Pasture of some kind is essential for hogs. It pays to provide fresh 

 grazing throughout the growing season. Health and thrift as well as 

 economy of grain depend upon it. The pig raised on a diet including 

 an abundance of toothsome succulent feed matures a large frame at 

 an early age, with large vigorous digestive organs and the ability to 

 put on fat rapidly and cheaply at the last. If the green feed can be con- 

 tinued along with corn until the hog is ready for market the gains will 

 be more economical than can be made in a dry lot on grain alone. 



Many a cornbelt renter has been kept from raising hogs because he 

 had no permanent pasture to spare for them. Such an obstacle is not 

 so serious as it may seem. Bluegrass pasture is not nearly so good as 

 some other crops for hogs. Clover and alfalfa are probably worth about 

 twice as much per acre. A small area temporarily enclosed with low 

 woven-wire fence stretched tight may be turned into an admirable hog 

 pasture by sowing suitable crops early in the spring. Oats, rape and 

 clover, oats, rape and Canada field peas, or rape alone, produce about 

 as much pork per acre in the cornbelt as a well-set clover sod. The 

 land must be thoroughly prepared and the seed sown rather thickly. 

 When the crop gets well started an abundance of feed is assured if it is 

 not overstocked. 



Clover, alfalfa and annual forage crops have been found to yield 

 from 500 to 800 pounds of pork per acre apart from that produced from 

 the corn fed in addition. Best results after weaning, where economy 

 rather than rapidity of growth of the pigs is desired, have been secured 

 with a half ration of grain on pasture until the shotes were ready for 

 the final rush of fattening. It is possible by this plan to make a large 

 amount of healthy growth on the cheap green feed, although the pigs can- 

 not thrive on it without some grain fed all the time. The man with 

 limited pasture may advantageously provide for his hogs in this way. 



THE HARDY CATALPA IN IOWA. 



C. A. Scott, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station, Ames. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The hardy catalpa is one of the best fence post trees that can be grown 

 in Iowa. Nearly all the catalpa plantations in the state have been 

 studied by the forestry section of the experiment station. A large 

 majority of them are successful, and seem to be a paying proposition 

 for their owners. 



RANGE OF SUCCESSFUL GROWTH. 



The hardy catalpa is a southern tree, its natural locality being through- 

 out southern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, eastern Missouri, and southward. 

 Iowa is considerably north of its natural range. In the southern half of 

 the state there is very little danger of winter killing if given a favorable 



