486 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



The process of subduing a new acre to supplement a worn one 

 culminated a generation or two ago, the result of that way of doing 

 brought into cultivation many acres that should have remained in 

 forest. In the hilly portions of our State are to be found much land 

 that can never be made highly fertile, the soil being light, if filled with 

 humus it becomes lighter still and the dashing rains carry it away. 

 Such land may be handled better by keeping it most of the time in 

 grass either as mowing or })asture land tlius enabling the keeping 

 of more animals and making the acres more advantageously situated, 

 more productive. We have spoken of the horse first because of the 

 nobility of his nature and the commanding position he occupies in 

 the economy of our farm operations. 



When we come to consider the matter from a dollar-and-cents 

 point of view the Bovine race takes first place in both number and 

 value. Wherever it is possible to cultivate the soil, and indeed in 

 places where cultivation is well nigh impossible, the cow and her 

 progeny may be made to assist man in his battle for comfortable 

 subsistance. As healthful and acceptable food producers there are 

 no rivals. They can rough it on the mountain side or luxuriate in 

 the valley, adapting themselves to the surroundings and to the fare 

 l)rovided by the locality. If milk is wanted, the developed cow is 

 able to produce it in profusion. With equal facility some of the 

 family with man's manipulation are made to turn out butter fat 

 profusely. This with the solids accompanying it makes cheese pos- 

 sible; milk, cream, butter, cheese, veal, beef and all related mixtures 

 and possibilities. What a bill of fare; and all from one source. The 

 possibilities of the ox as a laboring beast is of no inconsiderable 

 importance in some sections, this, too, is worthy of credit to this 

 class of farm animals. 



In the economy of animal food production, swine comes next to 

 cattle, the facility with which they increase and the short time re- 

 quired to come to maturity makes its comparatively easy to stock up 

 with them and get ready for an anticipated market. Some math- 

 ematical expert has figured out that a sow having a litter of six at a 

 time in ten generations will produce 6,500,000. Nearly every farmer 

 and many householders who are not farmers keep two or more pigs 

 to utilize the waste of the table, the trimmings of the vegetables, all 

 of which are turned to good account by the pig which in turn makes 

 no inconsiderable addition to the family larder. Ham, bacon and 

 lard, the various smoked products, to say nothing of sausage, scrapple, 

 sparerib and other dainties prepared at butchering-time are handy 

 to have in reach at any season of the year. 



The most profitable hog is the one that will most quickly turn 

 raw material into more valuable pork. Living and growing on suit- 

 able pasture, utilizing otherwise waste products, and requiring no 

 great amount of extra food to round him out at the close of his career, 

 the hog is an economical ])roposition to every householder who is situ- 

 ated so as to care for him properly. In that section of our country 

 spoken of as the corn belt, the possibilities of the hog are immense, 

 and even in Pennsylvania very good returns may be secured by good 

 management even if so large herds are not kept. As in other branches 

 of the livestock industry, the sire is important, he may not be literally, 

 "half the herd" but in most cases much of the profit depends upon 

 him. 



