CURRENT PUBLICATIONS IN RURAL ART. 539 
_ Pigs should always have access to fresh water. No matter how sloppy the food is, 
or how much dish-water is furnished, they should always be supplied with pure water. 
We are satisfied that pigs often suffer for want of it. 
Salt, sulphur, charcoal, ashes, bone-dust, or superphosphate should occasionally be 
placed where the pigs can eat what they wish of them. 
Pigs will eat beans, if thoroughly boiled, though they are not fond of them. Peas 
they eat with avidity, and, when as cheap as corn, should be fed in preference, as they 
afford much the-richer mannre. Half peas and half corn, are probably better than 
either alone. Peas make very firm pork. 
Oil-cake, when fed in large quantities, injures the flavor and quality of the pork, 
but we have fed small quantities of it with decided advantage to the health and rapid 
owth of the pigs, without any apparent injury to the lard or pork. It is quite useful 
for breeding-sows. It keeps the bowels loose, and increases the quantity and quality 
of the milk. 
Bran, except in small quantities, is not a valuable food for fattening pigs. It is too 
bulky. But when rich, concentrated food is given, such as corn, barley, peas, or oil- 
cake, pigs should be allowed all the bran they will eat, placed in a separate trough. 
In this way it becomes a very useful and almost indispensable article to the pig feeder. 
It is also very useful for breeding-sows. The best roots to raise for pigs are parsnips 
and mangel-wurzel. 
_ . The period of gestation in a sow is almost invariably sixteen weeks. In three or 
four days after pigging, a sow in good condition will generally take the boar. But, asa 
rule, it is not well to allow it. If she passes this period, she will not take the boar 
until the pigs are weaned. If she fails the first time, she will “come round again” in 
from two to three weeks. 
For mild cases of diarrhcea, nothing is better than fresh-skimmed milk, thickened 
with wheat flour. 
Pigs should be castrated a week or two before they are weaned. 
Nothing in the management of pigs is more important than to provide a trough for 
the sucking pigs separate from the sow, and to commence feeding them when two or 
three weeks old. 
Many of the diseases of pigs are contagious, and the instant a pig is observed to be 
sick it should be removed to a separate pen; and it would be well to regard this sin- 
gle case of sickness as an indication that something is wrong in the general manage- 
ment of the pigs. Clean out the pens, scald the troughs, scrape out all decaying mat- 
ter from under and around them, sprinkle chloride of lime about the pen, or, what is 
probably better, carbolic acid, Dry earth is a cheap and excellent disinfectant. Use 
it liberally at all times. Whitewash the walls of the pens. Wash all the inside and 
outside wood-work, troughs, plank floors, &c., with erade petroleum. Itis the cheapest 
and best antiseptic yet discovered. 
To destroy lice, wash the pig all over with crude petroleum, and the next day give 
ual a thorough washing with warm water and soap, with the free use of a scrubbing- 
Pigs should be provided with scratching-posts, having auger holes bored for pegs at 
different heights, to accommodate pigs of different sizes. 
The following description may be considered the perfection of form in a fat pig: Tho 
back should be nearly straight, though being arched a little from head tg tail is no 
objection ; the back uniformly broad and rounded across along the whole body; the 
touch along the back should be firm, but springy, the thinnest skin springing most; 
the shoulders, sides, and hams should be deep perpendicularly, and in a straight line 
from shoulder to ham; the closing behind filled up; the legs short and bone small; the 
neck short, thick, and deep; the cheeks round and filled out; the face straight, nose 
fine, eyes bright, ears pricked, and the head small in proportion to the body; a eurled 
tail is indicative of a strong back. 
The appendix contains several letters from experienced breeders in 
England, Canada, and this country, on the breeding and management 
of swine. 
THE PHOSPHATE ROCKS oF SouTH CAROLINA, AND THE GREAT CaroLtiya Marr Bep; 
with five colored illustrations. A popular and scientific view of their origin, geological 
position, and age; also, their chemical character and agricultural value; together 
with a history of their discovery and development. By Francis 8. Holmes, A. M., of 
Charleston, South Carolina, late professor of geology and paleontology in the Col- 
co of Charleston. 8yo, 87 pages. Charleston, South Carolina: Holmes’s Book House, 
70. 
As the scientific character and great value of the immense phosphate 
beds of South Carolina were amply discussed in the last two annual 
reports of this Department, an abstract is now given merely of the his- 
tory of their discovery and development, and present condition. 
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