392 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



anything is good enough for them, and that water from a muddy pool, covered with green 

 scum and almost alive, sour slops, and decayed garbage of all kinds, are suitable materials 

 from which to manufacture good healthy pork; but this is a great mistake. The hog would 

 be a cleaner animal if he had the chance, and if pure water were given him in abundance and 

 clean, nutritious food, there would be fewer diseases known among swine than there are at 

 present. Grain-fed hogs, as well as others, will fatten much more readily when given a 

 bountiful supply of good, wholesome water, since water enters largely into the system and 

 also aids assimilation; therefore it is economy for the farmer to do this, even setting aside 

 the comfort it will secure to the animal. 



Dr. Stetson, a distinguished writer on swine husbandry, says on this point: &quot;Corn soaked 

 in cold water for from twenty-four to forty-eight hours is rendered very much more digesti 

 ble in the stomach of the pig than when not so treated. Always keep in mind that the 

 greatest quantity eaten and digested in a given time is the true secret of success in fattening 

 animals. 



&quot;A few words as to the importance of fluids in the system to aid assimilation. All ani 

 mals from man down, that, in a state of health, consume a large quantity of fluids, take on 

 flesh in the same proportion. It is not the nourishment contained in the lager beer of our 

 Teutonic friends that gives them their barrel-shaped abdomen. The same quantity of water, 

 pure and uncombined, with the same amount of nutriment consumed, would produce the 

 same result. Show me a fat man, woman, or child, or any other animal, and if not proven 

 great drinkers, they are the exception, and not the rule.&quot; 



Hogs should have all the water they will drink, even when fed with milk and sloppy 

 food. 



Fat and Lean Pork. Hogs may be fed so as to produce a large proportion of either 

 fat or lean meat, or a fair proportion of both fat and lean meat, as may be desired. As has 

 already been stated, where a surplus of fat is desired in pork, the food of pigs, in rearing 

 and fattening, should contain a large proportion of Indian meal; but where lean meat is 

 desired principally for hams, shoulders, and bacon, a large proportion of their food should be 

 grass, clover, and other green food, together with skim-milk, bran, or middlings, oat, rye, or 

 barley meal, etc. It is found that when pigs, known to be good graziers, have the run of a 

 clover pasture, which is rich in albuminoids and nitrogenous food, this being a principal 

 source of subsistence, there is no lack of lean meat with the fat, and that the spare ribs, 

 hams, and shoulders are all that could be desired in such cases. But some pigs are better 

 graziers than others, the reason for it being that for many years they have been grown and 

 fattened on food that was only adapted to lay on fat; so that, finally, there is hardly enough 

 lean meat in the pig for the muscular action necessary in moving about. It is a fact well 

 known, that the pig, in its native state, is nearly as lean as a beef animal. 



Now if we start with the young pig, by giving it nitrogenous food, such as skim-milk, 

 and a good clover pasture, oats, peas, wheat bran, or middlings, a little oil meal, decorticated 

 cotton-seed meal, rye bran or barley, we shall see, as a result, rapid growth of both frame and 

 muscle, the whole pig being of plump and comely appearance, but not over-fat. A recent 

 writer has truly said: &quot;It is the mode of feeding for so many hundred generations that has 

 transformed our swine into lumps of fat, with a few strings of muscle to tie the ball together.&quot; 

 Farmers sometimes forget that the pig is a grass-eating animal as much as the horse or cow, 

 and needs fibrous food to keep his system in a healthy condition. When pigs are raised 

 principally on grass, clover hay that is nicely cured will be greatly relished by them. If fat 

 and lean meat in fair proportion, or what may be called &quot;marbled pork &quot; is desired, a nitro 

 genous food, as above recommended, should be given; yet in such cases corn should be given 

 at the last stage of the fattening to harden the pork. Corn in small quantities may be fed 



