394 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



ulcerated liver and hepatised lung tissue are often found. In fact, any ailment which comes 

 from disordered circulation may overtake the pig that is inadequately sheltered, or is crowded 

 in the nest, even though in the best of shelter. Under favorable conditions the pig will go 

 to a distance from his resting place to deposit his droppings, but if overcrowded or chilled, he 

 will leave his nest with reluctance and relieve himself close at hand, again crowding in among 

 his fellows in the hope of securing that sensation of warmth so grateful to him. 



Keeping pigs in this way secures no gain worth the name, while by giving cheap, needed 

 comfort for the farm or village pig, he can be made to pay a better profit that any other beast 

 upon the farm, when all the advantages are considered, the small investment in each pig, 

 provided he is bred and reared by the farmer under economical conditions, and the early age 

 at which he be sufficiently matured for market, for he will, if properly bred and fed, be ripe 

 at any age. The well-fed lamb approaches him in the requisite of being fit for market at an 

 early age, but when we set the product of the ewe (a unit) opposite the brood sow with her 

 seven to ten pigs, it takes no complicated estimate to show the brood sow is the most profita 

 ble in enabling us to secure the largest possible returns early from an unpretentious outlay.&quot; 



It is a good plan to provide a scratching post for pigs to scratch themselves against in 

 the pen. Such rubbing is very grateful to them. The post should have wooden pegs inserted 

 at different heights to accommodate pigs of different sizes. 



When swine are treated, in a proper manner there will be fewer diseases known among 

 them, and the business of rearing them will be attended with greater profit than the average 

 swine breeder at present realizes. 



Is the Pig a Filthy Animal ? The opinion is too often entertained by those having 

 the care of swine, that the pig is an exceedingly uncleanly animal, and delights and thrives 

 in the most filthy surroundings; we believe, however, that this is a charge that is not well 

 founded, and that those having the care of swine are more responsible for such an opinion 

 than the pig himself. It has been the experience of those breeders of swine who have taken 

 the same pains to keep their pigs in as cleanly and comfortable quarters as they do their 

 horses and cows, that swine are fully as cleanly in their habits, and even more so, than a horse, 

 cow, or sheep, either of which after rendering their bedding filthy will lie on it, which is what 

 a pig will not do if he can avoid it. It is a fact, that no hog will ever carry damp or filthy 

 straw to his nest, if he can have access to that which is dry and clean. 



* If there is a plenty of room in his pen, so that the feeding place is removed from the 

 sleeping place, he will be particular to deposit his excrement away from either locality, which 

 is also what the horse, cow, or sheep will never do. He will not render these portions 

 uncleanly, unless he is forced to do so by overcrowding, which we do when we confine him 

 in a small pen with half a dozen others, and compel them all to sleep in one small portion, 

 perhaps a ten-by-five space, and use the other portion of equal size as a place for the droppings 

 and for feeding, and this perhaps without being cleaned out oftener than once a month, if 

 as often as that. The farmer who manages his cow and horse stables well, cleans them out at 

 least once a day, and sometimes twice, but the pig pen is too often neglected until the pigs 

 are in danger of being submerged. We have, in fact, seen pig pens so filthy that there was 

 not a dry spot upon which the poor animals could make their bed, while in their small yard, 

 they actually swam in the accumulations drained from the barn yard and their own filth; 

 and this too on the premises of those who considered themselves, and were also rated by 

 others in the vicinity, as first-class farmers ! 



No animal used as human food should be bred in filth. When pigs are treated with the 

 same consideration and care that are bestowed upon the horse and cow, we shall find that he 

 is in fact a cleanly animal, and will never soil either his eating or sleeping place with his own 

 refuse. To those who are skeptical on this point, we would say, give your pigs a roomy, 



