200 FARM ANIMALS 



pay to feed it without other grain. In fact, the ex- 

 perience of pork raisers throughout the country 

 has shown conclusively that if hogs are confined in 

 pens they will not make satisfactory gains if their 

 grain feed consists exclusively of shelled corn or corn 

 meal. For a few weeks hogs seem to relish corn 

 meal or shelled corn, but if the ration is not varied 

 the appetite soon fails and various other unfavorable 

 tendencies appear. Thus, on corn meal young pigs 

 fail to develop sufficient strength of bone and 

 muscle. Even if the first generation fed on corn 

 meal alone does not show great unthriftiness, the 

 constitution is, nevertheless, undermined to such 

 an extent that they become practically valueless 

 for breeding purposes and the stock, therefore, runs 

 out. Moreover the profit from feeding corn alone 

 is much smaller than if some other grain is added 

 to the corn. Thus, in one set of experiments the 

 profit from a ration containing corn, middlings 

 and other nitrogenous foods for balancing purposes 

 was nearly four times as great as that from an ex- 

 clusive ration of corn. Corn meal not only weak- 

 ens the appetite, produces light bone and general 

 unthriftiness as shown above, but the gains are 

 unsatisfactory and all of the vital organs, especially 

 the heart, lungs and liver are smaller than where a 

 balanced ration is fed, in fact, smaller than they 

 should be to perform properly the functions of a 

 vigorous animal. It is evident, therefore, from 

 hundreds of experiments that corn is not a desirable 

 food for hogs as an exclusive ration, especially for 

 young growing pigs and breeding stock. The 

 question arises, therefore, what are the supple- 

 mental feeds which should be given along with corn 

 meal or shelled corn. For this purpose a great 

 variety have been fed. Thus, in Canada various 



