120 AGRICULTURAL TEXT-BOOK. 



corn is cut up and fed to hogs in the field, 1 5 bushels will fat 

 ten each one; that is, add 100 Ibs. weight of flesh. If hogs 

 at gross weight are worth $3,00 per cwt, this makes corn worth 

 20 cents per bushel. If hogs are confined in pens, raw dry 

 corn is worth 30 cents, and cooked meal 50 cents per bushel ; 

 so that the gain by grinding and cooking, over feeding in the 

 field is 150 per cent. The manure, in the calculation of a skil- 

 full farmer, should cover the incidental expenses of fire, feed 

 ing, &c. It is to be observed, however, from the above experi 

 ment, that hogs fed on mush did riot increase in weight so 

 rapidly as the others. Considering that many millions of bushels 

 of corn are annually fed to animals in the United States, it is of 

 great economical importance, worthy of the attention of the 

 Federal and State Governments, that extensive and accurate 

 experiments should be made as to the most economical mode 

 of fattening stock. If we suppose and we put the case in all 

 respects lower than the truth is believed to be 200,000,000 

 of bushels of corn, bearing a market value of 25 cents per 

 bushel, are annually fed to hogs, and by improved means of 

 feeding a saving of 25 per cent could be made, it would leave 

 50,000,000 bushels, worth twelve millions five hundred thousand 

 dollars to be applied to other purposes; and which now are an 

 nually thrown away, without being of any possible value, either 

 direct, or indirect, to man. 



Mr. Ellsworth, however, observes that &quot; where land is cheap 

 and easily tilled, and labor dear, as in the West, it may be best 

 to make hogs their own harvesters. My present impression is, 

 that [in Indiana] the most profitable way to feed corn, all things 

 considered, is to cut the corn, as soon as it begins to turn hard; 

 then hogs will eat corn, cob, and stalk ; then too, the weather is 

 mild, and swine will thrive much faster in September, October, 

 and November, than in December, January, and February.&quot; 

 This calculation is, of course, based on peculiar circumstances 

 confined to certain localities. 



