740 Live Stock. Swine Methods of fattening of. 



cellcnt. Barley meal and pollard are likewife frequently made ufe of for the pur- 

 pofe with much fuccefs. The meals of peafe and beans, when given in fufticient 

 proportions for the purpofe of fattening, are apt to heat them too much, and 

 produce a difficulty of breathing ; but for the large or full-grown hogs, pea meal^ 

 or peafe ungroundare probably the beft material that can be made ufe of. A por- 

 rion of bean meal, or whole beans, may likewife be given occafionally with advan 

 tage, as both thefe articles contain a much hrger proportion of nutritious matter in 

 the fame bulk than any fort of grain, and are more lading in their effects on the- 

 fyftem, from their undergoing the procefs of digeftion more flowly, perhaps 

 on account of their containing a larger proportion of oil in their compofition.* 

 Malted barley given whole has likewife been found highly beneficial in the fatten 

 ing of hogs, the quantity of faccharine nutritious matter being thus greatly aug- 

 mented.f Aeorns in the fame ftate have likewife been found to fatten hogs, but 

 they cannot be depended on as a food for this ufe. Potatoes and carrots have alfo 

 been occafionally tried in the fame application j but as they never anfvver well with 

 out being boiled, and combined with the meal of fome fort of grain,, it is a much- 

 better and more economical practice to convert them to thepurpofe of ftore- feed 

 ing, and depend upon farinaceous fubftances for fattening. The various experi 

 ments of Mr. Boys of Kent, detailed in the twenty-ninth volume of the Apnals of 

 Agriculture, fufficiently (how the difadvantage of this method. E.ven when the 

 potatoes were boiled, and blended with barley-meal, he fufiained confiderable lofs 

 in this mode of fattening. There is, however, another method of fattening, which 

 in particular fixations may be practifed with profit and fuccefs, which is- that of 

 employing the waih of large diftilleries with grains and fome fort of meal. In the 

 firft part of the fattening the grains and waQi are given, and in the latter the 



meal 4 



The quantity or weight of pork produced by a given quantity of peafe, beans,,, 

 meal, or other materials employed in the fattening of hogs, has not been well af- 

 certained, and it is probable that a great deal will depend upon the fize, breed, and 

 difpolidon to fatten ; but, judging from the value of the animals before and after 

 they have been fattened, it is concluded by Mr. Knight, that a Winchefter bufhel 

 of the firft of the above articles may add about nine or ten pounds to the weight 

 of a good hog of twenty fcore, or perhaps fomething more upon a larger and con- 



* Darwin s Phytologia, i Synopfis of Ilufbandry. 



J Annals of Agriculture, vol. XXIII, 



