CHAPTER XXVI 



LITTLE PIGS 



BY April 1st all my sows had farrowed. There 

 was much variation in the number of pigs in 

 these nineteen litters. One noble mother gave 

 me thirteen, two of which promptly died. Three 

 others farrowed eleven each, and so down to 

 one ungrateful mother who contributed but five 

 to the industry at Four Oaks. The average, 

 however, was good ; 154 pigs on April 10th were 

 all that a halfway reasonable factory man could 

 expect. 



These youngsters were left with their mothers 

 until eight weeks old ; then they were put, in 

 bunches of thirty, into the real hog-house, which 

 was by that time completed. It was 200 feet 

 long and 50 feet wide, with a 10-foot passage- 

 way through the length of it. On either side 

 were 10 pens 20 feet by 20, each connected with 

 a run 20 feet by 120. The house stood on a 

 platform or bed of cement 90 by 200 feet, which 

 formed the floor of the house and extended 20 

 feet outside of each wall, to secure cleanliness 

 and a dry feeding-place in the open. The 

 cement floor was expensive ($1120 as first cost), 



155 



