BACON AND EGGS 329 



convertible bonds, and he is the greatest money- 

 maker on the farm. If the grain ration were all 

 corn, and if there were a roadside market for it 

 at 35 cents a bushel, it would cost $3.12 ; the 

 alfalfa would be worth $1.45, and the vegetables 

 probably 65 cents, under like conditions, making 

 a total of $5.22 as a possible gross value of the 

 food which the hog has eaten. The gross value 

 of these things, however, is far above their net 

 value when one considers time and expense of 

 sale. The hog saves all this trouble by tucking 

 under his skin slow-selling remnants of farm prod- 

 ucts and making of them finished assets which 

 can be turned into cash at a day's notice. 



To feed the hogs on the scale now planned, I 

 had to provide for something like 7000 bushels 

 of grain, chiefly corn and oats, 100 tons of 

 alfalfa, and an equal amount of vegetables, chiefly 

 sugar beets and mangel-wurzel. Certainly the 

 widow's land would be needed. 



The poultry had also outgrown my original 

 plans, and I had built with reference to my larger 

 views. There were five houses on the poultry 

 lot, each 200 feet long, and each divided into ten 

 equal pens. Four of these houses were for the 

 laying hens, which were divided into flocks of 

 40 each ; while the other house was for the 

 growing chickens and for cockerels being fattened 

 for market. 



There were now on hand more than 1300 

 pullets and hens, and I instructed Sam to run 



