454 now TO MAKE TEIE FARM PAY. 



Uof's turned into the orchards, as recommended in the 

 chapter on Fruit Culture, will not only be of benefit to the or- 

 chard, but will pick up considerable forage. Thej are very fond 

 of acorns, beech nuts, etc., and will fat on them faster than on 

 any other food. It is not good economy, however, anywhere 

 to let hogs run in the woods much, for they will run off their 

 fat. A very large hog raiser in Kentucky says : — 



" First, we bought the best, thinking the only true economy 

 was in having the hog that made most meat and grease in the 

 shortest time, from the food we provided. And we never per- 

 mitted them to get poor; finding it cheapest to feed a fat hog 

 and keep it so than to save by stinting, and then bringing np. 



"Secondly, we never permitted our hogs to roam, keeping 

 them under fence; believing it cheaper to provide food than 

 to run them upon Uncle Sam's property, or any other body's, 

 and pilfer for a living. We provided pastures, water, small 

 grain, peas, pumpkins, squashes, potatoes, pindars, corn, etc. 

 Of course, we say not that we had all at once, or all of the time, 

 but we have had six acres of squashes, six acres of pindars, 

 hauled in ninety ox loads of pumpkins, etc. We never relied 

 on corn alone, it was too expensive. We had pastures of divers 

 sizes and of the various clovers and grasses," 



The western firmer depends largely upon corn of course, 

 after the pasturing is over, but we think the suggestion of pump- 

 kins is a good one. The piggery is an important consideration, 

 and in the following plan and explanation will be found our 

 ideas upon this matter. {Fig. 90.) 



The heavy lines represent a building fifteen by thirty feet and 

 two stories high. The upper story is divided into two rooms ; in 

 one is stored the meal, bran, etc., required for feeding. In the 

 other is a set kettle for cooking the food. A pump runs from 

 this room to the barn well, and water is therefore handy. 



