California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



fovciuc. 



Hog Raising. 



'HEN properly managed, there is no 

 more profitable stock business in 

 this State than raising hogs for 

 l)ork. Hogs increase here much 

 faster than any other class of stock. 

 Sows will breed on an average twice a 

 year, and after they are one year old will 

 average from six to ten pigs at a litter. 

 At a year old these pigs are ready for the 

 market, and are always in demand. In- 

 deed, there is no day in the year when 

 there is not ready sale for good porkers. 

 The Chinese always eat and will always 

 Lave pork. Pork is also worth more in 

 proportion to the cost of j^roductiou than 

 any other meat. Hogs in this State will 

 live the year round by grazing, and do 

 well at that. Alfalfa is the best grass or 

 clover for hogs. They will reject all 

 other grasses or clover for alfalfa, and 

 will thrive on it from the time they are 

 two months old. The sows will give a 

 good supply of milk for pigs on this 

 clover alone, and keep in good condition. 

 At one year old good Berkshire hogs will 

 average 200 pounds with no other feed 

 than good alfalfa pasture, and will he as 

 fat as the Chinese markets require. From 

 the above it will be seen that for each one 

 year old sow and good alfalfa fields the 

 farmer can make an annual increase of 

 from twelve to twenty fold on original 

 stock. If in connection with alfalfa he 

 raises barley or wheat, he makes the hogs 

 gleaners of the stubble to good advantage, 

 thus turning into pork and money much 

 that would otherwise be wasted. But 

 barley or wheat may very profitably be 

 raised especially for hogs, and the hogs 

 ■will do their own harvesting. By the use 

 of portable fences, a jjortion of the field 

 may be fenced and the hogs turned in as 

 soon as the grain is in the dough, and as 

 fast as the grain on this portion is con- 

 sumed, or neaily so, another portion may 

 be fenced and the fattening hogs turned 

 into this, and so on until they are fat and 

 ready for market. The store hogs may 

 follow the fatting hogs, and in this way 

 the harvest may be completed and turned 

 into meat without the exisenseof reajjiug, 

 stacking, or threshing, or freighting to 

 market. What is more, grain thus made 

 into pork finds, as we said before, at all 

 times, a ready home market, and does not 

 have to be sai^ked or freighted to Liver- 

 pool or any other foreign country at great 

 expense. The expense of running a farm 

 stocked with hogs, after the same is well 

 ■ seeded with alfalfa, and fenced into ap- 

 propriate sized fields, is comparatively 

 light. The same value may be turned off 

 annually from such a farm with one-fourth 

 the labor and expense required to run a 

 grain farm when the grain is harvested 

 and marketed in the usual way. Our 

 river farms are especially adapted to hog 

 raising. The land is good for alfalfa and 

 barley, and these farms generally have 

 tule lands connected with them, on which 

 may, at very little cost, be raised large 

 crops of pumpkins, which also make most 

 excellent feed for hogs, and which to a 

 great extent may also be harvested by the 

 hogs themselves. Good judgment and 

 care are as necessary to this business as in 

 any other, but with these we believe it to 

 be about the most profitable branch of 

 farming in the State. 



PRECAUTIONS. 



Among the necessary i^recautions to in- 

 sure success in the hog raising business 



may be mentioned, first, the care of the 

 young. Pigs are hardy and easy to raise, 

 but they require a certain kind of care 

 which cannot and must not be neglected. 

 During all the wet season, at least, e.ich 

 sow and pigs should have a separate jJen, 

 and a'good, warm, dry ne.st to sleep in. 

 They should also be bed separately until 

 the pigs are, say six weeks old. If any 

 number are allowed to sleep in one com- 

 mon nest in cold, wet weather, losses will 

 most surely occur by smothering by the 

 sows lying on the little ones or by fight- 

 ing. Small pigs should be kept shut up 

 in a pen until throe or four weeks old. 

 Until that age the sow should be turned 

 out daily a part of the day, and after that 

 the pigs may be allowed to accompany 

 her, but should be shut up nights until, 

 say six weeks old. If large numbers of 

 pigs are fed together, or if pigs of difi'er- 

 enr ages are fed in common, the stronger 

 are bound to take advantage of the weak- 

 er, and this will create runts or scrubs, 

 which will always be runts or scrubs, and 

 these, if allowed, will materially dimish 

 profits. Some special care must be taken 

 of the pigs when weaning them. The 

 sows will generally wean them at about 

 two months of ago of their own accord. 

 If the feed be good, the feed of the sow 

 may be withheld when the pigs are six 

 weeks old. When this is commenced the 

 pigs must have a little extra care and feed. 

 For this purpose a pen may be so ar- 

 ranged that the pigs can get into it, while 

 the sows are excluded. In this pen may 

 be kept a little wheat or rye bran, or other 

 good, nutritious food. The pigs will soon 

 learn where the hole is that leads to this 

 food, and will pass through frequently 

 and help themselves. None but the black 

 breeds of hogs should be raised in this 

 State. AH others are liable to the scurvy. 

 The best breeds are the Berkshire and the 

 Essex, or these two breeds mixed. These 

 breeds, if properly cared for, are 2)roof 

 against the scurvy, and are the bestgnass- 

 eaters, and are plenty large enough for 

 profit. One of the most necessary pre- 

 cautions to insui-e success in hog raising 

 is cleanliness. The hog is a dirty or clean 

 animal, according as he is treated. When- 

 ever kept in a pen, if given a chance, the 

 pig, big or little, will keep himself clean, 

 and he should be encouraged in this nat 

 nral iu.stinct. Instead of a mud-hole to 

 drink out of, he should, whether in pen 

 or field, be furnished with clean, cool 

 water to drink. Salt and charcoal should 

 always be kept where hogs can help 

 themselves whenever inclined to do so. 

 Both these articles are a necessity to hogs 

 of all ages and conditions, and their plen- 

 tiful supply at all times has more to do 

 with the good condition of the hog than 

 most hog raisers of experience imagine. 

 — Record- Union. 



About Advertising Swine. — Underthe 

 heading of " Why Is It?" the Swine and 

 Poullr// Jonrnalhaa the following sugges- 

 tive paragraph: 



It seems to us that the white breeds of 

 swine must be extinct, or else no one is 

 breeding them for sale. The Berkshire 

 breeders seem to be the only live swine 

 breeders in America. They are the only 

 men who have enterprise enough to ad- 

 vertise to any extent, and in consequence 

 are reaping the reward of their good man- 

 agement in increased sales and ijrices. 

 We have ten inquiries for the names of 

 Berkshire breeders to one of any other 

 breed; next following in number is the 

 Poland China, with once in a while an 

 inquiry of " Who breeds Sufl'olk and 



Chester Whites ?" — ami as we refer all 

 such inquirers to our advertising columns 

 it is very evident the Berkshire breeders 

 get the best of it. We are surjjrised at 

 the lack of interest and business tact of 

 interest and business tact of swine breed- 

 ers, as compared with the breeders of all 

 other kinds of improved stock. By % 

 careful examination of the advertising 

 columns of tliirty agricultural and stock 

 papers, we find the ])roportion of swino 

 breeders who bring their stock before the 

 public by advertising to be about one- 

 tenth that of cattle and one-thirteenth 

 that of poultry breeders. Surely if it 

 pays poultry breeders ao well to advertise 

 (and all admit that it does pay), it would 

 pay swine breeders still better. We find 

 poultry and cattle breeders, also, ever 

 ready to write and tell the public about 

 the useful and economic value of tlieir 

 stock, best manner of breeding and rear- 

 ing it, and the best breeds for certain lo- 

 calities; but it seems impossible to get a 

 swine breeder to let the public know any- 

 thinif about his stock. 



Bebkshires. — Says the Live StocJc Jour- 

 nal, which is one of our best authorities 

 on stock: 



The Berkshire is probably the nearest 

 thorough bred among swine, and in that 

 class is like the Arabian among horses. 

 It is undoubtedly the highest type of hog. 

 They have all the good (jualities. are good 

 breeders, good mothers, mature early, 

 fatten easily and at a young age, and can 

 live on clover and grass almost as well as 

 sheep. 



Some people have a prejudice against 

 the black color in swine, and would on 

 that account object to either the Berk- 

 shii'O or Essex. 



Parasites in Bird Cages. 



Many a person has watched with anx- 

 iety and care a pet canary, goldfinch or 

 otlier tiny favorite, evidently in a state of 

 l^erturbation, plucking at himself contin- 

 ually, his feathers standing all wrong, al- 

 ways tidgoting about, and in every way 

 looking very seedy. In vain is his food 

 chunged, and in vain is another saucer of 

 clean water always kept in his cage, and 

 all that kindness can suggestfor the little 

 prisoner done; but still all is of no use, 

 he is no better — and why ? Because the 

 cause of his wretchedness has not been 

 found out, and until it is other attempts 

 are but vain. If the owner of a pet in 

 such difficulties will take down the cage 

 and cast his or her eyes up to the roof 

 thereof, there will most likely be seen a 

 mass of stuff looking as much like red 

 dust as anything; and from thence comes 

 the cause "of the poor bird's uneasiness. 

 The red dust is nothing more nor less 

 than myriads of parasites infesting the 

 bird, and for which w.ater is no remedy. 

 There is, however, a remedy, and one 

 easily procured in a moment— fire. By 

 piocuring a lighted candle and holding it 

 under every particle at the top of the cage 

 till all chance of anything being left alive 

 is gone, the remedy is complete. The 

 pet will soon brighten up again after his 

 house-warming, and will, in his cheerful 

 and delightful way thank his master or 

 mistress over and" over again for this, 

 though slight, to him important assist- 

 ance. — Land and Water. 



It is a strange fact that when people 

 indulge in high words they lose low lan- 

 guage. 



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