California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



fovcinc. 



Hogs And Alfalfa Hay. 



5)5-UDGE DIXON, of the Bueua Vista 

 ~' Ranch, on the occasion of a recent 

 visit there, called our attention to 

 his heard of 100 head of hof,'S, 

 which were fed solely on alfalfa 

 hay. They were geueraly good 

 stock though none thoroiigh-bred, and 

 all were in fine condition. The hay was 

 hauled daily and fed to them after the 

 first of the January. Some of the finer 

 bred animals were fattened quickly into 

 excellent pork. As the hay cart was 

 seen by them coming to the lot they run 

 to the fence like a lot of calves, and eat 

 the fresh hay with as msuch avidity. 

 The hay was cut and 500 tons stacked 

 ahd covered with tule. The experi- 

 ment of Judge Dixon had its which 

 were origin in the fact of the hogs, 

 running in the alfalfa field, leaving 

 the green clover and feeding daily at the 

 stacks of dry bay. The result estab- 

 lishes the truth of our frequent state- 

 ments that hog raising on the Island is 

 destined to become the most pi-omincnt 

 and productive branch of farming. It 

 would be almost impossible to estimate 

 the possible increase with the unexam- 

 pled facilities for growing them at a 

 trifling cost. The pork, when made 

 from hay, partakes very much of the 

 character of grain fed meat, is solid and 

 sweet, making first quality bacon and 

 hams. Every farmer will find it to his 

 interest to cut at least one crop from 

 his field for hay fattening of his hogs in 

 the fall. — Soutliern CnUfornian. 



Bkeeding YotJNG Sows. — The prac- 

 tice of breeding from young sows is a 

 common one in all sections. At first no 

 bad result may show, but the practice is 

 a bad one, nevertheless. Common 

 sense is against it, for no animal should 

 be allowed to breed until the carcass is 

 fairly developed. The practice should 

 be utterly condemned. If continued in 

 the family for a few generations of swine 

 they will be found to dwindle down from 

 three to four hundred pound hogs to 

 animals that will weigh only two or 

 three hundred pounds. It is much bet- 

 ter to keep the sows three or four years, 

 and even much longer. Sows have been 

 kept for fifteen years to advantage. 

 Swine are several years coming to ma- 

 turity. It is a fact w'ell known, at least 

 to every Irishman from the "ould coun- 

 try," that pigs from old sows will grow- 

 some thirty or forty pounds heavier 

 than those from young ones. While 

 shotes are growing, the sows should not 

 be allowed to breed until the live weight 

 will exceed one hundred and fifty pounds. 



Keeping Boaks.-— We read aboiit the 

 care bestowed upon stallions, rams and 

 other breeding animals, but rarely do we 

 ever see a word on the care of boars. 

 They are usually raised with breeding 

 sows, and run and worry and become 

 nothing but ruins. They go days with- 

 out food. They disappoint their owners 

 and everybody else. Now, it is just as 

 important to take care of a breediug hog 

 as it is of a horse, and a good, snug pen 

 or yard should be used to enclose them. 

 They can be well fed here, and made to 

 grow; and if their services are needed, 

 it is easy to have a door or gate to let 

 breeding stock in. If this plan is fol- 

 . lowed, one will have a far better stock. 

 } The slops of the kitchen, sour milk, 

 a vegetables, bran and soaked corn can bf 

 I led to him, and he will be a credit to all 

 / concerned. — Rural World. 



Another Premium Essay Wanted. 



Editor Califoenia Agbicdltuui-si and 

 Live Stock Journal, San Jose. Cal. : 

 The object of the American Berkshire 

 Association is to revise, preserve and 

 publish the pedigrees of pure-bred Berk- 

 shire swine; also to collect and dissemi- 

 nate information calculated to advance 

 the interests of swine breeders generally. 



In furtherance of a part of its work, 

 and in view of the favor with which the 

 premium essay on the origin, breeding 

 and management of liorkshires was re- 

 ceived, the Association has decided to 

 oflfer another premium of §100 for the 

 best approved essay on the Diseases of 

 Swine, their Causes, Preventives and 

 Remedies. Said essay to bo practical 

 and exhaustive. The competing essays 

 to be forwarded to this office on or be- 

 fore the 1st of January, 1877. The 

 award will be made and the money paid 

 at the annual meeting in February fol- 

 lowing. All competing essays will be 

 the property of the Association. 



Competition is invited from all prac- 

 tical men who have given attention to 

 the diseases to which swine are subject. 

 Prof. Law, of Cornell University, N. Y.; 

 Prof. Smith, of Toronto Veterinary Col- 

 lege, Canada; Hon. T. C. Jones, of the 

 " Natioual Live Stock Journal," and E. 

 G. Bedford, Esq., of Kentucky, have 

 kindly consented to act as the Awarding 

 Committee. 



The premium essay will appear in 

 Vol. II. of the American Berkshire 

 Record, now in course of prepai'atiou, 

 the pedigrees for which, as fast as ap- 

 proved and certified, have record num- 

 bers assigned them, and certificates of 

 registry forwarded to the parties entitled 

 to the same, in advance of publication in 

 Vol. II. Address, 

 Sec't American Berkshire Asso(;i.4t'n, 



Springfield, Illinois. 



An educated hog at one of the water- 

 ing places is said to be a good mathema- 

 lition. No doubt it excels in a "square 

 root,"and is also good at "subtraction" 

 when in a turnip patch. 



The Pig's Start in Life. — The jMg is 

 an animal that has its wits about it quite 

 as soon after birth as the chicken. I 

 therefore selected it as a subject for ob- 

 servation. The following are some of 

 my observations: That vigorous young 

 pigs get up and search for the teat at 

 once, or within one minute after their 

 entrance into the world; that if removed 

 several feet from their mother, when 

 aged only a few minutes, they soon find 

 their way back to her, guided apparently 

 by the grunting she makes in answer to 

 their squeaking. In the case I observed, 

 the old sow rose in less than an hour 

 .and a half after pigging and went out to 

 eat; the pigs ran about, tried to eat va- 

 rious matters, followed their mother out 

 and sucked while she stood eating. One 

 pig I put in a bag the moment it was 

 born, and kept it in the dark until it was 

 seven hours old, when I placed it out- 

 side the sty, a distance of ten feet from 

 where the mother lay concealed in the 

 house. The pig soon recognized the low 

 grunting of its mother, went alongside 

 the sty strugghng to get over or under 

 the lower bar. At the end of five min- 

 utes it succeeded in forcing itself through 

 under the bar at one of the few places 

 where that was possible. No sooner in 

 than it went without a pause into the 

 pig-house to its mother, and was at once 

 like others in behavior. Two little pigs 

 I blindfolded at their birth. One of 

 them I placed with its mother at once; 

 it soon found the teat and began to suck. 

 Six hom-s after I placed the other a little 



distance from the sow; it reached her in 

 half a minute, after going about r.ather 

 vaguely; in half a minute more it found 

 the teat. Next day I found that one of 

 the two left with the mother, blindfolded, 

 had got the blinders off; the other was 

 quite blind walking around freely knock- 

 ing against things. In the afternoon I 

 uncovered its eyes, and it went round 

 and round as if it had had sight and 

 suddenly lost it. In ten minutes it was 

 scarcely distinguishable from one that 

 had had sight all along. When placed 

 on a chair it knew the height to require 

 considering, went down on its knees and 

 leaped down. When its eyes had been 

 unveiled twenty minutes I placed it 'and 

 another twenty feet from the sty. The 

 two reached the mother in five minutes 

 and at the same moment. — Popular Sci- 

 ence. 



Lice on Swine. — The general cause 

 of lice on swine is unclcanliness in one 

 or more of the departments of swine 

 management. It is very seldom a 

 healthy, thriving pig, one who has been 

 supplied with good food and a plenty of 

 it, and has been assigned comfortable 

 quarters, which are regularly and prop- 

 erly cleaned, is troubled with lice. Sonrie- 

 times it happens that they get the lice 

 from less favored bretheru, and I have 

 them on my herd by bringing them 

 in with a splendid pair of young Berk- 

 shires I bought in the West. If lice are 

 left to worry and irritate swine, they 

 do not do as much good as they should 

 on a given amount of food, and it 

 should be the aim, therefore, for all 

 good breeders to remove them as quickly 

 as possible. Our first experiment in re- 

 moving lice was tried on the above men- 

 tioned young Berkshires. We took 

 some common coal oil and poured it 

 along the pigs' backs until it spread 

 over the whole body. We saw but few 

 lice the next day, but thought best to 

 repeat the dose, which was done three 

 times more. The lice of couse, left for 

 unknown parts, but the worse of it was 

 the pigs lost their hair, the sow losing 

 all of it, owing to having too much coal 

 oill. One application would have re- 

 moved the lice and not injured the pigs. 

 Sulphur aiul lard rubbed on the pig is 

 an excellent remedy, as is a dose of sul- 

 phor in the feed if the weather is warm, as 

 it works out of the skin and proves very 

 unpleasant to the parasites. — Ex. 



The Berkshires.— The friends of the 

 Berkshire breed of swine claim : 



1st. That they have more constitu- 

 tional vitality, and consequently are less 

 liable to disease than any other breed. 



2d. . That they are more prolific, and 

 that the pigs are more uniform in size, 

 color and form, and consequently pro- 

 duce more saleable pigs than any other 

 breed. 



3d. That their flesh is finer, firmer, 

 and of higher flavor than any other 

 breed. 



4th. That they furnish the finest and 

 best hams, shoulders and bacon of any 

 other breed in the world, and in England 

 their meat brings a higher price than that 

 of any other breed, on account of its 

 superior excellence. 



rjth. That they are the best breed for 

 the western farmer, being active, seeking 

 their own .food, keeping in excellent 

 order on grass or clover, and fattening 

 early and readily on less food than al- 

 most any other breed. 



These excellent qualities the breeders 

 of Berkshires believe they possess, and 

 they think it is only a question of time 

 when they will supplant the other 

 breeds. 



^M\ breeder- 



LIVE STOCK FARMING 



if^-TlVE stock farming is the most 

 '4+ profitable of any blanch of farming. 

 ^J If the majority of our farmers re- 

 (^ alized the importance of this mat- 

 ffj-^ ter, we feel sure they would do dif- 

 ferently and reap the reward of a wiser 

 discresion. In England, where farming 

 is conducted on the most economic 

 principles, and the art and science of 

 farming is most thoroughly understood, 

 it is found that live stock farming pays 

 better than the raising of produce for 

 market. This, where the land is high 

 and where a dense population is to be 

 fed from the soil. How much stronger 

 will the same rule apply to our State, 

 where a surplus of grains are produced 

 at low prices, and where beef and pork 

 are always cash? The Chicago J.if 

 Slock JourmU says that in this country 

 a very large increase in live stock upon 

 American farms would be attended with 

 even greater profits than the English 

 farmer can reasonably expect from the 

 same source. There is not only a gen- 

 eral impression among intelligent farmers 

 that this is so, but experience has shown 

 that live stock in some form is the most 

 profitable interest to which the farm can 

 be devoted. Those who make live 

 stock their specialty, devoting to it so 

 much of their resources and attention 

 as circumstances will admit, are the 

 most thrifty and successful of all our 

 farmers. And here we are not speaking 

 merely of those who make a specialty 

 of breeding thoroughbred stock to be 

 sold again for breeding purposes, but 

 of the great body of farmers, who pro- 

 duce horses for labor, cows for milk, 

 cattle and swine for the butcher, sheep 

 for wool, etc.; in other words, animals 

 for consumptive purposes. Every ambi- 

 tious farmer should be alive to such 

 facts as these, and hasten to make the 

 most of knowledge of the principle. 

 Stock farming requires closer atteutiOD, 

 to make the most out of it, than any 

 other department. The right number, 

 kind and variety of stock to keep to 

 consume the products of the farm eco- 

 nomically, the proper time to fatten 

 and to sell to best advantage, as well 

 as to the breeding and keeping of young 

 stock, all demand proper management. 

 A few^ mistakes in such matters make 

 a great difference in the matter of 

 profits. The expense of starting into 

 the business may deter many from 

 at once entering into the business; but 

 to start with yoiini) stock requires little 

 capital, and soon the growth and in- 

 crease will begin to pay. A farmer 

 should be willing to invest all his earn- 

 ings for a few years into something that 

 wnll put him in a prosperous condition 

 and increase the value of his business 

 and farm. In no way can he do this 

 better than in the raising of such stock 

 as is best adapted to his farm, and cul- 

 tivating the soil to produce feed for his 

 stock. The old style California cattle or 

 sheep ranching over thousands of acres 

 of wild lands, never cultivating a foot of 

 soil for feed, is unciviUzed and unde- 

 sirable. The proper way to do is to pro- 

 duce upon the soil as much good, solid 

 feed as possible, constantly enriching 

 the soil by utiUzing the manure. A 

 farm well fixed for stock-raising should 

 be fenced in apartments so that a system 

 of rotation can be conducted, and hay 

 fields, grain fields, vegetable fields and 

 pastures be apportioned as will best suit 

 convenience and prosperity. Facilities 

 for irrigation will treble or quadruple 



