PRINCIPAL SWINE FEEDS AND THEIR USE 165 



They are relatively expensive, and generally are a poor gamble. 

 This does not mean, however, that a condiment cannot be made that 

 will be useful, particularly when it is made up of those feeds that 

 we know are good in practice, such as salt, wood ashes, charcoal and 

 other feeds, but, generally speaking, one " jumps in the dark" 

 when buying these feeds. It is surprising how little we know about 

 feeds and feeding. We must still place much dependence on the 

 appetite of the pig for different feeds, and learn to depend on those 

 feeds in a large measure that have given success in our practical 

 experience, but ever and anon keeping our periscope polished up 

 and in use, looking for a better way, realizing always, however, that 

 there is danger in showing too much interest in any feeds that are 

 made to sell for a profit rather than to get economic and physio- 

 logical returns. The standard feeds are the ones' to bank on in 

 major swine feeding operations. There are good commercial by- 

 products that are made into fine feeds, however, such as meatmeal 

 tankage, hominy feed, hull-less oatmeal, bloodmeal, buttermilk pow- 

 der, bonemeal, fishmeal and many others, and these should receive 

 our patronage where conditions warrant their use. But bank on 

 home-grown feeds as a rule. For the major portion of the basal 

 as well as the main supply of the supplementary feeds depend on 

 corn, barley, alfalfa, clover, rape and similar feeds, and buy the 

 best you can find to round out your ration, keeping in mind not 

 the idea of the "price per ton" but the "return for dollars in- 

 vested." To emphasize this bear in mind that meatmeal tankage 

 that costs $110 a ton in war as well as in normal times is better 

 than peanut hulls, even though they be given to you, if you use 

 both as pig feeds to balance ordinary grains. 



