444 



THE PIGS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



approached maturity, and as the actual fattening process com- 

 menced, we should leave off the leguminous element, and confine 

 the diet to a mixture of barley and palm-nut meal, -which we 

 have found admirably adapted to the purpose. 



Conflicting opinions exist as to the value of cooking pig food. 

 Where we have vegetables to deal with, as in the case of potatoes 

 or turnips, steaming is decidedly advantageous ; and wherever 

 we caa cook without a serious increase of expense we believe it 

 answers, because the digestion of the pig is not so complicated as 

 that of the ruminant, and any assistance we can give will effect 

 a saving of force, and an economy of food ; but we have grave 

 doubts as to whether the use of warm food is desirable. Let 

 the food be cooked by all means, but give it cold. Where cook- 

 ing is not convenient, the materials should be soaked in water 

 for at least twelve hours before being used. In the case of 

 barley-meal, and possibly to a less extent with the palm-nut 

 meal, the food is rendered more digestible because the starch 

 cells are dissolved, and this is one great advantage of hot water 

 or steam. 



We may here notice a practice which was highly thought of 

 by Arthur Toung, viz., giving the food in a sour or acid condition. 

 Thus Mr. H. Evershed, in his prize essay on Warwickshire, tells 

 us that swedes are boiled and mixed with one-third of meal, a 

 couple of cisterns are filled with a week's allowance in each, and 

 the food is used a week old and in a sour state. Again, in Mr. 

 Martin's Book on the Pig, edited by Mr. S. Sydney, " Some 

 recommend that the meal be mixed with cold water in large 

 <jisterns, the proportion being five bushels of meal to 100 gallons 

 of water. This mixture must be stirred several times a day for 

 a fortnight or three weeks, until an imperfect fermentation takes 

 place and it becomes acid. In this state its fattening powers 

 a,re said to be greatly increased." We have not ourselves tested 

 the merits of this plan ; everyone knows that the contents of the 

 hog tub — which is the receptacle for all the pot liquor, waste 

 vegetables, &c. — are frequently in a sour state, yet such 

 materials are greedily eaten. 



Many writers assume a high feeding value to maize (Indian 

 <;orn) for pigs. We believe it may be usefully employed in con- 

 nection with home-grown meal, but if given by itself it is not 



