BROWN FAMILY IN CALIFORNIA. 



grain on a big scale. I've bought my eggs, I've bought my butter, I've bought my bacon, 

 and all because I've been in the same old rut that other people are and have thought 

 it did not pay to raise these things. 



"But now," continued our jolly neighbor, "I'm a-going to turn over a new leaf, 

 and as soon as Bobby paints that sign I'll hang it over my mantelpiece, and everybody 

 who comes in will see 



"'THERE'S MONEY IN PIGS.'" 

 A eouple of weeks after this conversation, while flooding our alfalfa patch, I heard 

 a great squealing on the State road, mingled with the vigorous shouting of our friend 

 Simpson. The only thing I could see was Simpson's bay team, but being a New Eng- 

 land farmer, I thought I couldn't do better that to have a chat with our genial neighbor. 

 "Yes, Jason," said Simpson, as I approached, "I've turned over that new leaf and 

 bought some hogs. There's forty of them in all, Berkshires mostly, and a tip-top grade 

 of stock." 



"Why did you buy so many?" I asked. 



"Well, we've got more skim milk at the Estudillo rancho than we know what to do 

 with and I'm going to turn it right into pork. I've got eight acres in alfalfa over there, 

 and the patch will easily support these hogs. You know an acre of alfalfa in Califor- 

 nia will easily feed five hogs the year round. Some people claim ten or more hogs 

 to the acre. But my hogs will have plenty of latitude and I will be able to fence off 

 some of the alfalfa and cut and stack it while the hogs are grazing on the rest of the 

 patch." 



"Are there any special rules which should be followed in order to get the best re- 

 sults from feeding alfalfa to hogs?" I asked. 



"Yes, indeed," said Simpson, "and the more you observe these rules the better re- 

 sults you are likely to get. The alfalfa in a hog pasture should be mowed down when- 

 ever it begins to get hard and woody. This will provide plenty of young and tender 

 herbage, which is more nutritious, and if the swine are provided with this food in its 

 most nutritious condition, their growth will be most rapid. The hogs ought to be pro- 

 vided with an abundance of fresh or running water in the pasture. This water 

 should not be allowed to seep through the soil and reach the roots of the alfalfa, for 

 it will destroy the plant. If a man uses care in this he will raise alfalfa with success 

 and his hogs will be uniformly marketable." 



"Is alfalfa such a good food for hogs?" I asked. "Back in New England we thought 

 we couldn't fatten them without corn." 



"That's just the point," said Simpson. "Hogs, of course, need something to vary 

 their diet. Some morning you find that your old sow, who has just had thirteen nice 

 little pigs, has eaten most of them up. Why? You say she's a cannibal. But the 

 probability is that she didn't get a proper change of ration, and craving a different 

 food — she don't know what — she just turned in and gobbled her own progeny." 

 "But alfalfa?" 



"For the production of bone, muscle and stamina, alfalfa can't be beat. Alfalfa 

 equals any forage and probably contains most of the desirable qualities for stock- 

 raising that are found In all other of the well-known forage plants combined. Where 

 pigs can get sweet milk such as I am going to give these fellows here, from the separa- 

 tor, it is not unusual to find representatives of the best breeds weighing 250 pounds at 

 seven months old. In order to carry such weight at this age, the animals must have 

 strong bones, stand on straight legs and possess great muscular power. Conditions 

 in California tend to produce these qualities. Alfalfa makes the hogs strong and 

 skim milk makes an admirable animal ration. A great many hog-ralsers say that al- 

 falfa is not in itself a complete ration. It Is very rich In protein (I guess that's what 

 they call it), and young pigs on alfalfa assimilate it more easily than any other fod- 

 der. It is transformed into blood, muscle, tendon and bone. 



"I guess I've filled you plumb full of hogs and alfalfa, Jason," concluded Simpson, 

 picking up a wisp of hay from the dashboard and chewing it with evident relish. "I'm 

 an Encyclopaedia Brittanlca and Webster's Dictionary all in one when It comes down 

 to alfalfa." 



"Bill Simpson," I said, "you're a jewel. But I'm not in the jewel business now and 

 I've got to get back to my alfalfa field, or the water will be putting it out of business." 

 (To be continued in the January issue of FOR CALIFORNIA.) 



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