28 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [CnAP. I. 



some go in for eating. Tlierc is as iiiuch difference in pigs as there is in 

 folks." 



" 'Well, wlien you have selected the right kind of a pig, wliat next is 

 important ?" 



" "Well, then you must have a nice pLnce for the critters to live in, and 

 feed them on the rigiit kind of victuals." 



" AVHiat kind of food ?" 



" "Well, the best and cheapest kind of food I have found, when it comes 

 time to put on the fat, 'ajnirc/wtl corn. I generally manage to buy a barrel 

 or two of Southern honey, if it is cheai), which I mix with the parched corn, 

 for my fatting hog:?." 



1-2. Foodins Standiiiar fern to Hoirs— in the Field— or ftallifrcd, Ground, 

 and rookfd— Comparative A<lvantasres of these methods.— The method often 

 practiced by lai'ge farmers of turning fattening hogs into the fields of 

 standing corn, if properly conducted, lias its advantages over that of 

 ■gathering the corn and fee<ling it dry to the hogs in the jien. 



The earlier in the season the process of fattening swine is begun the 

 better, after the grain has reached a certain period of maturity, whether it 

 be rye, oats, or corn, because all farm animals, and hogs in particular, will 

 fatten much faster in warm than in cold weather. And the grain between 

 the periods of its doughy state and full maturity, or rather, before it becomes 

 drj', is more easily digested, and assimilated, and converted into flesh and 

 fat than when it has passed into its dry state. It is clear, then, that the 

 sooner the hogs ^re turned into the field after the grains of corn are fully 

 formed, and while yet in the milk, the more speedily they will fatten; for 

 if the weather be dry, the corn hardens very rapidly. 



A very interesting experiment in feeding hogs is detailed by Mr. James 

 Buckingham in the rrairie Farmer. On the 6th day of Septembei' (in 

 ordinary seasons corn, at this date, is too far advanced to commence feeding 

 to the best advantage), the hogs, ISO in number, were weighed, and footed 

 up in the aggregate 19,600 lbs. A movable fence was nsed, confining the 

 hogs to an area suflicient to afford feed for two or three days. The eutii'e 

 field, thus fed, contained 40 acres, with an estimated average of 40 bushels 

 per acre. The consumption of this corn gave a gain of 10,740 lbs. The 

 hogs, when turned into the corn, cost three cents per pound, equal to $588 ; 

 worth, when fed, four cents per pound, or $1,213 60 — giving a return fm- 

 each acre of corn consumed of $15 64. Adding to this $1 per acre for the 

 improvement of the land by feeding the corn on the field, making the 

 actual gain ])er acre $16 64, equal to 40 cents per bushel, standing in tlie 

 field. The whole cost of corn per acre, exclusive of interest on the land, is 

 set down at $3 65. 



By way of comparing the advantages of ground and cooked food over 

 that which was merely ground, and that which was unground, Mr. B. put 

 up three hogs into separate pens. To one he fed two and a half bushels of 

 corn in the ear, during a period of nine days, feeding all he would eat ; tliis 



