AND CATTLE DOCTOR. 227 



kept in their pen, for the animals to eat as their appe- 

 tites or instincts may direct. It has been suppose^], 

 likewise, that swine thrive better when they can obtain 

 fresh earth, which they are observed often to swallow 

 w ith greediness. The probability is that nature directs 

 these creatures to the use of such substances as ab- 

 sorbents to correct the acidities of their stomachs. 

 Charcoal, it is said by some, will answer a similar if 

 not more valuable purpose ; and that if swine are sup- 

 plied with this last mentioned substance they show but 

 little inclination for rooting, and are much more quiet 

 in their pens than under ordinary treatment. 



Mr. Peters, and sortie other eminent agriculturists, 

 have asserted that food for swine is much the best for 

 fattening them, when it has been soured by fermenta- 

 tion, and it is even supposed that one gallon of sour 

 wash will go as far as two of sweet for this purpose. 

 And an English writer tells us that " the best method 

 of feeding all kinds of grain to hogs, is to grind it to 

 meal, and mix it with water, in cisterns made for the 

 purpose, in the proportion of five bushels of meal to a 

 hundred gallons of water •, the mass to be well stirred 

 several times each day, until it has fermented and be- 

 come acid, when it will become ready for use. In this 

 way two or three cisterns must be kept for fermenting 

 in succession ; and the profit will pay the expense." 



Hogs cannot be fattened so cheaply in very cold as 

 in temperate weather, unless they are guarded with 

 great care against the inclemency of the season. In 

 the winter too, acid or fermented food cannot so well 

 be procured for them, as the low temperature of the 

 air will stop fermentation, if not freeze the wash under 

 ordinary circumstances. The food for swine may be 

 fermented by being kept in an apartment kept 

 at near summer heat by a stove. The "wash may 

 also be kept warm by steam* introduced according 



