146 DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



lience we must use some absorbent for the poisonous gcoses constantly 

 being exhaled by the hog, and the best and cheapest yet known to man 

 is tli-y clay, which will take np a large amount of gas in proportion to its 

 bulk. The diy clay will also assist in keeping the hog dry and clean, 

 and with reasonable ventilation above the air will remain quite piu-e. 

 The plan for a pig-pen annexed I have furnished to many prominent 

 stock men, and all have united in stating that it is the most perfect plan 

 they have seen. (See drawing of pig-pen.) 



The lot should, if possible, have a clay soil surface, and the feeding floor 

 should have a slope of two inches to carry oft" the rain that falls upon it. 

 By having the floor open to sun, rain, and wind it is kept clean and 

 pui'e; by having the lot sloping away from the pen, the rain will assist 

 in keeping it clean by removing refuse matter from the surface. In this 

 way nature assists the farmer in keeping his pens clean and healthy. 

 'No straw or other litter should be allowed in sleeping rooms, as it will 

 accumulate moisture and give forth noxious air at all times. Straw 

 should not be allowed in the lot, as it will absorb any poisonous vapors 

 passing over, and birds coming from herds infected with septic disease 

 will bring the matter on their feet, and it mil retain its life in the straw. 

 But on dry groimd, even it it finds lodgment, it wdl soon be disinfected. 

 The hogs should be furnished with pui-e fresh water in abundance, not 

 only because it is necessary to health, but because water assists mate- 

 rially in producing fat. (in the subject of food supply there has been 

 much ditference of opinion, and I can only give my own views and the 

 scientific reasons for them. The prime object in feeding swine is to ac- 

 cumulate fat as rapidly as possible on those intended for market, to keep 

 stock hogs in healthy growing condition, and to have brood-sows in the 

 best condition for bearing and suckling young. Of course, to accomplish 

 these objects the stomach must be kept in healthy condition and not 

 overloaded; the food must be of due variety and in suitable quantities, 

 and its character and quality must be considered. For stock hogs, ot 

 course, green food is absolutely necessary. The hog cannot thrive upon 

 an exclusive diet of dry corn and water; but the green food must not 

 be the exclusive diet any more than dry corn. If the hogs are kept on 

 a clover lot, soiu' fermented slop should not be fed at the same time, but 

 rather roots and vegetables, as potatoes, tin-nips, rutabagas, and beets, 

 which contain large quantities of the soda salts, which the clover lacks. 

 Hogs fed or corn may have sour slop to advantage, as this will assist 

 digestion, and in this case prevent an nndue acid condition of the 

 stomach and blood. The hog's natmal instinct will lead him to seek just 

 what his system demands, and he will root in the ground not for the mere 

 pleasui'e of destroying the clover-field, but to find certain salts necessary 

 to health that cannot be obtained except from the groimd. Then if you 

 deprive him of the means nature lias furnished for obtaining these neces- 

 saries of life, you must furnish him with them in some other way. 



Observing farmers have learned by experience that sickness in swine 

 shows error in feed, and at once change to the opiX)site extreme. If 

 feeding clover they change to dry corn, and if dry corn to clover. This 

 rule has saved many droves from being swept oif by infectious diseases. 

 But I will give a rule which I have adopted in my investigations which 

 is simi)le, but wliich at once tells the farmer vviiat general course to pur- 

 sue. If the herd is not doing well, if they do not eat well and apjiear 

 less active than usual, at once examine the tongues of a few and notice 

 the color; if the tongues are red antl contracted give sour slo]) or turn 

 them on clover pasture or on green food, and they will at once improve. 

 If their tongues are large, i^ale, and flabby, give corn, corn-meal, cooked 



