No. 5. 



Breeding and Rearing of Swine. 



151 



grazing and exercise, with a plenty of phade 

 and water, if practicable, and always keop 

 other stocks of hogs away from them of any 

 size, for the purpose of keeping the sows from 

 fighting, and running over and crippling the 

 young pigs, which is pretty generally the 

 case if they are permitted to feed with the 

 60WS and pigs. I feed my sows while suck- 

 ling with as much corn as they will eat up 

 clean, and always if possible put the corn on 

 smooth and dry ground for them. As fcr 

 economy, from experience, I can say I am 

 well paid for my husbandry, to have houses 

 and sheds for winter feeding. My summer 

 and fall feeding of slops to my sows while 

 suckling their pigs, is done in the following 

 described manner ; have two barrels or tubs 

 placed convenient to the troughs, then put 

 into each barrel two pecks of rye and one 

 peck of corn meal, one of wheat bran, then 

 fill the barrels with kitchen slops and soap 

 suds; when not enough of this, make up the 

 deficiency with water, frequently stirring it 

 with a paddle, and in twenty-four hours by a 

 summer heat it will be about as acid as com- 

 mon still beer. Commence slopping out of 

 one tub the first day, leaving some of the slop 

 in the tub to retain the acid for quick fermen- 

 tation; the same evcnmg fill up this tub 

 again for the third day ; now commence slop- 

 ping the second day out of the tub, and re-fill 

 in the evening as you did the first; now you 

 have both your tubs fermented and a body of 

 acid in them, you must keep it up by filling 

 one every day ; renew the meal and bran 

 every two or three days by putting in one 

 peck of the three kinds mixed together in 

 each tub, in the same proportion to the first 

 put in. From this quantity I fed five aged 

 sows and thirty-one pigs three times every 

 day, which took about twenty gallons alto- 

 gether, leaving in the tub about twelve gal- 

 lons to fill up on. I €ontinucd slopping them 

 in this way for seven weeks, which was about 

 weaning time. In this time tiiey consumed 

 about twenty bushels, and at an average cost 

 of fifty cents per bushel, they cost ten dollars 

 expended in meal and bran. From these pigs 

 ' sold three hundred and ten dollars worth, 

 leaving me some five or six pigs on hand. 



Description of the Russia hogs. — Their 

 color is generally white, with long coarse 

 hair, their head is long and coarsely featured, 

 their ears are not so broad as the common va- 

 riety of the country, yet longer and narrower, 

 and come regularly to a point, projecting 

 forward, and they do not appear to have so 

 inuch command of them as other breeds ; they 

 have fine length and height, their bone is 

 large and fine, they stand well upon their 

 pastern joints and trackers; quite industri- 

 ous; they are thick through the shoulders, 

 indifferently ribbed, (or suddenly inclined' 



down,) their plate or kidney bone rather nar- 

 row and ovaling than otherwise, hams pretty 

 gooil, though not so good as the Irish, Bedford 

 or Berkshire, yet preferable to the variety ; 

 they do not graze so wt 11 as many others ; 

 they want more time to bring them into mar- 

 ket than the above named breeds. Give 

 them from eighteen to twenty months age, 

 they will n)ake very large hogs; they are 

 quite prolific, their usual number Is from nine 

 to twelve pigs a litter. I have found their 

 cross with the named breeds to be a valuable 

 acquisition to their grazing, aptitude to fat- 

 ten, and rapid growth at the same time. 



Rearins:, treatment and management vf 

 thorough bred male hogs. — To ensure good 

 size, form and fulness in their hams, straight 

 in their stifle joints, and to give a good and 

 regular growth, I seldom or ever sufier my 

 boar to serve a sow until he has arrived at 

 the age of eight or ten months, and older if 

 possible. I give tliem a lot sufficiently large 

 for exercise, and give food enough to keep 

 them in a high state of flesh while growing) 

 by so doing, I have no fears, from past expe- 

 rience, of injuring their libidinous propensi- 

 ties as so much objected to by aged men, who 

 pretend to be hog growers in Kentucky. By 

 this mode, I am satisfied that you will have 

 stronger, more vigorous, active and regular 

 sized pigs in every litter ; and furthermore, 

 you will find your sows in littering are not so 

 apt to produce pigs dead, Jitty and feeble, as 

 when got by a young or poor boar. In this 

 way I breed them, and, according to my form- 

 er view, never suffering them to run at large 

 with spayed sows, &c. I believe by this 

 treatment they will be good producers for ten 

 or twelve years, if not longer. They are 

 dangerous anim.als, and should not be permit- 

 ted to run with horses and cattle. 



This is the practice that I have adopted 

 and shall follow, unless I see some further in- 

 formation from the pen of some other writer 

 upon the subject. I am always open to con- 

 viction, and willing to receive instruction, 

 and will not spare time, trouble and expense 

 to procure correct principles. I should be 

 pleased to see some writer who has the 

 weight and benefit of years and experience 

 on his side, that I might look up to as a son 

 to a father, for further information, as I am 

 but yet in tlie morning of life. 1 feel much 

 delicacy in coming out in the columns of a 

 public agricultural work, but still, from so 

 licitation, and as a friend to the cause of agri- 

 cultural pursuits, I have ventured. We find 

 recorded in the book of Genesis, chapter iii, 

 verse 2.3d, one of the first commands that 

 God gave to man — " to till the ground from 

 whence he was taken." 



James E. Letton. 



Millcrsburg, Ky. 



