FARMERS' REGISTER— EXPERIMENTS ON FEEDING SWINE. 



307 



the quantity of food given them. Much depends 

 on the breed, as every farmer knows; much on the 

 health of the animal; something on the season of 

 the year. I failed in attempting to fatten several 

 swine in one ease, though they were carefully at- 

 tended and various kinds of feed were tried, and 

 the liiihn-e was totally inexplicable until they were 

 slaughtered, when the intestines were found cor- 

 roded with worms, resembling those found in the 

 human stomach, and this, I have no doubt, pre- 

 vented their thrift. The same fiict has occurred in 

 another instance, and with the same result. I fail- 

 ed in attempting to fatten some other swine, who 

 had been driven a considerable distance and ex- 

 posed, probably not even half fed on the road, to 

 severe cold and storms. Some of them were frost 

 bitten m their limbs; and though attended and fed 

 in the most careful manner they made no progress 

 lor months. In an experiment recentlj' made, of 

 giving swine raw meal mixed with water, I have 

 found a falling off in their gain of nearly one-half, 

 compared with giving their food cooked, such as 

 boiled potatoes and carrots, mixed with meal while 

 hot; the result being, in a stye containmg a num- 

 ber of swine, as 279 to 500. In respect to confine- 

 ment orfi-eedom, various opinions are entertained. 

 "Elder Turner, of New York, says, that hofjs 

 should never know what libertj^ is, but should be 

 kept close all their lives, and as inactive as possi- | 

 ble. That by this method double the quantit}- of 

 pork can be produced with the same expense of 

 feed."* F. Peabody, Esq. informed me that the 

 Shakers at Canterbury, N. H. told him that they 

 deemed it indispensable to the thriving of their 

 swine that the}^ should have access to water to 

 wallow or wash themselves in; and that they by 

 no means did so well without it. On this point I 

 have had no trial farther than to satisfy myself 

 that fatting hogs are injured by being suffered to 

 root in the earth. 



With respect to the age at which it is advan- 

 tageous to put up swine to fatten, I have only to 

 remark, that it is with swine as with other animals, 

 there are some breeds which come much sooner to 

 maturity than others. A successful farmer in 

 Saratoga county, N. Y., says that INIarch p'urs, 

 killed about Christmas, are the most profitable for 



Eork. Four pigs of what is called the Grass 

 reed, wore slaughtered at Greenfield, New York, 

 which weighed 348 lbs. 318 lbs. 310 lbs. and 306 

 lbs. at nine months and seventeen days old. 



On this point, however, I take leave to present a 

 letter w^ith which I was honored by John Lowell, i 

 Esq. whose authority in the agricultural communi- 

 ty is justly estimated. 



'•BosTox, j:/pril 18, 1831. 



"To Rev. Henry Colmaii. 



" Dear Sir, — I have been prevented by the 

 elate of my eyes from answering your inquiries as 

 to my experience in raising old or young pigs. 



# * * » # J never tomtered any pigs, as 

 no person resides on my place from December 1st, 

 to May 1st. It was therefore matter of import- 

 ance to me to ascertain on what description of pigs, 

 or rather of what age, the most flesh could be put 

 in my limited time with similar treatment. I ma)^ 

 eay that I have fully and clearly ascertained, from 

 a trial of 20 years, that young pigs of from 25 to 30 



♦ N. Y. Memoirs of Agrlcultui-e, Vol. 2. p. 50. 



pounds, will give nearly double, in some remarka- 

 ble cases three times, as many pounds as shoats 

 of six months weighing from 100 to 150. I have 

 taken two pigs of 100 lbs. each, age six months, 

 and never was able between May and November, 

 to get them above 180, rarely above 170. I have 

 taken three pigs of about 30 lbs. each, and on the 

 same food which I gave to the two they would 

 weigh from 170 to ISO each in the same period; — 

 nay I have taken pigs of 200, and never could get 

 them to weigh more than 800 in 7 months on my 

 food. The way I ascertain the quantity of food 

 is tliat I never give any thing but the produce of 

 my dairy, and the refuse of the garden, peaches, 

 apples, and cabbage, which are uniibrm general- 

 Iv. 



Three pigs of 90 vvt. or 30 wt. each, will give 

 ordinarily 510 lbs. 



less original wt. 90 oflen 



not more than 60. 



gain 420 lbs. 



Two pigs of 100 wt. each, Avill give 



ordinarily 340 lbs. 



less original wt. 200 



gain 140 Iba. 



" But the 3 pigs of 90 will not consume for the 

 first three months half so much as the two of 100 

 each, and I have kept a 4th and sold it in August 

 for quarter pork. 



" There is nothing new or remarkable in these 

 facts. It is the law of the whole animal creation. 

 It is true of the calf and of man. The child of 

 7 lbs. quadruples its weight in 12 months; and the 

 calf of 60 weiglit if fine and well fed will wei^h 

 600 weight at the end of the year, and (if a fe- 

 male) will not double the last weight at any age. 

 * # # * «**«» 



"Yours, ver}' respectfully, 



"j. LOWELL,. 



"P. S. It should be remarked that the weight 

 at purchase is live- weight, and at sale dead or net 

 weight, because in truth to the owner this is the 

 true mode of considering the subject. No doubt 

 my sort of food is peculiarly favorable to young^ 

 animals, it consisting in very liberal allowance of 

 milk. If the older pigs were at once put on In- 

 dian meal they would attain to 250 at a year old, 

 but the cost of the meal at 70 cents per bushel 

 would amount to 9 dollars, and if the first cost, 5 

 dollars 50 cents, be added, and the pig sold at 6 

 cents, there \\'Ould be but two dollars gain on two 

 pigs of 100 lbs. each; while three small pigs ■\\ath- 

 oul meal fed on milk would give 24 dollars in the 

 same time. I do not mean to give minute details 

 but general views. As an important qualification 

 of the foregoing statement it should be added that 

 shoats of six months bought out of droves have 

 usually been stinted in their growth, and animals, 

 like trees, recover slou-ly after a check. I pre- 

 sume if shoats were taken from a careful and libe- 

 ral owner the difference would be less. But as a 

 general law it may be safely affirmed, that weight 

 for. weight at the purchase, "the younger the animal 

 the greater the positive, and the far greater the net, 

 o-ain. At least such is my own experience and 

 belief." 



