232 



SWINE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



adopted. If fed through the hot weather 

 exclusively on corn, the teeth become 

 sore, and the animal is generally dis- 

 eased. At killing time the livers will 

 generally be found diseased, and it will 

 be found impracticable to make them put 

 on fat. 



One autumn, when corn was worth 

 twenty cents, a neighbor inquired of us 

 if we could tell why his hogs would not 

 fatten, and also saying that most of his 

 neighbors made the like complaint. We 

 replied that the reason was obvious — cheap 

 corn was the trouble; not that ten cent 

 corn is less nutritious than when the price 

 is one dollar, but it is fed too liberally, 

 and neither a hog or any other animal 

 can stand full feeding with corn alone but 

 a few months and continue in health. 

 The proper course is to so feed during 

 ».he summer as to preserve the animals in 

 the most perfect health, keep them thrift- 

 ly growing, and slightly gaining in flesh, 

 so as to prepare them best for the fatten- 

 ing process, which is always more or less 

 a health-destroying process. With good 

 clover or timothy pasture, a little corn or 

 other grain is not objectionable, but they 

 will do well on the pasture alone — they 

 will grow but not fatten — and if kept 

 through the summer on grass alone, will 

 be in admirable condition to take on flesh; 

 they will account promptly for every ker- 

 nel of corn judiciously given them. 



Their teeth and digestive organs are 

 all fresh and in good condition, and with 

 strong appetites and vigorous health, 

 their advance to the condition of respect- 

 able porkers is easy and rapid. Sudden 

 changes from solid to succulent food 

 should be carefully avoided, and vice 

 versa, the change from grass to heavy 

 feeding with corn should be very gradual, 

 especially as the fattening season com- 

 mences. 



There is one primary rule in fattening 

 that should never be violated: the change 

 of feed should always be from lighter to 

 heavier, and never from heavier to light- 

 er. Consequently, when taken from 

 grass and vegetables, a little soft corn or 

 meal should be gradually introduced. 

 Corn cut while the kernel is in the milk is 

 good food to follow the grass. The grad- 

 ual hardening of the grain will be a prop- 

 er increase of the nutrient quality of the 

 food. When fairly established on a diet 



of sound corn, it should be fed on a clean 

 floor, and in amount about what will be 

 eaten, but not so as to have a kernel left. 

 The practice of leaving a quantity of 

 corn more than will be eaten on the feed- 

 ing floor is a very wasteful and bad prac- 

 tice. The nice point to ascertain is to 

 find, by measurement, the amount that 

 will be consumed without any waste, and 

 then to always measure the feed, by that 

 standard, varying the amount as their ap- 

 petites require. There are no animals 

 that will retain their appetite and thrive 

 as well when fed to a surfeit, with the 

 unused food blown and dirty constantly 

 before them as they will with just enough 

 to give healthy and full action to the 

 digestive organs, and to preserve the 

 appetite unimpaired. To effect this the 

 last of each feed should be consumed 

 with avidity. Thus the old adage, that 

 the lazy farmer who leaned upon the 

 fence while his hogs finished their meal, 

 always had the leanest pork, has much 

 significance. 



Plenty of water, with occasionally a 

 little salt, coal and ashes to correct the 

 acidity of the stomach of the gourmand 

 porkers, completes the required dietary. 

 This system of feeding is adapted to 

 corn fattening as practiced at the West. 



Our Eastern friends have a somewhat 

 different system. First, having secured 

 the necessary buildings, kettles, troughs, 

 etc., they commence the fattening pro- 

 cess by boiling vegetables, such as apples, 

 potatoes, pumpkins, or any other that 

 hogs will eat, and when thoroughly cook- 

 ed, these constitute the food for the first 

 few days, they then commence adding a 

 very little meal, mixing it with the hot, 

 boiled or steamed vegetables, so as to 

 cook it thoroughly. When the mess has 

 undergone a slight fomentation it is ready 

 for use. The amount of meal is very 

 gradually increased, till toward the close 

 of the fattening season, when meal alone 

 is given ; the meal is of corn, oats, buck- 

 wheat, and barley, 'ground, either mixed 

 or separately. 



Hogs kept in a close pen and fed corn 

 through the whole period of their exist- 

 ence will figure up the profits on the 

 wrong side of the balance sheet; and 

 much depends on the breed; there will 

 be a wide difference between results from 

 a good and inferior breed with the same 



