1O4 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



by the way, has been to find myself projected from 

 less than the dust wherein dwell manufacturers 

 into the lofty realms of those most-favored citizens 

 in deference to whose slightest whim all the mani- 

 fold laws and regulations that limit the freedom, 

 hamstring the initiative, and handicap the activity 

 of lesser minorities are relaxed, amplified, or 

 amended. There is hardly such a thing as a politi- 

 cal thought, let alone a reality of legislation, that 

 is not modified insofar as or insuchpart as applies 

 to farmers. 



The urban objection to pigs is that, like Huck 

 Finn's King and Duke, "Dey do smell so." It is a 

 thought to influence the location of the pig pen. 

 And yet not so; there is no need for pigs to smell. 

 There is no inherently cleaner animal. Under con- 

 ditions that would stagger the best-intentioned hu- 

 man housewife the babies of a good brood sow 

 will be miracles of cleanliness. The wonder is that 

 pigs survive the sort of filthy treatment usually 

 meted out to them. Given a good stout pen, clean 

 troughs, frequent changes of bedding, and your 

 pigs will smell as sweet as the cow barn. 



Since his skin has no pores and he can not per- 

 spire the pig suffers intensely in summer heat. 

 That is why he wallows in the mud unless shade 

 is provided for him. Their short nasal passages 

 render pigs vulnerable to pulmonary diseases: 

 colds, bronchitis, and such. Since their fat enables 



