THE HOG. 219 



6. Vary tour bill of fare. Variety will create, or, at all events, 

 increase appetite, and it is further most conducive to health; let your 

 variations be guided by the state of the dung cast ; this should be of 

 medium consistence, and of a grayish-brown color ; if hard, increase 

 the quantity of bran and succulent roots ; if too liquid, diminish, or 

 dispense with bran, and let the mess be firmer ; if you can, add a por- 

 tion of corn — that which is injured, and thus rendered unfit for other 

 purposes, will be found to answer well. 



7. Feed your stock separately, in classes, according to their rela- 

 tive conditions; keep sows in young by themselves; stores by them- 

 selves ; and bacon hogs and porkers by themselves. It is not advisable 

 to keep your stores too high in flesh, for high feeding is calculated to 

 retard development of form and bulk. It is better to feed pigs intend- 

 ed to be put up for bacon, loosely, and not too abundantly, until they 

 liave attained their full stature ; you can then bring them into the 

 highest possible condition in an inconceivably short space of time. 



8. Do NOT regret the loss or scarcity of potatoes, so far as 

 swine-feeding is concerned. Its loss has been the means of stimulating 

 inquiry and producing experiment, which has resulted in the discovery 

 that many other superior vegetables have been hitherto neglected and 

 foolishly passed aside. 



9. Do NOT neglect to keep your swine clean, dry, and warm. 

 These are essentials, and not a whit less imperative than feeding, for 

 an inferior description of food will, by their aid, succeed far better than 

 the highest feeding will without them ; and we would reiterate the 

 benefit derivable from washing your hogs ; this will repay your trouble 

 manifold. 



10. Watch the markets. Sell when you see a reasonable profit 

 before you. Many and many a man has swamped himself by giving 

 way to covetousness, and by desiring to realize an unusual amount of 

 gain ; recollect how very fluctuating are the markets, and that a certain 

 gain is far better than the risk of loss. 



Time Requisite for Feeding Fat— Quantity of Food.— This will, of course, 

 vary very considerably, according to the weight, age, breed, and condi- 

 tion of the store when first put up, as well as the description of food 

 on which, up to that period, the animal has been fed. The same ob- 

 servations are applicable to the quantity of food required for the pro- 

 duction of fat. 



If a young store, five or six weeks may be sufliicient ; if older, six or 

 eight ; and if of the mature age, intended for a perfect bacon hog, of 

 that moderate degree of size and fatness which is preferred for the gen- 

 eral consumption of the middle classes, from twelve to fourteen. A 

 bacon hog, if intended to be thoroughly fattened for farm use, should, 

 however, be of a large breed, and brought to such a state as not to be 

 able to rise without diflSculty, and will, perhaps, require five or six 

 months, or even more, to bring him to that condition. This, however, 

 supposes him to be completely fat; to ascertain which with perfect ac- 

 curacy, he ought to be weighed every week during the latter part of 

 the process ; for although his appetite will gradually fall oft* as he in- 

 creases in fat, yet the flesh which he will acquire will also diminish, 



