326 HINTS ON SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 



animals will eat, or allow them to range freely on what is supposed to 

 be good grass, and expect them to grow fat and contented without other 

 food. In the first place, no hog can stand full feeding on dry corn 

 alone for many weeks in succession ; he may not become diseased, so 

 far as appearance and action are concerned, but the fevered condition 

 due to feeding corn exclusively is sure to be there, and only time is re- 

 quired to bring it out. Do not think that we would underrate the value 

 of corn in fattening hogs we are too well aware of its importance in 

 swine feeding to make any statements that are not pretty strongly based 

 on a good foundation but we do question whether, as generally fed, 

 there is not more loss than gain in its use. It is a mistake to suppose 

 that when corn is cheap it can be fed at a profit, regardless of other 

 conditions ; the hog demands a variety, and will not give greatest 

 return for time and food invested, unless this variety is given. More 

 than this, the hog requires bulky food, not highly concentrated, and 

 to provide this, something besides corn is necessary. 



Concerning the second practice, we may say : In a large section of 

 the country hogs are allowed to range on grass, and are fed corn to 

 'harden the flesh," and prepare the animal for market ; such treatment 

 is little better than the other extreme, for it is no longer a disputed 

 point, that hogs full-fed on proper diet will make a much greater rela- 

 tive return for food consumed than if the same food is given, but in 

 smaller quantity. We cannot protest too strongly against the custom 

 of allowing hogs to run wild the first year (stock-hogs), and feeding 

 heavily for a short time just before placing on the market ; it is a waste 

 in two directions: (i) loss of time, and consequent loss of interest on 

 investment ; and (2) a very great loss by reason of the constant exertion 

 required to secure whatever sustenance they may from the grass at their 

 command ; all exertion is work, and all work has a natural tendency to 

 decrease the production of fat. It is urged in favor of this system that 

 while the hog is running at large he is growing, and that if fed for early 

 market, this growth will be lost. Those who argue on this line forget 

 that the object in raising stock of any kind is to realize the greatest 

 profit in the shortest possible space of time. There is only one reason 

 (perhaps two) that should cause a farmer to carry over a stock of hogs 

 to fatten the succeeding winter, and that is, market ; we have always 

 been of opinion that farmers are primarily to blame for the low prices 

 at which their pork is sold. If they would get out of the old ruts and 

 pay off their debts in some other way than by sacrificing a crop at the 

 lowest point of the market to do it, they would soon be in condition to 

 bid defiance to the periodical depressions that affect the market Every 

 farmer should study the market as closely as he studies the weather, and 

 when there is good promise of better prices in the future, it may be prof- 

 itable to hold. 



