HINTS ON SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 331 



it seems hardly worth while spending time with them. Half of a litter may thus be lost, 

 and sometimes all, but if any survive they are apt to do better and make us more money, 

 considering time and trouble saved, than to have saved all. We are inclined to think the 

 career of the runt pig, as a runt, begins before it is born, and comes from not being as 

 well nourished as his fellows before entering life on his own account. The early backset 

 thus given a pig may doubtless be overcome, in a measure at least, by special care and 

 liberal feeding afterwards. In cases of scarcity of stock the extra attention given runt 

 pigs, or those weakly at birth, may be made to pay well. 



"After the pigs are farrowed, the sow is given all the warm drink she will take. 

 This is made by scalding wheat bran and ship stuff with hot water, and then adding cold 

 water and skimmed milk, if the latter is at hand, until reduced to the right temperature. 

 If given her cold at this time of year, she will go to her bed chilled and uncomfortable, 

 but if warm and palatable she will lie down and be quiet, while the little pigs will suck, 

 sleep and grow strong. It is surprising how fast a few good fillings with milk and a few 

 good sleeps will send them along. 



"The feed of the sow is but little increased during the first week or ten days. By 

 the time the pigs are three or four weeks old, if they have done well, they will have be- 

 come a real burden to the sow, and she will begin to fall off in flesh rapidly unless in the 

 meantime her rations have been gradually increased in richness as well as in quantity. 

 When four weeks old the young pigs are offered feed in a trough by themselves, where it 

 cannot be reached by the sow. They soon learn to eat, and with this help they grow still 

 faster. When they are eight or ten weeks old the sow is taken from them, or they from the 

 sow, as is most convenient at the time. Before weaning, however, they are all carefully 

 marked, and the marks recorded, so that the parentage of each may always be known. 

 About two weeks before weaning the males that are intended for pork -making are cas- 

 trated. In case any of these are not fully recovered or doing well, they are left with the 

 sow a few days or a week longer than the others. 



' ' A few weeks after weaning, all the young boars that are to be sold for breeding 

 purposes are separated from the others, and placed out of sight, as well as they can be, 

 of other pigs or hogs. They are kept until sold on grass so far as practicable, in the 

 orchard or small pasture, and fed on almost anything that happens to be available, only 

 they are given very little corn. We prefer oats, rye, vegetables, purslane and wind-fallen 

 apples. When we buy feed, it is usually wheat bran, ship stuff and oil meal [linseed] 

 for making into swill with skimmed milk. 



' ' The sow pigs are kept and fed in much the same way, as are also the barrows and 

 all intended for fattening for pork, except that these last are put on more of a corn diet 

 early in the fall. As soon as new corn is large enough, some is cut each day and thrown 

 to the pigs, stalk and ear together, on the ground, while they are still in the pastures. 

 Later, the feeding stock is separated from the breeding stock. We try to keep the latter 

 in good growing condition during summer and fall, but from the ist of September to the 

 ist of December the others are fed with a view to fattening as well as making growth. 

 We aim to have them weigh from 225 to 250 pounds at nine months old, and to have them 

 sold before winter sets in. The most of the breeders are also sold by this time, though 

 some of the young sows are always reserved to be bred in the fall and then sold during 

 the winter as sows due to farrow in the spring. 



"In this hurried recital of our methods, little has been said of the kinds and quan- 

 tities of feed given, simply because what can and should be used in our climate or locality 

 cannot perhaps be had in another. The pig is as omnivorous a feeder as is man, and can 

 about as readily adapt himself to the circumstances of feed and surroundings as can his 

 keeper. For similar reasons nothing has been said of the construction of pens and shel- 

 ters. Here hogs do well with open sheds facing the south. With a good and dry floor, 

 thereby insuring to the hog a dry bed, he will not suffer much in winter if reasonably well 



