974 



THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



should be a few inches deeper than the barrel, so that there will 

 be room to cover the latter with two or three thicknesses of old 



carpet, and shut the lid to the 

 box. A barrel arranged in this 

 way will not freeze unless the 

 temperature is very low, and then 

 a gallon or so of boiling water 

 poured in, night and morning, will 

 prevent it. It will be but little 

 trouble or expense to arrange a 

 box of this kind, and if it is emp- 

 tied in the spring and stored in 

 a dry place it will last for years. 

 PROTECTED SWILL-BABKKL. I would recommend that it be al- 



ways emptied in the spring, as the sawdust will get wet 

 and rot the box, and is likely to become contaminated and 

 unwholesome. 



I have found no trough so cheap and satisfactory as the V 

 trough. Where the hogs have access to both sides of it it 

 should be made of two-inch lumber, but when placed against a 

 wall an inch board will answer for the back side. It should be 

 strongly nailed together, the ends well fitted, and be securely 

 fastened to its place. A good spout or conductor should lead 

 to it, or if more than eight feet long there should be two of 

 them, as if the trough is long the hogs will huddle around the 

 spout so as to keep the swill from flowing readily. Strips 

 nailed across the top and notched into the sides, so as to be 

 level, will prevent the hogs from lying down in the trough and 

 straining and spreading it so as to cause it to leak. Unless 

 there is water in the lot a separate trough should be provided, 

 and a supply of pure water given them in it, for slop will not 

 take the place of water. 



Shall We Cook Food for Hogs ? Twenty-five years 

 ago I should have answered this question in the affirmative with 

 not a doubt in my mind that I was right, and that no good ar- 

 gument could be given against it. At different times I invested 

 in steamers, boilers, furnaces, and other apparatus for cooking 



