972 CYCLOPEDIA OF IIVE STOCK AND COMFjLETE STOCK DOCTOB. 



low ill the mud, at times, it is true, but a mud bath is nature's specifio 

 for scurvy and other skin diseases. Svvmc, also, take a mud bath as 

 refui!:e fi-oni insects ; nevertheless they are cai-eful, if allowed, to thor- 

 oughly (!lean themselves, when drj- , against the rubbing post. 



II, The Proper Pood for Swine. 



Swine eat fewer varieties of ncrbs and grass than any other animal. Pig- 

 weed (^amaranth), pursley [portulacca ) and various other succulent plants, 

 with the common pasture grasses, and red and white clover are about 

 the only ones swine Avill feed on. Artichokes and various tuberous and 

 bulbous roots, many insects — especially the larvoa of the May beetle, and 

 the white grub of our pastures — frogs, and such small animals as they i an 

 kill, together with all the edible grains, and culinary vegetables, consti- 

 tute their natural food. In fact, they eat few substances that would be 

 injurious to man. Such, then, is their proper food — so far as it may be 

 obtained — if the highest constitutional vigor is to be preserved in the 

 breeding stock. If they are allowed a fair range on clover, including the 

 gleaning of grain fields in summer; and if a good supply of pumpkins, 

 and the refuse fruit of the farm be allowed them in autumn ; and if in 

 the winter they be allowed daily rations of artichokes, small potatoes, 

 parsnips or carrots, they may have, in addition, what grain they need to 

 keep them in full flesh — not fat. If this course of feeding were gener- 

 ally adopted for the breeding stock, we should in a few ^^ears hear but 

 little of the epidemics which periodically sweep the s^ine away by thous- 

 ands. But as long as there are so many breeders who never look beyond 

 present profits, these epidemics will probably continue to be bred among 

 the herds of this class to scatter the germs far and wide. 



m. Smmner Feeding for Pork. 



We now come to the care of fattening stock. The pigs having been 

 weaned, as already directed, give them the run of a clover pasture ; and, 

 while we object to the ringing of breeding stock, with those intended for 

 fattening it is, perhaps, less objectionable than the tearing up of the graz- 

 ing fields. But if the grazing fields are infested with the larvse of the 

 May beetle or similar insects, the fattening hogs may as well be allowed to 

 root as much as they want to. There is no cheaper way of ridding the 

 land of these pests. 



In addition to clover, give the young pigs all the milk and other slops 

 of the house, and also give what corn they will eat ; older pigs will do 

 well enough on clover and corn, without the slops. Whether the grain 

 shall be ground, or ground and cooked, will depend entirely on the price, 

 We have always found whole grain the cheapest, except for finishing off. 



