THE FEEDING AND SHELTERING OF SWINE. 973 



when the price of corn was fifty cents per bushel or less ; and here again 

 economy will depend more or less upon the facilities for grinding and for 

 cooking. 



rv. Grasses and Clovers. 



The main aependence for grazing will be blue grass, orchard grass, 

 and red and white clover. Alfalfa — wherever it will grow — cut 

 green, makes an excellent supplementary food, when swine get used to 

 it ; and field peas cut just before they shell are excellent for hogs. 



V. Roots. 



Artichokes, potatoes, ruta-bagas, parsnips, carrots, and beets, are 

 readily eaten by swine, and are preferred in the order named. We have 

 successfully wintered store hogs entirely on ruta-bagas with the addition 

 of a little meal. Artichokes are a cheap and excellent root food, if the 

 swine are allowed to gather them themselves in the autumn and spring. 



VI. Grain the Main Reliance. 



Grain, however, is, in the West, the cheapest food and the main de- 

 pendence of the farmer. The other foods are useful mainly for keeping 

 the animal in good health and digestion ; for, without sound health and good 

 digestion, no animal can be made fully fat. In the fall there is no better 

 food than pumpkins and grain boiled together ; and if the pumpkins are 

 protected from frost, swine may be carried in this way until Christmas 

 and made fully fat. 



VII. Feeding in th.e Fields. 



In all the great com region of the West and South, field-feeding wil^ 

 lon«- continue to be the favorite way of fattening hogs. It is cleanly, and, 

 where grain is cheap, economical. It is only necessary to see that the 

 ho^-s are made comfortable by shelter from storms and cold weather, and 

 that they have plenty of pure water. This is so easy to do that the mere 

 mention of it will suffice. 



vm. Gleaning in the Fields and after Cattle. 



Swine should always have the run of the grain fields after harvest, if 

 possible. In this way they save all the grain dropped in harvesting, and, 

 most important, they get a variety of herbage, which they could not other- 

 wise obtain. It should, of course, not interfere with their getting full 

 rations of grain, and plenty of pure water for drinking must be provided, 

 for swine are thirsty animals ; and attention to providing a dark place 

 where they may escape msects must not be forgotten. 



