BREED IXG, ETC. Gil 



days after tlieir birth ; and such as have this desire, should 

 be parted with, as useless for breeding from. 



During the time of pregnancy, sows should be well fed, 

 and have a meal of a rich mash twice a day, at least, and, 

 besides, a good supply of vegetable substances, such as cab- 

 bages, carrots, or potatoes ; and when they are nursing 

 their young, tliey should have a still larger supply of food, to 

 keep up that secretion of milk so essentially necessary for 

 the supply of such a numerous progeny. 



Pigs may be weaned when about eight weeks old, and se- 

 parated from the sow. She should be shut up by hers^elf 

 for a week or so, and well fed, to restore what she has lost 

 in suckling her young. She will very soon after this mani- 

 fest a desire to take the boar. 



The times at which hogs are fattened, are twice a year, 

 namely, beginning in October, for the winter, and February 

 or March for the spring time. Where skimmed-milk can be 

 spared, it will be found the best liquid, and mixed wdth 

 ground oats, barley-meal, pea-meal, or bean-meal, as also 

 pollard ; these may be given combined, with great advantage. 

 Indeed it is better to neutralize the heating effects of pea 

 and bean-meal, by a mixture of some of the other farina- 

 ceous bodies. ]\Ialted barley has also been given to pigs 

 while fattening, with considerable success. Potatoes and 

 carrots boiled, mixed with skimmed or butter-milk, and even 

 whey, prove an excellent variety for inducing an increase of 

 substance in the animals. The refuse of the brewhouse and 

 distillery are also found to be beneficial in fattening swine, 

 with other farinaceous substances mixed in them 



From the contumacious and unruly nature of hogs, there 

 is great difficulty, if not an utter impossibility of performing 

 operations on them, as with other animals, and consequently 

 little progress has been made in the application of the ve- 



