The Prevention of Hog Diseases 461 



there is no objection from a sanitary point of view to 

 feeding on the ground, providing a different place is 

 selected from day to day. Feeding from a self-feeder 

 is more sanitary than hand-feeding on the floor or ground. 

 It is not advisable to allow hogs to wallow in or drink 

 from small streams. In the corn-belt such streams usually 

 receive sewage from other hog lots, and are a common 

 source of disease. Ponds and wallows are usually little 

 better than cesspools. They receive the drainage from 

 the surface of the lot and should be filled in with dirt in 

 order to prevent hogs using them for wallowing or drink- 

 ing places. Water from a good well given to the hogs 

 in clean troughs or drinking fountains is the only satis- 

 factory water supply. 



Disinfection of hog-houses and yards. 



The first step in disinfecting hog-houses and yards is to 

 give the surface that is to be disinfected a thorough clean- 

 ing. All litter such as manure, straw, and corn-cobs 

 should first be removed from the lot, and dust and dirt 

 brushed and scraped from the walls and floors of the hog- 

 houses. The surface of an earth floor should be removed 

 to a depth of several inches. Portable houses or piles 

 of rails and lumber should be moved in order to permit 

 cleaning under them. Straw should be hauled to a field 

 that is to be plowed later, or piled where other live-stock 

 cannot come in contact with it. Plowing the lots and 

 sowing a forage crop is the most economical method of 

 cleaning them. They may be covered with quicklime, 

 or rested for a few months in order to permit the sun and 

 other natural disinfectants to destroy the disease-pro- 

 ducing germs. The houses should be sprayed with a water 

 solution of a reliable cresol or coal tar disinfectant. Unless 



