BREEDS OF SWINE 499 



mature animals or ten to twenty shoats. This method keeps them 

 much cleaner and more thrifty than when allowed to congregate in 

 larger numbers. Individuals of a herd showing evidences of a con- 

 tagious disease can be readily isolated. 



By locating the portable houses adjacent to the main farm 

 barn yards, it gives the animals freedom for exercise and exclusive 

 shelter from the other farm stock. Six to eight of the 8 by 8 A- 

 shaped houses will easily accommodate a car load of shoats. A feed- 

 ing floor can be conveniently arranged in some protected quarter so 

 that the work in caring for the herd is reduced to a minimum. It 

 will be found that by locating the houses in a high and dry place, 

 that they will keep in good condition if thoroughly bedded once a 

 week. But in damp and muddy seasons it is better to 'bed them 

 oftener. The beginner in planning accommodations for swine 

 should thoroughly compare the merits and the economy of this sys- 

 tem with the conditions and expense connected in maintaining a 

 large hog house. (Wis. B. 153.) 



For providing the pigs with shelter when they are out in the 

 lots, the portable cot is a desirable thing to have. They also come 

 very handy during the winter months, for they can be used to pro- 

 vide shelter for something around the barns. (N. D. B. 83.) 



The portable house is coming into very general favor, espe- 

 cially in disease-infected districts. It is of various forms, and should 

 be large enough for five or six grown hogs, with enough height to 

 allow a man to stand erect ; 6 by 6, 6 by 8, or 8 by 8 feet are good 

 sizes. Such houses should be strongly constructed of good lumber, 

 with perfectly tight siding and roof. They may be made with or 

 without floors. If lined inside with the same materials as outside, 

 such a house will be warm enough for a sow and pigs in zero 

 weather; and on extremely cold nights a lantern hung in the house 

 will provide warmth enough. 



The plan for a portable house used by two successful breeders 

 A. J. Lovejoy, of Illinois, and L. N. Bonham, of Ohio are de- 

 scribed as follows: The Lovejoy pens or portable houses are each 

 situated in the middle of an acre lot and on either side of a drive- 

 way, the divisions being made by the use of wire fencing. The 

 houses are 8 feet square. Four 16-inch boards make the floor, and 

 the roof and sides are made of matched flooring lined with building 

 paper, and that covered on the inside with common lumber. The 

 houses are set to front south. There is a door in both north and 

 south ends, and a window in the south end, the latter being hinged 

 at the top with a rope and pulley attached, so that it can be swung 

 up out of the way when it is open. In cold weather and early spring 

 the north door is closed, and, if necessary, the south openings are 

 also closed, fresh air being secured through the ventilator in the 

 roof by carrying the ridge a trifle higher than the sides that com- 

 prise the roof. 



In hot weather the houses are converted into summer resorts 

 by leaving both doors and window open. Each house is nicely 

 painted with two coats and trimmed in white, and costs, complete, 



