BREEDS OF SWINE 507 



vat was easily constructed, inexpensive, durable, and is entirely sat- 

 isfactory. (Mich. B. 223.) 



Yard Fences. The question of cheap, durable, and serviceable 

 fencing for the small yards adjacent to the piggery is an important 

 problem. During the past, lumber in various forms has been con- 

 verted into fences of different styles for this purpose, but now its 

 scarcity and high price renders its use almost prohibitive. A tight 

 board fence probably makes the most perfect one for turning hogs. 

 We have attempted to make a suitable substitute, in large part, for 

 the lumber except in the case of the divisions between the boar pens. 

 The fences forming our small pens are constructed of woven wire 

 with two-by-six inch material at bottom and top. Cedar posts are 

 placed, in this case, a little less than eight feet apart. (They should not 

 be more than this distance for pen fences.) The posts were notched 

 out at the bottom and top one-inch deep and the width of the two- 

 by-six. Thus, the two-by-sixes when firmly spiked in place, instead 

 of being flush, projected an inch out from the surface of the post 

 The 26-inch woven wire was placed on the posts with top and bottom 

 wires just touching the two-by-sixes. The woven wire was not 

 stapled to the end posts but each strand brought around the post 

 and wrapped on itself. The wire fencing was also stapled to the 

 intermediate cedar posts and the top and bottom wires to the two-by- 

 sixes against which they rested. 



The woven wire used was special hog fence with seven lateral 

 wires, top and bottom wires No. 9 and intermediate No. 12. There 

 are twenty-eighth No. 11 cross wires to the rod. The woven wire 

 and two-by-sixes make the fence thirty-eight inches high. This has 

 furnished a cheap fence and after three seasons' use we are perfectly 

 satisfied with it. But one repair has been made and that at a point 

 where a flaw occurred in the wire. The openings of these pens con- 

 sist of doors which slide up and down in grooves at the sides, drop- 

 ping into slots at the bottom to prevent pigs from opening them. 



Lot Fences. The term lot is here used to designate larger en- 

 closures, such as those furnishing pasture and forage crops. In pur- 

 suing economic methods of swine husbandry, pasture and forage 

 crops are essential throughout the greatest possible portion of the 

 year. Few crops provide continuous pasturage throughout the grow- 

 ing season and even those which do may require resting spells for 

 recuperation. Continuous pasturing and foraging by hogs is largely 

 dependent on a succession of these two classes of crops. As a small 

 area can be made to produce sufficient green crop for large numbers 

 of hogs, this fact, in addition to the two already stated, would seem 

 to require either a number of small lots or one large one subdivided 

 by portable fences or hurdles. Portable fences constructed of light 

 lumber have been commonly used in the past but this material is 

 no longer practicable under general conditions. If the number of 

 hogs on a farm will justify the growing of say six acres of forage 

 crops, this should be enclosed and divided through the center by 

 permanent fences. Division of the two halves can then be made by 

 means of a portable woven wire fence as follows : Set a row of posts 



