CONSTANT HIGH FEEDING. 135 



than four ounces per week of dry, lean meat during the nine 

 months when the pig was "growing," and over nine and one- 

 half ounces per week while the pig was fattening. I cannot 

 but think, therefore, that more liberal feeding while the pig is 

 growing would not only be much more economical, but that 

 we should get more rather than less lean meat. 



I have had pigs at six months old that weighed more than 

 this fat pig at eleven and one-half months old. I presume 

 they would not differ greatly in composition. As before said, 

 one hundred pounds of corn is capable of producing eighty- 

 one pounds live-weight of such a pig. Now this pig, weigh- 

 ing one hundred and eighty-live pounds, dressed one hundred 

 and forty and one-half pounds, a shrinkage of twenty-four 

 per cent. And so it follows that one hundred pounds of corn, 

 over and above that required to sustain the vital functions, is 

 capable of producing over sixty-one pounds of dressed pork. 



Now, what we want to ascertain is the amount of food 

 required to sustain the vital functions. Dr. Miles, the able 

 professor of agriculture in the Michigan Agricultural College, 

 has favored me with the results of some of his experiments on 

 pigs, commencing August 30, 1870. Four of the pigs were 

 of the common " native " breed, about four months old when 

 shut up, one pig in a pen to fatten. They were allowed all 

 the corn-meal they could eat, moistened with water. On the 

 average, the pigs ate twenty-six and one-half pounds of corn- 

 meal per head per week, and gained a little less than four and 

 one-half pounds. This is six hundred and thirteen pounds of 

 corn, or about eleven bushels, to produce one hundred pounds 

 of increase. And it was a poor kind of increase at that, for 

 the pigs did not fatten ; they merely grew in bone and muscle. 

 After the termination of the experiment they were turned out 

 to be kept to fatten the next fall. 



The average weight of the pigs when four months old was 

 sixty-seven and one-fourth pounds, and at the termination of 

 the experiment, when they were about eight months old, the 

 average weight Avas less than one hundred and thirty-seven 

 pounds. It is evident that they were then in no better con- 

 dition than Mr. Lawes's analyzed "store pig." And it is not 

 probable that the increase contained over thirty-four and one- 

 fourth pounds of fat per cent. So that four and one-half 



