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SWi 



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least, like human creatures, apt to 

 be cloyed when confined wholly to 

 one kind of food. They should 

 therefore be, in some measure gra- 

 tified with variety. It has been 

 often remarked, that potatoes suit 

 hogs better in summer than in win- 

 ter. The secret is. that in summer 

 no hog is wholly confined to pota- 

 toes ; for ho gets at least some 

 grass and weeds. 



I know not whether it has ever 

 yet been determined, at what age 

 it is best, or most for the owner's 

 interest, that swine should be fat- 

 ted and killed. That it is in no 

 part of the first year, excepting the 

 China breed, 1 suppose will be gen- 

 erally granted. For as they have 

 not near attained to their full 

 growth, it cannot be expected that 

 they should be so quickly, or so ea- 

 sily fatted by feeding. But as the 

 you!)g pork is more palatable, some 

 will prefer it on the whole, though 

 it should be more dearly obtained- 



The more common practice is, 

 to kill them at about the age of a 

 year and a ha|(f. But i suspect the 

 profit would be greater, if they 

 were kept one year longer. For it 

 is wel' known, that they bear the 

 cold of the second winter much bet- 

 ter than that of the first. As their 

 growth is nearly or quite complet- 

 ed, they are the more easily fat- 

 tened ; and I never could perceive 

 but tha the pork was equally good 

 and palatable, as those killed at 

 eighteen months old. 



According to the opinion of the 

 Rev. Mr. Eliot, the best time in 

 the year to shut up hogs to fatten 

 them, is the month of August. I 

 rather prefer the month of Sep- 



tember, when it may be depended 

 on, that they will not sulfer at all 

 by the heat in their confinement: 

 And there will be time enough to 

 make them fat, before the weather 

 comes to be extremely cold. 



He that attempts to fatten his 

 hogs in winter will be a loser : For 

 it has been found by long experi- 

 ence, that they do not gain in their 

 flesh near so fast in a frosty, as in a 

 temperate season. 1 therefore 

 take care to get them fit for the 

 knife by the begmning or middle of 

 December, and I should choose to 

 kill Ihem still earlier, were it not 

 for the advantage of keeping the 

 lean part of the pork for some time 

 without salting ; as it most com- 

 monly may be done by exposing it 

 to frost, in the coolest part of a 

 house. 



But a very important question is, 

 what food and management is best 

 in fattening swine ? Pease answer 

 well, when the price of them is low. 

 But I am consirained to give the 

 preference to Indian corn. Let 

 them be fed in September with 

 green ears from the field. There 

 is nothing they will devour more 

 greedily than this corn, and even 

 tlie cobs with it. 



In Indian harvest, the unripe ears 

 should be picked out, and given to 

 the hogs that are fatting, without 

 delay : Or as fast as they can eat 

 them : For it will do them four 

 times as much good in this state, 

 as it will after it is dried, it being 

 difficult to dry it without its turning 

 mouldy, or rotten ; so that they 

 will scarcely eat any of it in this 

 state, unless they be kept shorter 

 of food than fatting hogs should be. 



