FEEDINa.l 



AM) 111 1:1 li VAKlolS BKKKDS. 



[kebdino. 



tinued as they approached maturity ; and, 

 throughout, cousunied ouly five per cent, of 

 brail. The average eonsuinption of corn, per 

 pig, per week, was sixty pounds, or ahout nine 

 pouiuls per day, wliicli yielded from ten to 

 twelve pounds of meat per week, or about one- 

 and-a-half pounds per day. As tlio animal 

 fattened, a considerable reduction took place in 

 the consumption of food. The nearer it ap- 

 proaclicd to maturity, the greater was the j)ro- 

 portion of fat in the gross increase obtained. 

 On the whole, it was found — " That the larger 

 the proportion of nitrogenous compounds in 

 the food, the greater was tiie tendency to in- 

 crease in frame and flesh ; but that the ma- 

 turing or ripening of the animal — in fact, its 

 fattening — depended very much more on the 



hard, and the fat wastes in cooking. Fish, 

 flfHh, and strong oily matters, give the pork a 

 rank flavour. Finally, it is the iutercHt of the 

 farmer to uso highly nitrogenous leguminous 

 seeds, and even refuse flcHh, if at command, 

 during the earlitT and growing stagca of his 

 bacon hogs. But if a constant market ia to bo 

 secured for pork, barley-meal, or other cerfal 

 grain, must supersede everything else as fat- 

 tening proceeds." 



Sucli were tlio general conclusions arrived 

 at by Mr. Lawes, after he had made a series 

 of the most elaborate experiments which were 

 ever entered upon by any scientific pig-breeder 

 whatever; and we arc all aware that swine aro 

 often kept and maintained by butchers, mostly 

 upon such garbage as entrail.'', the paunches, 



amount of certain digestible non-nitrogenous lights, and the viscera of sheep and cattle, as 

 constituents in the food. It also appeared that well as the blood. The pig being omnivorous, 

 some of the cheaper, highly nitrogenous foods, | hardly any kind of food comes amiss to him; 

 would produce a given amount of gross in- but, when the animal is not fed upon choice or 

 crease more economically than the expensive selected food, his flesh becomes both rank in 

 ones (peas, beans, etc.), which are usually pre- smell and taste, and is easily recognised as 

 ferred by pork -feeders. If the amount of gross not having been nourished by a vegetable 

 produce of meat, in return for a given amount dietary. Pork-butchers, resident in large 

 of food of a given money value, is alone to be towns, usually feed their pigs with their gar- 

 taken into consideration, then, in addition to bage, and not unfrequently help greatly to 

 roots, wash, &c., it would be most advantageous I support one pig by the offal of another. This 

 to rely for fattening upon highly nitrogenous practice is very disgusting ; and, if it were 

 foods, such as dried fish or animal refuse, or generally known, we believe that there would 



leguminous seeds, beans, lentils, and the like ; 

 because, not only would the weight be obtained 

 at less cost than by the use of cereal grains, 

 but the manure, the value of which must never 



be much fewer purchasers of pork than there 

 really are. ]\Ir. Eichardson says that there is 

 yet another kind of pig-feeding, which has a 

 great tendency to produce revolting sensations. 



be lost sight of in calculating the economy of. It is that of feeding swine in knackers' yards, 

 the feeding process, would be much richer than "The animals are kept by these persons iu 

 if the latter were employed. But it is not a ' considerable numbers, and are fed wholly upon 

 large amount of gross increase that makes the the refuse of the dead horses — chiefly the en- 

 farmer's profit upon his sties. When pigs arc ; trails, the carcass being in too great demand 

 fed freely upon highly succulent food, such as ' among those who keep dogs to permit of its 

 cooked roots, the refuse of starch, herbs, and being unnecessarily wasted. I have frequently 

 the like, they are frequently found to give a been disgusted by the sight, in one of these 

 very rapid increase. But pork so fed is found ' yards, of three or four fierce, wolfish-looking 



to sink rapidly iu the salting process, and to 

 waste considerably when boiled. And, al- 

 though the first batch of pigs so fed may fetch 

 a good price, their character is at once de- 

 tected, and the market closed against a second 

 sale. On the other hand, when pigs are fat- 

 tened upon the highly nitrogcnised legumin- 

 ous seeds — peas being, however, much less 

 objectionable than some others— tlie bone is 



hogs, thfir muzzles plunged to the eyes in the 

 abdomen of a slaughtered horse, and their 

 savage jaws dripping with gore. Nor aro 

 these horses always fresli. I have witnessed 

 the swine, on more than one occasion, revelling 

 in corvKj^tion, and disputing with the maggot 

 and the worm the possession of a mass of liquid 

 putrefaction. In Paris this shocking practice 

 has been long known ; but where the hiacJcera 



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