140 HAKKIS OHf THE PIG. 



have access to fresh earth, ashes, charcoal, etc., and they 

 will not root up the floor. 



In arranging the pig pen, special attention should be 

 given to providing a ready means of cleaning out the 

 manure, and supplying it with fresh bedding. A pig 

 pen should be cleaned out every day, as regularly as we 

 clean out our staples. If the pens are conveniently ar- 

 ranged for the purpose, it is but a few minutes work, and 

 it will soon lead the pigs to form cleanly habits, and thus 

 save bedding. 



In pens for breeding sows, we have found it very con- 

 venient, in cold weather, to have a partition between the 

 sleeping and feeding apartments, with a sliding door, that 

 can be easily closed. It is desirable, when pigs are to be 

 made ready for the butcher in eight or nine months, that 

 the sow should farrow early in March; and it often hap- 

 pens that this interesting event occurs during a severe 

 snow storm. With a warm sleeping apartment, and with 

 a door that can be closed at night, or at any time after 

 the sow has been fed, thousands of pigs that are now lost 

 might be saved. This plan is particularly essential where 

 the feeding apartment is partially or wholly uncovered. 

 But even where both apartments are covered, it is better 

 to have a partition that can be opened in warm weather, 

 and closed during cold storms. 



The only objection to this plan is, that the sow has not 

 so much room, and there may be increased danger of her 

 crushing the pigs against the sides of the pen. This ob- 

 jection, however, is more apparent than real, from the 

 fact, that no matter how large the pen is, the sow is almost 

 certain to make her bed near one of the sides. She almost 

 invariably, in pigging, places her back against the rail or 

 side of the pen, the object probably being to prevent the 

 little pigs from getting on the wrong side of her, where 

 they would, in cold weather, be likely to perish before 

 they find the teats. Our breeding pens have a rail on the 



