PARASITES OF THE HOG. 



501 



cooked root vegetables, and use soda in the feed. If farmers 

 must keep their hogs on grass, and must use rings to save their 

 clover, they should furnish the food which the hog's nature re- 

 quires. As a rule, the constituents of all grasses and annual 

 plants are acid, have an acid reaction. Especially is this the case 

 with clover. Koot vegetables have an alkaline reaction, and are 

 composed largely of phosphates and soda salts. In clay soils, 

 hogs can probably supply themselves from the ground with 

 phosphate, but when confined to a black, loaming soil they can 

 obtain but little of these necessary salts from the earth. Where 

 root vegetables cannot be obtained, and hogs are kept on a clover 

 range, soda and lime, or sulphate of iron, should be given freely. 

 Corn should not be given exclusively; roots should be given in 

 order to make a change in the bill of fare. If the corn is cooked, 

 it will make much better food. The water should be clean, pure, 

 running water, and should be within reach of the hogs at all 

 times. During the hot months it seldom happens that hogs have 

 a proper supply of good, pure water. In many cases the animals 

 have only thin mud or stagnant water. Young pigs, if reared 

 on a floor, frequently become ill and die when four or five weeks 

 old. In such case they should be moved from the wooden to a 

 dirt floor; if possible, it should be a clay floor. If pigs and 

 mother be moved at once, immediate relief is obtained. 



Pigs may be weaned at six weeks old, and soon after they may 

 be castrated. 



