THE GENESEE FARMER 



245 



THE PROFIT OF FATTENING SWINE. 



The following facts are offered in corroboration of 

 the views advanced in my late article on the profit 

 of fattening swine in New England : 



On the 16th of Dcceraberlast I' purchased four 

 pigs, which were the remnants of two litters born 

 about the same time in September previous, and put 

 them in warm apartments, embracing a place for 

 making compost and an eating room leading out of 

 it Once a fortnight or so during the winter, about 

 a cord of either muck or scrapings from the woods 

 was thrown into the pen, and daily tlie manure from 

 two horses. The pigs were kept bountifully supplied 

 with straw for bedding, which they arranged in one 

 comer of the compost pen to suit themselves. Enough 

 fermentation was generated in the compost to make 

 their bed warm, and so far to keep out frost that it 

 only appeared in a light scum during the very coldest 

 days. The scrapings from the woods containing 

 .some nuts, together w-ith the decayed sticks and roots, 

 contributed to the health and thrift of the pigs. 



From December 16th to the 18th of March the 

 pigs had as much corn and cob meal a.s they would 

 readily eat, when it becoming inconvenient to accom- 

 modate them longer with apartments, they were sold 

 to the butcher at eight cents per pound, he throwing 

 in the slaughtering. 



Immediately after feeding them at a given time, 

 the meal for the next feeding was measured out and 

 put in the bucket and hot water added — the contents 

 standing in a warm place to soak and swell, and be- 

 coming very much increased in bulk before being fed 

 to the pigs. The meal consumed was exactly meas- 

 ured from day to day, and the quantity is known to 

 be as follows: 



Fir-tit 29 (l.ivs four jngs ate 348 quarts, or 12 quarts per day. 



Next 49 " " " 882 " 18 " " 



Next 10 " " " 336 " 21 '• " 



Total corn and cob consumed, .. .1566 quarts, or 49 bushels. 



In order to satisfy myself of the amount of corn 

 involved in the above 49 bushels of corn and cob 

 meal, I have measured out enough corn in the ear to 

 make, if shelled, just a bushel of corn, had it cracked 

 and ground, and found it made by stricked meavsure 

 a little more than two bushels of corn and cob meal. 

 An inferior quality of corn in the ear might not quite 

 hold out measure when ground ; but I am satisBed 

 that a full medium quality will hold out, where the 

 toll is paid in money, and shall therefore call the above 

 49 bushels of corn and cob equal to 24J bushels of 

 clear corn. 



The four pigs weighed, dressed, 616 pounds, and 

 made some 10 loads of compost more than would 

 otherwise have been made. They may therefore be 

 accounted with as follows: 



616 lbs. of pork, at 8 cents net, ..$49.28 



Deduct 49 bu. corn and cob, or 24K bu. clear corn, 



at U perbu., $24.50 



Toll for grindinp: 49 bu. corn rnd cob, at 4 c. per bu., 1 96 



Paid for pigs, December 16th, S4 each, 16.00 42.46 



Balance over and above SI per bu. for corn consumed, 



of 28 cents per bu., or in all $6.82 



And the pigs have left 10 loads of compost, worth a 



bushel of corn each, $10.00 



From which deduct, if you ple.nse, the cost of supply- 

 ing the raw material, say 60 cents per load, which 

 is rather too high, 5.00 5.00 



Profit on the four pigs, $11.82 



I regret that I did not have the pigs weighed on 

 the 16th of December, because if 1 had done so it 

 would be easy now to find how much more pork a 

 bushel of corn gi-ound, cooked and fed with the ad- 

 dition of the cob was in this case made; but from as 

 exact an estimate as I can form, judging from the 

 M-eight of some of the better pigs of these two lit- 

 ters, sold a few days previous to the time I bought 

 mine, I am induced to think the pigs must have 

 gained not far from 15 pounds of pork for each 

 bushel of clear corn consumed ; which, considering 

 that the fattening process was conducted during the 

 very coldest portion of the year, argues pretty well 

 for feeding corn and cob ground together. 



I have briefly to add to my former remarks on se- 

 lecting pigs for fattening, that so far as I know, pigs 

 of a round, barrel-like frame, are apt to yield rather 

 thin pork and too much offal; but those hanng extra 

 depth of carcass, and not so fine bred as to lack bone 

 to sustain them while fattening, nor so coarse bred as 

 to be too late in maturing, but of a just proprotion 

 in this regard, are the right kind for profit. Pigs 

 bred too fine, early cripple in the legs when fed high, 

 so that they are unable to exercise sufficiently to 

 promote healthy appetites and strong digestion, and 

 therefore make but light weight, and their pork is not 

 generally so saleable nor desirable for domestic pur- 

 poses as that of younger pigs of the first quality. 

 Pigs with rough, staring bristles, and a generally well 

 look, are not so kindly to fatten as those of a mellow 

 and wavy appearance and quiet disposition — F. Hol- 

 bi'ook, in the JYew England Farmer. 



COVERED AND UNCOVERED MANURES. 



Ix the No. of the Country Gentleman for February 

 23d, there is, under the caption of " Truths not yet 

 Adopted in Practice," a very urgent appeal'made to 

 farmers to adopt more generally some efficient mea- 

 sure for the protection of their farm-yard manm-es 

 from the destructive effects of exposure to all the 

 winds, rains and schorching heats of the year. That 

 appeal, we trust, will be heeded by those interested, 

 as many thousands of dollars' worth is annually al- 

 lowed to go to waste for want of some suitable care 

 of yard manures. 



Having lately perused some account of experiments 

 made by Lord "Kixx.\ird, reported in the Journal of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society of England, on the 

 comparative value of covered and uncovered manures, 

 it occurred to me that a brief sketch of these experi- 

 ments and their results might contribute somewhat 

 toward fixing in the public mind an impression of the 

 importance of more care than now generally prevails, 

 in regard to protecting yard manures and saving them 

 from waste. 



In 18.51, a field of 20 acres, of very equal quality, 

 being a rich loam naturally dry and in good heart, 

 wnth an exposure to the south, was selected for the 

 experiment, and divided into two equal portions. The 

 manure was applied at the rate of 20 cart loads per 

 acre. The whole field was planted with potatoes; 

 the seed all of one kind; and planted first and second 

 weeks in April. All brairded well, and showed no 

 difference in growth till the first week of July, when 

 a decided superiority began to manifest itself in the 



