REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 397 



forests with advantage. All kinds of spoiled or waste fruits may be given to 

 them; and in the cider districts accordingly, the refuse of the cider press is 

 employed for feeding them. In short, the animal is omnivorous, and there is 

 not any species of animal or vegetable food which may not be given; and in 

 the case of no other of the larger animals accordingly is the process of feed- 

 ing so simple. 



Pigs ought to be fed three times in the day, and the troughs in which the 

 food is placed should be emptied before a fresh supply is given, and kept per- 

 fectly clean. It is well to vary their food, to mix it with water or other liquid, 

 and not to overload them by too much at a time. It is a great error to leave 

 these animals in a state of filth and neglect. The hog is not a filthy animal 

 by choice; he delights in a clean bed; he will wallow indeed in the mire like 

 the elephant, the rhinoceros, and other thick-skinned animals to which he be- 

 longs; but this is not because he prefers filth, but because he loves coolness 

 and moisture. 



There are two purposes for which pigs may be fattened. The one is to 

 yield pork, which may be used either fresh, salted, or pickled, and the other 

 is to produce bacon, which is prepared by salting and drying the flesh. When 

 fed for pork, which is the most convenient system in the practice of the farm, 

 the pigs may be reared to the age of 6 or 8 months; when intended for bacon, 

 they must be reared to a greater age and size, as 10 or 12 months. When the 

 object is pork, the smaller class of early-feeding pigs is to be preferred; when 

 bacon is desired, the larger class should be cultivated. 



In the case of feeding for pork alone, it has been computed that, upon a regu- 

 lar farm, with a supply of tares and clover to the animals in summer, and of 

 potatoes and turnips in winter, and with no other feeding than the refuse of 

 the barn, milkhouse, and kitchen, one pig may be fattened in the year for every 

 6 acres of land under corn crop. Thus, supposing there are to be 240 acres 

 in corn crop, the quantity of pigs fed annually upon the farm might be 40. 

 To feed this stock, in addition to what they can pick up in the straw-yards, 

 about an acre and a quarter of clover, and an equal quantity of potatoes during 

 winter, will be sufficient. To keep up the number, 3 breeding swine will be 

 required, of which two should be sold in each year, their place being supplied 

 by an equal number of younger ones reared upon the farm. The surplus 

 beyond the Quantity of 40, which it is proposed to feed, may be disposed of 

 when weaned. This is a method of management practicable upon ordinary 

 farms, without any interference whatever with the food and attention required 

 for the larger stock.* 



Another method of management may be adopted. This is to take only one 

 litter of pigs from each sow, to sell the pigs as soon as they are weaned, and 

 immediately afterwards to feed the swine. This will be a very profitable 

 species of management, provided there is a sufficient demand in the district 

 for so many pigs when weaned. 



Mr. HENDERSON, in his Treatise on Swine, recommends this system. He 

 calculates that 1 sow for every 7j acres upon a farm, may be reared and fat- 

 tened in this manner. He proposes that the breeder shall purchase, in the 

 first place, 20 sow pigs and 1 boar pig, which had been born the beginning 

 of June. In the following June all the females will have had pigs. These 

 they are to suckle for about two months. The pigs are then lobe sold just 

 when weaned, except 21, namely, 20 sow pigs and 1 boar pig; these being 

 selected from those which are of the handsomest shape, so that the subsequent 

 stock may be kept good and uniform. The farmer will now be in a situation 

 to go on without farther outlay of money for stock. In a month after the pigs 

 are weaned and sold, the sows themselves are to be put up to feed. This will be 

 about the beginning of September. The male must be then admitted to them 

 so as to render them quiet and apt to feed, and in two months they will be fat 

 and of large size. 



Pigs, it has been said, may either be used for pork, fresh, salted, or pickled, 

 when they will be ready in 6 or 8 months, or for bacon, when they will be 

 ready in 10 or 12 months. 



* BROWN on Rural Affairs. 

 34 



