FEEDING. 185 



nine quarts a-day for about a month. From that time until the 7th 

 of December, 1835, a period of five weeks, their feeds were raised 

 another quart, making now twelve quarts a-day. Besides this they 

 had the refuse of the milk of two cows, and occasionally a very 

 little green meat. When slaughtered, they weighed 1134 Ibs., which, 

 allowing for one-third of offal, will amount to the gain of about 3 

 Ibs. of live weight per day. They ate in the whole, fifty bushels 

 of rye and corn ground ; in cold weather it was scalded and given 

 to them warm, and in the summer, put into the trough and milk 

 poured upon it. (The Cultivator, vol. ii.) 



There are also repeated instances in which the animals have in 

 creased in weight 2 Ibs., 2 Ibs., and even 3 Ibs. a day, while fed on 

 barley -meal only, or barley-meal and peas, or potatoes ; the relative 

 prices, however, of grain and pork will always decide the question 

 of the advantage of this mode of feeding far better than volumes of 

 experiments or comments. 



Barley and oats are considered to be best adapted for fattening 

 swine. Some persons give the preference to oats, and where the 

 grain is given whole they certainly are more digestible and less 

 heating ; but ground barley or barley meal is universally allowed to 

 be the most nutritious of all food. 



There are various ways of giving grain to swine : Raw and dry, 

 roasted or malted, bruised and macerated, boiled, green, and growey 

 or germinating wheat ; and, lastly, ground to mea'l or farina. Of 

 these the first two are the least advantageous, as the grain is then 

 often but imperfectly masticated, and consequently produces indi- 

 gestion. Wherever it is thus given the animals must be well sup- 

 plied with water. A little whole grain given once a-day, or every 

 other day, to pigs fed on barleymeal, is considered to be beneficial 

 and add to the firmness of the flesh. 



Macerated grain is better, or rather would be if the animals would 

 eat it freely, which they seldom will do. Its fattening properties are 

 increased if, after maceration, it is suffered to lie and germinate, and 

 then dried or malted ; or left to stand in the water until the whole 

 turns sour. 



Many persons consider that grain boiled until the husk 'bursts is 

 better adapted for feeding swine in this form than when ground, and 

 is likewise more economical ; the only difference, however, in this 

 latter respect, will depend upon whether the expense of having it 

 ground be greater or less than that of the fuel necessary to boil it. 



It is our opinion that the best, most economical and advantageous 

 form in which grain can be used, is that of meal moistened with 

 water, whey or sour or skim-milk,' into a kind of soup or porridge. 

 The fluid, whatever it may be, which is in the first place poured upon 

 it, should never be more than lukewarm, and had better be quite 

 oold ; hot or boiling liquid will cause the meal to conglomerate into 



