196 THE HOG. 



may be added. The flesh of hogs fed on rice is said to have proved 

 very superior. Peas and beans, either in their green state, or dried 

 and bruised, or ground into meal, are among the best articles of food 

 for fattening swine. Pea-meal, or the meal of the gray pea, or gray 

 peas bruised, are in the highest esteem. Pea-meal may be given 

 fclone, or added to the barley-meal, or to the steamed potatoes. 



"Buckwheat is excellent for fattening hogs. With respect to rye 

 little need be said ; occasionally hogs are fed upon rye-meal. 



SEEDS OF VARIOUS VEGETABLES, FRUITS, &C. 



"Linseed cake, or oil-cake as it is called, is occasionally given to 

 hogs, and sometimes linseed meal, or steeped linseed, but only in 

 small quantities, and in addition to food destitute of oil, as potatoes, 

 pea-meal, &c. Oil-cake is used largely in the fattening of horned 

 cattle, but whether it is equally advantageous in the fattening of 

 hogs is not very clear. 



"Beechmast is eagerly devoured by hogs, and in places where this 

 is abundant, it will be well to turn store hogs into it, or collect it 

 for their use. It ie an article of diet not to be despised, but as an 

 adjunct and not a principal article. But though hogs thrive on this 

 food, it will not make firm fat, unless largely mixed with acorns. 



"A run in oak copses ought not to be neglected at the time of the 

 fall, by a farmer who has the opportunity of sending his store hogs 

 into the wood. 



" In England, chestnuts, as food for hogs, are out of the question. 

 This is not the case, however, in many parts of the Continent, where 

 these are abundant, and indeed where they form portions of woods. 

 There the chestnut tree affords an abundant supply, both for men 

 and swine, and the latter are bountifully supplied with it ; it is sel- 

 dom given raw, but roasted or steamed, or parboiled into a pulp, 

 then crushed and divested of the outer shell. By the conversion of 

 it into a potato-like meal, the nutritive qualities of this fruit are 

 greatly improved, and it is thereby better fitted for the digestive 

 action of the stomach. 



" With respect to apples, pumpkins, and even peaches, which in 

 some parts of America are lavishly given to swine, we have little to 

 say. Boiled apples mixed with potatoes, Indian-corn flour, or buck- 

 wheat, will no doubt prove nutritious, and in America constitute a 

 cheap diet, but the case is different in England. In North Africa 

 the wild-boar makes incursions into the melon-grounds, and we can 

 conceive that melons, abounding with saccharine matter, are grateful 

 to the palate of the wild hog, and so no doubt are apples, pumpkins, 

 and peaches, but they do not enter into the English bill of fare for 

 hogs. At the same time, we object not to the plan of turning hogs 

 into apple orchards in order that they may pick up the fallen fruit. 



