250 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



Those pigs had good care, good feed, and all they wanted to 

 eat. If I remember correctly, the best one of the lot 

 weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds. 



The eleven pigs of which the Chairman spoke as having 

 been seen at the fair were raised part by myself. Those 

 which I raised were grade Chester County. I kept them 

 from the 12th of April until the 1st of December, — some 

 seven or eight months. Those that I have raised myself, 

 dressed from 250 to 325 pounds w^hcn about eight months 

 old ; the others weighed from 200 to 240 pounds. The pigs 

 which I bought were as nearly starved as pigs could well be. 

 Almost up to the time I killed them, no matter how much 

 they had in the trough, they would fight and push each other 

 from one end of the trough to the other, and waste about as 

 much as they ate. They got into that habit when they were 

 small, and they were alyyays squealing and fighting when any- 

 thing was put into their trough until the last month or two, 

 when they got so lazy that they did not care to fight. But 

 I believe that a young pig, if kept warm and clean, and hav- 

 ing all he wants to eat, is no more inclined to fight than the 

 human family, which they have been said to so closely re- 

 semble. 



I think pigs do better when three or four are kept 

 together than when kept singly ; I think company rather 

 stimulates them, and they take hold and eat better than 

 when alone. 



The general idea seems to be that pigs can stand any 

 amount of cold. Their pen is generally in as cold a place 

 as you can find about a farm, and no care is taken to protect 

 them from the cold. Now, every animal is kept warm either 

 by what he eats or by artificial heat, and the food fed to pigs 

 in such cold and uncomfortable quarters as they are usually 

 kept in is about thrown away. I think they should be kept 

 warm, and the nest where they sleep should be as close as 

 possible. In warm weather their quarters should be well 

 ventilated. I like best for bedding the brakes which we 

 find about our pastures, which makes a very fine straw. I 

 do not like to use rye straw, it is too valuable. 



I think the pig is very useful as a manure manufacturer. 

 I found my farm not as fertile as I wanted it ; I could not 



