DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



267 



separate, and all pens should be disinfected with lime and car- 

 bolic acid washes. 



Profitable Breeds. The most profitable breeds for the farmer 

 are those which are prolific, vigorous, and of good disposition, 

 which mature early, and thrive on feeds easily available. Black 

 hogs are generally preferred in the South as they are thought 

 to bear heat 

 better. | 



Earliness of 

 maturity is one 

 of the advan- 

 tages of good 



A section of a hurdle, showing how it is fitted together. 

 made of stout lumber and wire fencing. 



It is 



breeds. It takes 



two years to get 



a 'scrub' or common hog to the weight to which an improved 



breed can be brought in nine months on the same feed. It 



must always be remembered, however, that breeds improved by 



care need care to keep up their good points. They cannot shift 



for themselves, like the 'razor back' and the prairie ranger. 



There is more profit in spring pigs pushed and killed in the fall 

 than in those kept through the winter. It takes more food to keep 

 and fatten hogs in cold weather. Moreover, with age and size the 

 cost of keeping increases more rapidly than flesh. It is most 

 profitable to sell a hog at two hundred or two hundred and fifty 

 pounds, as each additional hundred pounds takes about twenty- 

 four per cent more food. 



EXERCISE 



i. Why is it usually profitable to keep hogs on a farm? Can you 

 think of ways in which the business may be managed so as to make it 

 unprofitable ? 



