170 THE COMPLETE FARMER 



Fattening Pigs on Coal. Cunningham, in his * Tioo Years 

 in Neio South Wales,' relates, ' I had often heard it said 

 among sailors that pigs would fatten on coals, and although 

 I had observed them very fond of munching up the coals and 

 cinders that came in their way, still I conceived they might 

 relish them more as a condiment or medicine than as food, 

 till I was assured by a worthy friend of mine, long in com- 

 mand of a ship, that he once knew of a pig being lost for 

 several weeks in a vessel he commanded, and it was at last 

 found to have tumbled into the coal-hole, and there lived all 

 that period without a single morsel of any thing to feed upon 

 but coals : on being dragged out, it was found as plump and 

 fat as if it had been feasting on the most nutritious food. 

 Another friend told me of a similar case, which came under 

 his observation ; and although these may be solitary instan- 

 ces, yet they serve at least to show the wonderful facility 

 which the stomachs of certain animals possess of adapting 

 their digestive powers to such an extraordinary species of 

 food, and extracting wholesome nourishment therefrom. 

 When we consider coal, however, to be a vegetable produc- 

 tion, containing the constituent principles of fat, carbon, 

 hydrogen, and oxygen, our surprise will decrease.' 



An Ohio farmer also, in a southern paper, recommends 

 coals as useful in fattening hogs. After giving his hogs a 

 small quantity daily, say two pieces to each, about the size 

 of a hen's egg, they discontinued rooting, were more quiet, 

 and appeared to fatten faster. He omitted the coal a few 

 days, and they commenced rooting ; he gave it again, and 

 they ceased to root. He supposed that the coal corrects the 

 morbid fluid in the stomach, which incites them to root deep 

 in search of fresh earth. 



The following mixture for fattening swine has been re- 

 commended : 



Wash potatoes clean, boil and mash while hot, mix in at 

 the same time oats and pea meal. Put the mixture into a 

 large tub, which must stand till it becomes sour, but not 

 putrid. Keep a quantity of this on hand, always fermenting, 

 and give it to your hogs as often as they will eat. 



Apples have been much recommended as food for swine. 

 They are good raw, but better if boiled and mixed with 

 meal. A writer for the Brattleborough Reporter observes, 

 ' I have tested by ten years' experience the value of apples 

 as food for animals. I keep five or six hogs in my orchard, 

 upon nothing but apples and a little swill ; and have uni- 



