180 THE FARM. 



raising pigs. They are as easily confined within a movable fence as sheep, 

 utilize the grass and coarse feed quite as vrell, and perform a work in stir- 

 ring the soil that sheep cannot do. The nose of the pig is made for rooting, 

 and we follow Nature's hint in giving him a chance to stir the soil. A mova- 

 ble yard, large enough to keep two pigs, can be made of stout inch boards, 

 about fourteen feet long, and six inches wide. For the comer posts use two 

 by four inch joists. Nail the boards to the posts six inches apart, making 

 four lengths or panels four feet high. Fasten the comers with stout hooks 

 and staples, and you have a pen or yard fourteen feet square, which is easily 

 moved by two men. If you place two fifty-pound pigs into this yard they 

 will consume nearly all the grass and other vegetation in it in three or four 

 days, and thoroughly disturb the soil several inches in depth. "When they 

 have done their work satisfactorilj', the pen can be moved to the adjoining 

 plat, and so onward through the season. The advantages of this method 

 are, that it utilizes the grass and other vegetation, destroys weeds and in- 

 sects, mixes and fertiUzes the surface of the soil about as well as the ordi- 

 nary implements of tillage. In the movable yard there is thorough work. 

 Even ferns and small brush are effectually destroyed. Worms and bugs are 

 available food for the pig. And it is not the least of the benefits that the 

 small stones, if they' are in the soil, are brought to the surface, where they 

 can be seen and removed. The pig's snout is the primitive plow and crow- 

 bar, ordained of old. No longer jewel this instrument, but put it where it 

 will do the moat good, in breaking up old sod ground, and help make cheap 

 I)ork. 



Charcoal for Hogs— -We have but little doubt that charcoal is one of 

 the best known -remedies for the disordered state into which hogs drill, usu- 

 ally having disordered bowels, all the time giving off the worst kind of evacu- 

 ations. Probably the best form in which charcoal can be given is in the 

 form of burnt corn — perhaps, because when given in other forms the hogs do 

 not get enough. A distillery was burned in Illinois, about which a large 

 number of hogs were kept. Cholera prevailed among these hogs somewhat 

 extensively. In the burning of buildings a large amount of com was con- 

 sumed. To this burned and partially burned corn, the hogs had access at 

 will, and the sick commenced recovering at once and a large portion of them 

 got well. Many farmers have practiced feeding scorched com, putting it 

 into the stove or building a fire upon the ground, placing the eara of corn 

 upon it, leaving them till pretty well charred. Hogs fed on still slops are 

 liable to be attacked by irritation of the stomach and bowels, coming from 

 too free generation of acid, from fermentation of food after eaten. Charcoal, 

 whether it be produced l^y biiming com or wood, will neutralize the acid, in 

 this way removing the irritating cause. The charcoal will be relished to the 

 extent of getting rid of flie acid, and beyond that it may not be. Hence it is 

 well to let the wants of the hog be settled by the hog himself. 



Iron Hog Troughs. — Upon the subject of the best material for hog 

 troughs, a writer says: " I make them out of iron, not out of iron-wood, but 

 cast iron. I grappled with this problem a half dozen years ago and mas- 

 tered it. I became an inventor. I had an invention put into the form of a 

 model and got the proprietor of an iron foundry to cast eight ti'oughs aftfr 

 the model. They were put into the different pens and they are there now, 

 bright, clean, smooth, sound, and all right, and I expect to leave them just 

 in this shape to my heirs. The model cost $18, and the troughs G cents a 



