18S tSE FARM. 



Stvine Raising. — The American. Agrieulturist contains the following 

 sensible advice regarding the raising of swine: Pure air helps to make 

 pure blood, which, in the coui-se of nature, builds up healthful bodies. 

 Out-of-door pigs would not show so well at the fairs, and would proba- 

 bly be passed over by judges and people who have been taught to ad- 

 mire- only the fat and helpless things which get the prizes. Such pigs 

 are well adapted to fill lard kegs, whereas the standard of perfection should 

 be a pig which will make the most ham with the least waste of fat, the long- 

 est and deepest sides, with the most lean meat; it should have bone enough 

 to allow it to stand up and help itself to food, and carry with it the evidence 

 of healthy and natural development in all its parts. Pigs which run in a 

 range or pasture have good appetites — the fresh air and exercise give them 

 this — hence they will eat a great variety of food and much coarser than when 

 confined in pens. Nothing need go to waste on the farm for lack of a market. 

 They >vill consume all the refuse fruits, roots, pumpkins, and all kinds of 

 vegetables, which will make them grow. By extending the root patch and 

 planting the fodder corn thinner, so that nubbins ■will form on it, and by 

 putting in a sweet variety, the number of pigs may be increased in propor- 

 tion. A few bushels of com at the end of the season will be ready the next 

 year for any crop, and ten times the advantage accrue to the farm than if as 

 the pigs are usually managed. 



Bone Meal for Sti-engtlienlng Hogs. — Most farmers have noticed 

 that in fattening swine, especially when they are crowded rapidly, they 

 always appear weak in their hind legs, and sometimes lose the use of them 

 entirely. An intelligent farmer says that he and his neighbors have made a 

 practice of feeding bone meal in such cases, and find that a small quantity 

 mixed with the daily feed will prevent any weakness, and strengthen the 

 animals so as to admit of the most rapid forcing. As bone meal is known to 

 be a preventive of cripple ail and weakness in cows, it looks reasonable that 

 it should also be a benefit to hogs, which are often confined to a diet con- 

 taining but little bone-making material. 



Keeping Hogs Clean. — The floor of a hog pen should be of plank. The 

 pen and hogs can then be kept clean. If the animals are permitted to root 

 up the floor of the pen and burrow in the earth, they will always be in an 

 uncleanly and unwholesome condition, and much food will be wasted. It is 

 quite unnecessary for either the comfort or health of the hogs to let them 

 exercise their natural propensity to root in the ground. The exercise is 

 really a waste of food and takes so much from their growth. Hogs will fat- 

 ten most quickly when they eat and sleep and remain perfectly quiet, as they 

 will do in a dry, warm pen, with a clean plank floor, and bedding of clean 

 straw and plenty to eat. 



How to Give a Pig Medicine. — At a recent meeting of an English 

 Farmers' Club, Professor McBride spoke of the diificulty of administeiing 

 medicine to a pig. He said: " To dose a pig, wliich you are sure to choke 

 if you attempt t« make him drink while squealing, halter him as you would 

 for execution, and tie the rope end to a stake. He Avill pull back until the 

 rope is tightly strained. When he has ceased his uproar, and l)egiiis to 

 reflect, approach him, and between the back part of his jaws insert an old 

 shoe, from which you have cut the toe leather. This he will at once begin 

 to suck and chew. Through it pour your niedici»e and he will Bwallow any 

 quantity you please." 



