37 



supply of pig pork as surely as the year comes around. This class of 

 custom pays the best of any, and can be secured by a little advertising ; 

 and if a good, neat article is always forthcoming, this trade can be kept 

 for a lifetime. All who engage in this business will not care to sell in 

 a small way here and there, and so many of the bunches must be sold 

 by the car load ; and, as a rule, choice lots are sought by rival firms, and 

 almost without exception most satisfactory prices are obtained. Per- 

 sonally, I like the plan of culling out the best as they come on, and dis- 

 posing of them in small lots lo local markets or private customers at 

 ruling prices. Split the animal neatly Irom end to end, wash perfectly 

 clean with a profusion of cold water, and your customers will praise the 

 neat appearance of 3'our goods. The greatest amount of money would 

 be secured by curing the various parts of the animal in the most up-to- 

 date manner, and selling directly to those who will consume the meat. 



Improvement to the Farm. 



The improvement to the farm because of the introduction of this new 

 industry can hardly be realized. Heavy cro^js of horse hay can be grown, 

 and the product turned into money. Heavy crops of corn, oats and bar- 

 ley can and should be grown for the support of the various animals kept. 

 Up-to-date machinery must be an important factor in carrying out these 

 plans, because of the scarcity of good farm help. In order to make a 

 beginning, an equipment in the way of stock and accommodations must 

 be gotten together, because brood sows and perhaps some fattening pigs 

 must be wintered over. This wintering over of a good stock pays in 

 more ways than one. The imijrovement of the farm will be rapid from 

 the large accumulations of manure that must result from this cuurse of 

 farming. As already mentioned, large amounts of first-class horse hay 

 can be grown and turned into money. A gentleman in a near-by town 

 recently told me that he had harvested eighty tons of the best hay he 

 ever saw stored ; and, said he, '• I have no use for it whatever, so I put it 

 on the market, and every ton brings twenty dollars. My hogs, which I 

 am obliged to keep to clean up refuse, are responsible for this condition 

 of things on my place." This is only one of many instances where hogs 

 are proving a very remunerative adjunct in the farm economy. 



Accommodations. 

 As for accommodations, start in with what you have, and if you are 

 prospered, you will feel encouraged to arrange more comfortably. Ten 

 good brood sows and a boar is a reasonable number to start with. Some 

 one will say it will not do to count your chickens before they are hatched ; 

 but with reasonable success this outfit ought to produce one hundi'ed 

 good pigs every time the sows breed. This season Yorkshire sows have 

 produced remarkably large litters, — in almost every instance from 

 twelve to twenty. AVith very good care and plenty of milk, every pig 

 could be raised if the sow has a good teat for each one. Almost every 

 New England farm has its variety of buildings and sheds, and with a 

 little good calculation and ingenuity good quarters can be arranged for 



