CHAPTER XXVI 
LITTLE PIGS 
By April ist all my sows had farrowed. There 
was much variation in the number of pigs in 
these nineteen litters. One noble mother gave 
me thirteen, two of which promptly died. Three 
others farrowed eleven each, and so down to 
one ungrateful mother who contributed but five 
to the industry at Four Oaks. The average, 
however, was good ; 154 pigs on April 10th were 
all that a halfway reasonable factory man could 
expect. 
These youngsters were left with their mothers 
until eight weeks old; then they were put, in 
bunches of thirty, into the real hog-house, which 
was by that time completed. It was 200 feet 
long and 50 feet wide, with a 10-foot passage- 
way through the length of it. On either side 
were 10 pens 20 feet by 20, each connected with 
a run 20 feet by 120. The house stood on a 
platform or bed of cement 90 by 200 feet, which 
formed the floor of the house and extended 20 
feet outside of each wall, to secure cleanliness 
and a dry feeding-place in the open. The 
cement floor was expensive ($1120 as first cost), 
155 
