LET THE WEST HEED THE WARNING 63 



size on the average farm can be kept at very little 

 expense. They will eat feed that other animals 

 pass by, will destroy and keep down weeds, will 

 clean up brush fields, will eat cheap roots and occupy 

 very little stable room. They are not expensive 

 animals to take care of, and the cost of maintenance 

 for a year, if they are handled as indicated above, 

 is so small that the greater part of the balance from 

 sales of wool or mutton is net profit. By annually 

 culling out the older and inferior animals a small 

 flock of high quality can be maintained. They will 

 bring a nice sum of money from the sale of wool 

 alone. Every fall or winter a number of animals 

 are available for fattening and sale as mutton. 

 Sheep manure is exceedingly rich and being finely 

 divided and widely distributed, is a valuable asset 

 to the farmer who keeps a flock. Sheep husbandry 

 for the West is, therefore, one of the means by 

 which the waning fertility may be checked and con- 

 ditions now existing in the older states prevented. 

 Much the same conditions surround the hog situ- 

 ation. Of course, hogs do not consume as much 

 waste material as sheep. They must have con- 

 siderable grain, particularly corn. But if properly 

 handled, sows may be made to produce two litters 

 of pigs every year, and at this rate it is easily pos- 

 sible to very rapidly increase the hog stock and still 

 have available for sale every season a nice lot of 

 fat hogs, which at prices that have prevailed dur- 

 ing the past few years, are immensely profitable. 

 Hogs can be partially fattened on clover pasture 

 and on rape and on other crops which tend to 

 increase the fertility of the soil and improve the 

 mechanical condition. Hogs do not require a large 

 amount of shelter, are easily handled, and during 

 the past ten years have not been subject to nearly 



