ALFALFA FOR SWINE. 413 



Smith, of the Nebraska station thus approves the 

 use of alfalfa with hogs : 



I cannot recommend too strongly the feeding of good alfalfa 

 hay to any kind of swine. It not only furnishes protein, or 

 flesh-making material, which is deficient in corn, but it tends to 

 offset the heavy character of a ration consisting of corn alone. 

 Some scatter the hay on the ground, but it is better to construct 

 some sort of a rack through which the hogs can pull the hay 

 without trampling too much under foot. If the feeder has a cut- 

 ting machine it might be well to cut the alfalfa and mix it with 

 the grain. For fattening purposes do not make this cut alfalfa 

 more than one-fourth of the entire grain ration by weight, and 

 I would be inclined to believe tha* one-fifth alfalfa would be 

 better. 



At the Nebraska station also Burnett fed alfalfa 

 leaves in comparison with wheat middlings to grow- 

 ing pigs. The pigs having the alfalfa leaves made 

 the better gain. In Illinois A. J. Love joy cuts al- 

 falfa very fine, almost as fine as meal, and mixes it 

 with corn meal, wetting all and feeding to pigs with 

 first-rate results. Instances might be multiplied 

 almost infinitely, but one more must suffice. Ex- 

 Gov. W. D. Hoard, of Wisconsin, a man who has 

 done very much to introduce alfalfa culture into 

 eastern America, carries his brood sows through the 

 winter with alfalfa hay and skimmilk from his dairy. 

 The sows come through in splendid condition, with 

 no unnatural or depraved appetites, farrow splendid 

 pigs and have much milk for them. 



The Pork Industry Prominent. The hog occu- 

 pies indeed a commanding position in American agri- 

 culture. The value of the hog in America in Jan- 

 uary, 1909, was near $356,000,000. To grow these 

 hogs costs American farmers, the writer estimates, 



