8 PREFACE 



will be killed younger and smaller than the pig of the 

 past. 



There seems to be an increasing willingness to 

 regard the hog as a cleanly animal, capable of living 

 apart from knee-deep filth, and able to drink pure 

 water and to eat grass. 



As to swine diseases, great progress has been 

 made in their study. Hostile bacteria are gradually 

 coming under control, but it is very evident that epi- 

 demics are more easily prevented than cured. Clean- 

 liness is fully warranted by all economic considera- 

 tions. Much space is devoted in the following pages 

 to a review of hog cholera and other swine ailments. 



I give three chapters to the subject of feeding 

 because of its prime importance in profitable hog hus- 

 bandry. The proper balancing of rations is now quite 

 fully understood by leading live stock men every- 

 where, but there are still thousands of people who are 

 wasting food in the pig sty and in the barn. It is 

 worth while to give thought and time to the study of 

 balanced rations, for the theory applies with equal 

 force to all the live stock on the farm, and feeding 

 tables and analyses are now within the reach of every- 

 body, free of cost. It will be the fault of the Ameri- 

 can people themselves if they do not henceforth feed 

 their farm animals wisely and economically, for the 

 Government and the experiment stations have placed 

 ample data freely at their disposal. I hope this little 

 book will prove helpful in the same lines. 



JACOB BIGGLE. 



