8o HIGGLE SWINE BOOK. 



believe the time is not far distant when some substi- 

 tute for grass will be furnished the hog in autumn and . 

 winter as well as the cow. 



Pigs farrowed in March or April should go to 

 market about Christmas, weighing from 275 to 300 

 pounds. Some may say this is too large a gain for the 

 time, but it is not larger than has been made in hun- 

 dreds of instances and can be made by any careful 

 feeder, with the right kind of stock to begin with. 

 This cannot be done with scrub stock and slipshod 

 methods, but it can be done with well-bred stock and 

 careful feeding ; in fact, I have known these figures to 

 be exceeded in many cases. 



Another and somewhat out of date method, which 

 is not wholly without its advantages, is to have the 

 pigs farrowed in April, May or June. Allow both sow 

 and litter the run of a large pasture (the larger the bet- 

 ter) and feed but little grain. This compels them to 

 take abundant exercise, and beyond question pro- 

 duces a hog of greater constitutional vigor than can 

 possibly be produced under the forcing system. A west- 

 ern friend, who is an excellent authority, says: "In an 

 experience covering a period of thirty years, I never 

 had cholera on my farm, and I raised and fed annually 

 from three to five hundred head. I then changed to 

 the forcing system, and the result was I had cholera in 

 less than three years after changing methods. ' ' Experi- 

 ences of a like character can be furnished without num- 

 ber. And yet in the face of this it can be shown that 

 cholera has swept off alike the fed and the unfed hog. 

 I merely mention this as showing the difference of 

 opinion in the manner of raising hogs. However, a 



