SMALL HOLDINGS 159 



too large if great care is not exercised in 

 their management and in accordance with 

 the returns obtained. Many a poor man has 

 found that his corn bill has reached a sum 

 that would not be covered by the sale of the 

 pig he has fattened, but this position is not 

 likely to be reached by careful men who 

 know what they are about. Before it is 

 decided to buy a breeding sow the small 

 farmer should think out the question of food. 

 What proportion of her requirements can he 

 grow upon his own land? We do not suggest 

 that he should grow barley for feeding 

 purposes, inasmuch as it would not pay. 

 Barley meal can be purchased at less money 

 than it can be grown for milling, but it is 

 always possible, unless a farm consists entirely 

 of grass, to grow potatoes — the unsaleable 

 chats being reserved for the pigs — mangels 

 and swedes — both of which latter are excel- 

 lent additions to the winter ration — cabbage, 

 clover or lucerne, sainfoin or tares, all of which 

 are equally well adapted for summer feeding. 

 When there is a garden there is always a 

 certain quantity of waste material which 

 should find its way to the sty before it 

 has commenced to decompose, but we may 

 take it that except when a sow is in-pig or 



