470 FEEDING ANIMALS. 



many pigs as it will pasture, giving them a full ration of 

 grass, with this great advantage over pasture, that you may 

 mingle the grain ration with it so as to produce the most 

 rapid growth with perfect health. Pigs in pasture, fed on 

 grain at the same time, are apt to take mostly to either the 

 grain or the grass, and thus not make as rapid progress as 

 when the ration is properly combined. We have never seen 

 a pig that did not relish green clover and grain mixed to- 

 gether. It may be mingled in any proportion the feeder 

 chooses, and the animal thus be pushed slowly or rapidly, 

 as circumstances require. 



This system should become the prevailing one in the West 

 adopted as a matter of economy producing greater re- 

 sults from the same capital and labor. A swine-herder, under 

 this system, may prepare the ration and feed 500 pigs, look- 

 ing after all their wants, and producing much more uniform 

 growth than under the present system. The cost of labor 

 per head will be very trivial. 



A modification of this plan may be adopted in connection 

 with pasture, by feeding the grain, mixed with a small por- 

 tion of short-cut grass, in long troughs. Any green food 

 may be used in lieu of clover ; such as green rye, oats, mil- 

 let, Hungarian grass, green peas, etc., but nothing, except 

 the peas, is equal to the clover. This system will be con- 

 sidered more appropriate to Eastern farms, on account of 

 their limited area, and is especially adapted to the great 

 want of the Eastern farmer more home-fertilizers. The 

 pig-pen will become the great resource of better tillage. 



THE PIG IN WINTER. 



The great importance of this class of stock commercially, 

 and the large extent to which its flesh is used for home 

 consumption, demanded a thorough discussion of its man- 

 agement in all its phases. 



The proper system of winter-feeding requires to be better 



