22 BULLETIN 488, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



5 and 6, hogged corn and had what tankage they would eat. The 

 shotes used in this experiment had been in the alfalfa pasturing 

 experiment and were very uniform in size, as will be seen from the 

 weights given in Table IX. 



Both 3 r ears the cornfield to be hogged was divided into six separate 

 fields of one-third acre each by a fence of 26-inch hog wire between 

 the corn rows. The cornfield used in 1914 was located on a break of 

 high land, where in places the gravel came near the surface, causing 

 some differences in the yield of the different plats. The plats used 

 in 1015 were more uniform, but the corn, owing to hail and frost, was 

 not as good as the corn that was hogged the year before. 



Each year the yield of each plat was estimated by counting all the 

 stalks of corn and harvesting systematically the corn from 100 stalks ; 

 that is to say, if a plat had a total of 3,400 stalks, the corn was har- 

 vested from every thirty-fourth stalk. The harvested corn was dried, 

 weighed, and returned to the plat to be eaten by the hogs. The total 

 weight was divided by 100, to get the average yield per stalk har- 

 vested. This average weight was then multiplied by the total number 

 of stalks on the plat in order to get the yield. 



As the low-yielding plats became cleaned up, weighed quantities 

 of corn were added, so that all the hogs would be kept on feed the 

 same length of time. Enough corn was added as became necessary 

 so that the hogs had corn before them all the time. When the last 

 lot had cleaned up its plat the experiment was closed. In 1914 the 

 hogs were in the corn plats from September 9 to November 25, a 

 period of 77 days. The 1915 test began October 6 and closed 

 November 30, covering a period of 55 days. 



The hogs were watered twice a day. Lots 5 and 6 were fed tank- 

 age when they were watered, the tankage being fed as a thin slop. 

 The plats used by lots 3 and 4 opened into an alfalfa pasture. The 

 hog house was placed in the alfalfa field, so that the hogs would 

 have to pass through the alfalfa in going to and from the cornfield. 

 All weeds and volunteer alfalfa were removed from the plats where 

 the hogs got corn alone or corn and tankage. 



The results secured with the duplicate lots each year were rela- 

 tively uniform. In no case were the gains cheaper or the quantity 

 of corn required for 100 pounds of gain less in the corn lot than in 

 the tankage lot, and in only one tankage lot were they cheaper than 

 any pasture lot. One tankage lot in 1915, however, made slower 

 gains than either of the pasture lots and slower than one of the corn 

 lots; and one corn lot made faster gains than one of the pasture lots. 

 With this exception, the results of the duplicate lots were relatively 

 the same. In 1915 the hogs required more corn per 100 pounds of 

 gain than was required in 1914. This was probably due to the 

 poorer quality of the corn in 1915. The corn that was added to the 



