18 BULLETIN 752, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
With the exception of lot 1, in which the grain requirement per 
100 pounds of gain was very low, the results secured with wheat 
and shorts as supplements to alfalfa pasture were about the same as 
those secured with corn and barley. 
The above figures are valuable merely as a general indication of 
the gains which can be expected, and, except lot 1, the probable grain 
requirements per 100 pounds of gain with hogs having access to 
alfalfa pasture supplemented with the two feeds mentioned. The 
use of wheat as a hog feed is not looked upon with favor, particu- 
larly under war conditions, because of the need of this grain as 
human food. 
PASTURING ALFALFA SUPPLEMENTED WITH POTATOES. 
Potatoes are not ordinarily important as a supplement to alfalfa 
pasture, but occasionally conditions favor their use for this purpose. 
On those irrigation projects where potatoes are grown commercially 
it is sometimes impossible to market the crop through the ordinary 
channels because of ample production in districts nearer to the large 
consuming centers. At such time large quantities of potatoes pro- 
duced under irrigation are wasted. This condition prevailed in a 
few districts in the spring of 1918. At that time efforts were made 
by the field men of the Office of Demonstrations on Reclamation Proj- 
ects to promote the use of potatoes in swine feeding. 
One feeding enterprise conducted in cooperation with a farmer on 
the Truckee-Carson Reclamation Project in May and June, 1918, 
furnishes an example of how potatoes may be used advantageously 
under the conditions just described. The farmer who owned the pigs 
was unable to secure any grain to supplement alfalfa pasture, but 
he was able to buy 13 tons of potatoes at a very low price. The 28 
pigs which were pasturing on alfalfa without supplementary feed 
were weighed 10 days before the potato feeding began, again on that 
day, and finally 35 days later, when all the potatoes were consumed 
and the hogs were sold. The potatoes were fed raw and without 
limit during the 35-day period. The results are shown in Table XII. 
These results are considered satisfactory in view of the fact that 
the pigs were not in a very thrifty condition at the beginning of the 
potato-feeding period, having been on alfalfa pasture without sup- 
plements. From this test it appears that 6 to 8 pounds of raw po- 
tatoes are equal to 1 pound of grain in feeding value as a supple- 
ment to alfalfa pasture. It is probable that a higher feeding value 
of potatoes would be indicated by hogs which had been better fed 
previously. The quality of the pigs and their market value per 
pound increased materially as a result of the potato feeding, and a 
fair return was realized from the potatoes, which otherwise would 
have been wasted. This test suggests one method whereby hogs may 
