ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE SWINE INDUSTRY 5 



dance of nutritious feeds, but which assist in enriching 

 our depleted soils. 



Natural conditions favorable for pork production. — On 



account of climatic and economic advantages, and in 

 every other way, the South is destined to become a great 

 pork-producing section. Corn is increasing in use as a 

 human food without the agency of the hog, and the crops 

 which will be used for pork production in the South are 

 not such as can be used for human food so easily as corn. 

 In the South, grazing crops can be used all the year to a 

 greater or lesser extent. Not only do legumes and the 

 small grains do well, but fattening crops, such as corn, 

 chufas, peanuts, cowpeas, beans, sweet potatoes and 

 cassava, all make good growth. In an economic way the 

 production of live stock in the cotton regions has become 

 a necessity, and in adapting ourselves to some type of 

 animal husbandry, we shall naturally take to that type 

 which has proven most profitable. The seasons are 

 adapted to swine production because the winters are mild 

 and the summers not excessively hot, as they are tem- 

 pered by cool breezes and an abundant rainfall. Diseases 

 are no more prevalent than in other sections, and the 

 indications are that diseases are rarer in the South 

 than in the North (probably due to more sunshine), and that 

 the losses are due more to poor management than to disease. 



Pork production a pasturing proposition. — One of the 



principal advantages of the South as a swine-growing 

 section is the ease with which so many valuable swine- 

 grazing crops can be grown. Grasses do well and culti- 

 vated crops can be produced practically every month in 

 the year. Summer grasses, such as Bermuda, nut grass, 

 crab grass and wire grass, do well ; while the clovers. 



