130 SOUTHERN PORK PRODUCTION 



seasons of the year, which makes it a most valuable 

 source of food supply. 



Sweet potato pasture. — This is a summer-growing 

 tuberous root of the utmost importance to the South so 

 far as hog feeding is concerned. It is adapted to practi- 

 cally every section, but generally does best on light, 

 sandy soils, where yields of 200 bushels to the acre are 

 often obtained. It is a highly carbonaceous feed, having 

 a nutritive ratio of about 1 : 25, containing per 100 pounds 

 of potatoes about 25 pounds of digestible carbohydrate, 

 .3 pounds of digestible fats and 1 pound of digestible pro- 

 tein. In feeding value it is equal to one-third the 

 quantity of corn, which is remarkably high, considering 

 its succulence. It is generally planted in May or June, 

 and where intended for hog feed is never harvested ex- 

 cept by the hogs. The grazing-off season generally runs 

 from August to after frost in October. Owing to its 

 highly carbonaceous character, it is admirably adapted 

 for feeding in connection with legumes with ripe seeds, 

 such as mature peanuts, velvet beans, soy beans, cow- 

 peas, etc. This is a feed of proven worth that should be 

 in every system of swine grazing that may be adopted, 

 unless for certain reasons it will not grow well. 



Peanut pasture. — This is a summer legume of proven 

 worth, as indicated by the fact that already thousands 

 upon thousands of hogs are annually fed upon this 

 standard southern swine feed. There are two types that 

 are commonly grown, the Spanish and common. The 

 Spanish is smaller, but where it has been tried it has 

 generally proven more valuable. Yields of two or three 

 tons per acre have been secured, which indicates how 



