FEEDING SWINE 299 
was cooked (steamed) ; it required, on the average, 490 pounds of 
uncooked feed per 100 pounds gain and 561 pounds of cooked feed— 
a loss of nearly 15 per cent in the efficiency of the feed, not con- 
sidering the expense of cooking. This practice has now been gen- 
erally abandoned, except in the case of a few feeds, like potatoes, 
field peas, roots, chopped musty hay, ete., which are occasionally 
steamed by some feeders to induce a larger ‘consumption or improve 
the palatability of the feed (p. 67). 
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scoters ‘ACRES. OF INDIAN CORN . 
ZA NUMBER OF SWINE, MILLIONS 
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Fia. 75.—Diagram showing the acreage of corn and the number of swine and cattle listed in 
the twelve leading corn-growing States in the Union, according to the census of 1910. 
Soaking Feed.—Soaking or wetting feed for swine is practised 
by some feeders who believe they obtain better results thereby. It 
has been shown, however, that no decided advantagé is secured by 
this method. The average results of twelve trials conducted at 
eight different stations, as shown by Rommel (loc. cit.), came as 
follows: Feed required per 100 pounds gain, dry feed 444 pounds, 
wet feed 434 pounds, a difference of 2 per cent in favor of the latter 
feed. The pigs, in general, ate more soaked or wet feed than dry 
feed, and often made slightly better gains on the former feed, but 
the returns per unit of feed eaten were not, as we have seen, appre- 
