642 Feeds and Feeding. 



tiities of milk and meal for the production of 100 pounds net gain. 

 At first thought it appears impossible that as good gains can be 

 secured with young pigs from a given amount of feed administered 

 through the sow as can be obtained by direct feeding. A pos- 

 sible explanation lies in the fact that the body of the very young 

 pig contains a large proportion of water, so that less dry matter 

 is required for a pound of gain than with older animals. Again, 

 each pound of flesh lost by the dam during this time may have 

 yielded more than a pound of increase with her young. 



832. Effects of feed on teeth and skull. — Schwartzkopfl^ of the 

 Minnesota Station, > treating of the influence of feed upon the for- 

 mation of the skull and the dentition of pigs, writes: 



"1. The order of succession of teeth in our precocious pigs 

 runs the same as in the primitive hog. 



"2. The times when the teeth appear are variable, according 

 to race, feeding and health. The same breeds raised under the 

 same conditions will show the same appearance. 



"3. The form of the skull depends upon nutrition, health, and 

 more or less employment of certain muscles of the head and neck. 

 Skulls of poorly nourished pigs are more long and slender than 

 from those well nourished. Pigs which are prevented from root- 

 ing will acquire a short, high and rounded head, while those that 

 are forced to root to secure a portion of their food will develop a 

 long and slender form of head." 



833. Length of intestines. — Darwin* states that the nature of 

 the food supplied the pig by man has evidently changed tlie 

 length of the intestines. He quotes Ouvier as reporting the total 

 length of the intestines of the wild boar to be nine times the body 

 length; in the domestic boar 13.5 to 1; in the Siam boar 16 to 1. 

 The writer'measured the intestines of 39 fattened hogs and found 

 that the large intestine varied from 13 to 16 feet, and the small 

 intestine from 54 to 60 feet, in length. The average extreme 

 body length of these animals was 3.5 feet. This makes the small 

 intestine alone from 16 to 19 times the length of the body, and 

 the large and small intestines combined about 21 times the body 



' Bui. 7; Breeder's Gazette, 1889, pp. 536-7. 



* Animals and Plants under Domestication. 



• Rept. Wis. Ex. 8ta., 1889. 



