616 Feeds and Feeding. 



"Take 6 bushels of tliis cob cbarcoal, or 3 bushels of common 

 charcoal; 8 pounds of salt; 2 quarts of air-slacked lime; 1 bushel 

 of wood ashes. Break the charcoal well down, with shovel or 

 other implement, and thoroughly mix. Then take IJ pounds of 

 copperas and dissolve in hot water, and with an ordinary water- 

 ing pot sprinkle over the whole mass and then again mix thor- 

 oughly. Put this mixture into the self-feeding boxes, and place 

 them where hogs of all ages can eat of their contents at pleasure. ' ' 

 Where corn cobs are burned for fael in the prairie districts the 

 ashes should be saved for the pigs. 



III. Discussion of the Experiments Reported in Chapter VI on the 

 Effects of Feed on the Body of the Pig. 



936. Lessons from the experiments. — The practical bearings of 

 the iavestigations on the mal-nutrition of pigs reported in Chapter 

 VI are here presented. These experiments were conducted at 

 several Stations in widely separated states and countries and with 

 different feeds, yet the results were concordant in showing that 

 the frame of the growing animal and the vital organs can be 

 greatly modified by improper nutrition, — the muscles pro- 

 duced by such feeding being less than normal in size, the bones 

 robbed of their strength, the vital organs, such as the liver and 

 kidneys, modified, and even the blood reduced in quantity. Are 

 there not lessons here for the student, and the breeder and feeder 

 as well, which, if understood and appreciated, will help to a bet- 

 ter management of farm animals, especially the pig ? 



937. Limits of bone and muscle development. — In studying 

 these experiments we should understand the limitations of nature 

 in the development of the muscle and bone systems. No feeds or 

 combiaations of feeds are known which will cause an animal to 

 develop bone and muscle beyond what is set by inheritance. It 

 was shown that pigs fed skim milk, dried blood and other protein- 

 rich feeds had stronger bones and larger muscles (more lean meat) 

 than those receiving corn meal only, but this does not show that 

 these animals had increased in bone and muscle beyond the normal. 



In supplying pigs in these experiments with feeds rich in pro- 

 tein and ash, their bodies were developed in bone and muscle to 



