CARE AND MANAGEMENT 609 



the cot to arrange the bedding and clean the quarters. These 

 small houses; however, are very inexpensive and very efficient, 

 and all things considered, answer the general farmer's conditions 

 much better than the large and expensive hog-house. 



THE HOG LOT 



The lot in which hogs are quartered should be such as can be 

 kept clean. A filthy and carelessly kept lot encourages disease 

 by providing lodgment for the germs; and constant cleanliness 

 is the most effective means of preventing germ dissemination. 

 Where disease germs have once been established, an absolutely 

 thorough disinfection is essential to eradicate them. To facilitate 

 cleanliness and disinfection, at least a part of the lot should be 

 paved with brick, stone, or concrete. On this pavement the cots 

 may be placed during the winter season and on it the feeding 

 may be done. 



Hog-wallows. — Some very successful breeders heartily favor 

 hog-wallows, while others equally as successful are much 

 opposed to their use. Those who are outspoken in opposi- 

 tion to the wallow have perhaps been influenced from 

 infections due to a filthy wallow, or from infections at the time 

 of an outbreak of cholera. There can be no doubt that filthy 

 wallows are often a source of danger, nor can there be any doubt 

 that once a cholera hog wallows in the water, however clean, all 

 other hogs wallowing in or drinking this contaminated water 

 are likely to contract the dreaded disease. 



On the other hand, with the healthy herd there can be no ob- 

 jections to a clean mud wallow, and there are many advantages 

 to be derived from it. During the heat of summer the hog 

 cools mainly by radiation, and a cool mud bath is very soothing ; 

 it cleans the scurf from the skin and enables the hog to find 

 protection from the flies. This wallow or mud bath should be so 

 arranged that fresh water may be added as needed, and to insure 

 absolute freedom from all germ life a quart of coal-tar dip may be 

 poured in the wallow occasionally (see also page 504). 



