56 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



value of the manure, as profit and to pay for attendance, the 

 whey, and interest on money. It is, of course, impossible to 

 allot the gain to the meal or to the whey; but this we can claim 

 — that if there had been no whey the pigs would not have been 

 fattened. In 1885 and 1886 outbreaks of swine fever occurred 

 in newly-bought lots of pigs; this necessitated the clearing out 

 of half-fattened pigs, so that the pig-fatting in these years re- 

 sulted in a loss. 



Mr. Piatt considers that factory whey, if fed alone, is of very 

 little value. In proof of this he gives an experiment made with 

 fifty pigs weighing from 100 lbs. to 120 lbs. These were fed 

 on as much whey as they chose to eat, consuming about 2 x / 2 

 tons weight of whey per day; or, as Mr. Piatt added: " Each 

 pig drank its own weight in whey every day, and only increased 

 in value 6d. to oxl. per week." 



Mr. T. Carrington Smith, a gentleman who is well known 

 as a most careful observer, has very kindly sent me a copy of 

 his pig-feeding account for 31 years. The yearly average num- 

 ber of pigs fattened was 45, of bags of meal consumed 95, and 

 the profit £55 18s. 7d. Mr. Carrington Smith points out that 

 after making allowance for attendance, value of manure, &c, he 

 considered that the whey resulting from each cow has been 

 worth 30s. a year for pig-fatting. 



Both these gentlemen complain most bitterly of the serious 

 loss which swine fever has occasioned them, and to the great 

 hindrance it is to the successful carrying on of cheese-making. 

 If our political friends who pretend to be so desirous of provid- 

 ing allotments, cow plots, and cows for the laborers, were to 

 take steps to stamp out swine fever, their efforts would be much 

 more appreciated and much more beneficial to the artisan, the 

 laborer, and the dairy farmer. In fact, unless the country is 

 cleared of swine fever it will be impossible for our small dairy 

 farmers to carry on their operations profitably, as many of them 

 look to their pigs which consume the dairy offal to pay the rent. 

 I would venture to point out that in estimating the value of 

 skim milk, whey, &c, we must not only take their intrinsic 



