Agricultural Chemistry. — Pig Feeding. 



537 



nitrogenous products, or in the better balanced diet of the 

 Cereals — in either case the end is attained, only at the cost or 

 expenditure of nitrogen ; in the one case, by the consumption of 

 a larger amount of it in the food, than the due balance of its 

 constituents would seem to require ; whilst, in the other, this 

 due balance has not been attained, without the loss of nitrogen 

 during growth. The claims of health and natural instinct gene- 

 rally, leave little doubt which alternative should be adopted, at 

 least in the case of human food. It becomes us, therefore, to 

 investigate and understand, the practical bearings of these curious 

 and interesting facts ; for, upon the principles they involve, de- 

 pend much for their success, those fundamental practices of the 

 farm — the feeding of our stock for their double produce of meat 

 and manure, and the adaptation of our rotations. 



Apart from considerations of a more general and extended 

 bearing, we may conclude our observations, with a few w^ords on 

 the more direct application of the results of our experiments to 

 the practice of Pig- feeding. 



It has been seen, that the larger the proportion of nitrogenous 

 compounds in the food, the greater was the tendency to increase 

 in frame and flesh ; but, that the maturing or rifening of the 

 animal — in fact, its ''^fattening''''' — depended very much more on 

 the amount in the food, of certain digestible non-nitrogenous con- 

 stituents. It also appears, however, when the price at which the 

 more highly nitrogenous pig foods could be purchased, is taken 

 into account, that a given amount of gross increase could be 

 obtained, at a less cost with some of the highly nitrogenous foods, 

 than with the more expensive ones, which have an undoubted 

 character of superiority as pork producers. Y/ere v/e, indeed, 

 merely to take into consideration the amount of gross increase 

 obtained for a given amount of food, of a given money value, 

 there is no doubt, that in addition to the roots, or wash, or other 

 matters, which generally form a greater or less proportion of the 

 food of the pig, it would be the most advantageous, to rely 

 almost exclusively to the end of the fattening process, upon the 

 highly nitrogenous foods, dried fish, or animal refuse, and the 

 Leguminous seeds, beans, lentils, and the like ; for, in their use, 

 not only could a given amount of gross increase be obtained at a 

 less cost, than by the use of the Cereal grains, but the manure — 

 the value of which must never be lost sight of in calculating the 

 economy of the feeding process — would be much richer in nitro- 

 gen than if the latter were employed. 



Unfortunately, however, it is not only a large amount of gross 

 increase that secures to the farmer a good profit upon his styes. 

 When pigs are fed freely upon highly succulent food, such as 

 cooked roots, the refuse of starch-works, and the like, they are 



