THE HOG. 
219 
6. Vary your bill of fare. Variety will create, or, at all events, 
increase appetite, and it is further most conducive to health ; let your 
variations be guided by the state of the dung cast ; this should be of 
medium consistence, and of a grayish-brown color; if hard, increase 
the quantity of bran and succulent roots ; if too liquid, diminish, or 
dispense with bran, and let the mess be firmer ; if you can, add a por- 
tion of corn — that which is injured, and thus rendered unfit for other 
purposes, will be found to answer well. 
1 . Feed your stock separately, in classes, according to their rela- 
tive conditions ; keep sows in young by themselves ; stores by them- 
selves ; and bacon hogs and porkers by themselves. It is not advisable 
to keep your stores too high in flesh, for high feeding is calculated to 
retard development of form and bulk. It is better to feed pigs intend- 
ed to be put up for bacon, loosely, and not too abundantly, until they 
have attained their full stature ; you can then bring them into the 
highest possible condition in an inconceivably short space of time. 
8. Do NOT REGRET THE LOSS OR SCARCITY OF POTATOES, SO far 3S 
swine-feeding is concerned. Its loss has been the means of stimulating 
inquiry and producing experiment, which has resulted in the discovery 
that many other superior vegetables have been hitherto neglected anil 
foolishly passed aside. 
9. Do NOT NEGLECT TO KEEP YOUR SWINE CLEAN, DRY, AND WARM. 
These are essentials, and not a whit less imperative than feeding, for 
an inferior description of food will, by their aid, succeed far better'than 
the highest feeding will without them ; and we would reiterate the 
benefit derivable from washing your hogs ; this will repay your trouble 
manifold. 
10. Watch the markets. Sell when you see a reasonable profit 
before you. Many and many a man has swamped himself by giving 
way to covetousness, and by desiring to realize an unusual amount of 
gain ; recollect how very fluctuating are the markets, and that a certain 
gain is far better than the risk of loss. 
Time Requisite for Feeding Fat — Quantity of Food.— -This will, of course, 
vary very considerably, according to the weight, age, breed, and condi- 
tion of the store when first put up, as well as the description of food 
on which, up to that period, the animal has been fed. The same ob- 
servations are applicable to the quantity of food required for the pro- 
duction of fat. 
If a young store, five or six weeks may bo sufficient ; if older, six or 
eight ; and if of the mature age, intended for a perfect bacon hog, of 
that moderate degree of size and fatness which is preferred for the gen- 
eral consumption of the middle classes, from twelve to fourteen. A 
bacon hog, if intended to be thoroughly fattened for farm use, should, 
however, be of a large breed, and brought to such a state as not to be 
able to rise without difficulty, and will, perhaps, require five or six 
months, or even more, to bring him to that condition. This, however, 
supposes him to be completely fat; to ascertain which with perfect ac- 
curacy, he ought to be weighed every week during the latter part of 
the process; for although his appetite will gradually fall off as he in- 
creases in fat, yet the flesh which he will acquire will also diminish, 
