BREEDING, ETC. 
611 
days after their birth ; and such as have this desire, should 
be parted with, as useless for breeding from. 
During the time of pregnancy, sows should be well fed, 
and have a meal of a rich mash twice a day, at least, and, 
besides, a good supply of vegetable substances, such as cab¬ 
bages, carrots, or potatoes; and when they are nursing 
their young, they should have a still larger supply of food, to 
keep up that secretion of milk so essentially necessary for 
the supply of such a numerous progeny. 
Pigs may be weaned when about eight weeks old, and se¬ 
parated from the sow. She should be shut up by herself 
for a week or so, and well fed, to restore what she has lost 
in suckling her young. She will very soon after this mani¬ 
fest a desire to take the boar. 
The times at which hogs are fattened, are twice a year, 
namely, beginning in October, for the winter, and February 
or March for the spring time. Where skimmed-milk can be 
spared, it will be found the best liquid, and mixed with 
ground oats, barley-meal, pea-meal, or bean-meal, as also 
pollard; these may be given combined, with great advantage. 
Indeed it is better to neutralize the heating effects of pea 
and bean-meal, by a mixture of some of the other farina¬ 
ceous bodies. Malted barley has also been given to pigs 
while fattening, with considerable success. Potatoes and 
carrots boiled, mixed with skimmed or butter-milk, and even 
vhey, prove an excellent variety for inducing an increase of 
substance in the animals. The refuse of the brewhouse and 
distillery are also found to be beneficial in fattening swine, 
with other farinaceous substances mixed in them 
From the contumacious and unruly nature of hogs, there 
is great difficulty, if not an utter impossibility of performing 
operations on them, as with other animals, and consequently 
little progress has been made in the application of the ve* 
