SPRING PIGS MORE PROFITABLE THAN STORE PIGS.-A LOG LOADER. 
217 
SPRING PIGS MORE PROFITABLE THAN 
STORE PIGS. 
Knowing your wish is to circulate useful informa¬ 
tion, I place at your disposal sundry facts connected 
with an experiment to ascertain whether any advan¬ 
tage could be derived from keeping pigs through the 
winter. From this I am of opinion that to keep 
what are usually termed “store pigs” is unprofitable 
to the farmer, unless the number kept is confined to 
the consumption of food only (house offal) that has 
no marketable value ; for it is clearly proved by the 
statements below, that the weight gained during the 
cold season will not compensate for the extra cost of 
six months’ feeding. 
The pigS used for the experiment were of three 
litters, from my own piggery, viz: 
A, 3 pigs, half Chinese and half Berkshire. 
B, 3 pigs, half grass and half Berkshire. 
C, 3 pigs of same family as B, but a subsequent 
litter. 
'm- 
w 
3 
| Farrowed. 
Slaughtered. 
Q> 
6 JD 
<2 
Weighed 
dressed. 
Average. 
Gain of weight 
| per day 
during life. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
oz. 
A 
Oct’r 10, 
Dec’r 17, 
14 months 
284 j 
1842. 
1844. 
7 days, 
285 l 
298 
11 
or 433 days. 
325 J 
B 
Oct’r 22, 
a 
13 months 
2961 
1843. 
26 days, 
304 y 
313 
hH 
or 421 days. 
339 J 
C 
April 10, 
« 
7 months 
240] 
1844. 
27 days, 
250 [ 
249 
16+1 
or 241 days. 
257 J 
The pigs of class A had not the advantage of suck¬ 
lings, the sow having died in the act of parturition : 
they are an encouraging example of what may be 
accomplished by care and attention for a few days 
after birth. Each class was fed on the same kind of 
food, treated in the same manner, and attended by the 
same swineherd. B and C were weaned at six 
Weeks old, and till then at no expense for food. 
As a further illustration of the truth of my hypo¬ 
thesis, let us, from the whole age of B, 421 days, 
and the whole age of C, 241 days, deduct the age 
when weaned, 42 days, and we shall have the time 
fed of B 379 days, and of C 199 days. 
Again, let us from the average weight of B, 313 
lbs., and the average weight of C, 249 lbs., deduct 
the presumed weight if slaughtered when weaned 
(20 Hs,), which gives the weight gained by B dur¬ 
ing the feeding 293 lbs., and of C 229 lbs. 
days. lbs. day. os. 
C, - - - 199 : 229 : : 1 = 18 T 4 2 
B, - - - 379 : 293 : : 1 = J2y% 
Extra gain of C per day, - 6y^ 
But another and more common-sense view of-the 
subject is, that B was fed a little over 12 months, 
and gained 293 lbs. C was fed a little over 6 
months, and gained 229 lbs. Difference for 6 months’ 
feed only 64 lbs. 
Superadded to these facts, it must be admitted that 
B, from 6 months’ to 12 months’ feeding age, con¬ 
sumed much more food than C consumed from 0 to 
6 months; consequently that B, during his whole 
feeding time, consumed more than double the quan¬ 
tity that C consumed during his whole feeding time. 
Ergo, that C was about 100 per cent, more profitable 
than B. YV. 
Casino,, May 20, 1845. 
We esteem the above little article one of the most 
valuable ever communicated to this periodical. It 
fully corroborates our advice given in the April num¬ 
ber, page 138, on the subject of “ Raising Pork.” 
We wish farmers were more in the habit of making 
such experiments, and giving us the results; their 
business would then become one of strict calculation 
and not mere guess-work, as is now too generally 
the case. 
A LOG LOADER. 
With this I send you a sketch of a very simple 
and useful machine, both in the farming and mecha¬ 
nical arts, by the means of which great labor and 
much time may be saved. 
Log Loader.—Fig. 57. 
It consists of a double acting lever, a, 10 feet Jong, 
suspended in the middle by the clevis, c, which is 
hooked in the clevis, the bolt of which passes through 
the upper end of two shear poles, which admits them 
to open and shut, as best suits. The hooks d and e 
are placed 2§ inches from the fulcrum, connected to 
the staple by a link and swivel, which enables the 
hooks to be turned in the links of the chain either way. 
The shear poles may be of a length suited to the 
weight and height of the object to be raised. For 
loading logs on a wagon, they should be 6£ feet; if it 
is a short or round object, a third shear pole should 
be set against a pin in one of the other legs. The 
machine is to be placed over the object to be raised; 
a chain is then to be placed around it, one end of 
which is fastened to one of the hooks of the lever, 
the lever is then worked, and the hooks to be hooked 
one below the other alternately. 
V. H. Hallock. 
Milton , N. April 22, 1845. 
