1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
183 
Pens and Yards for 150 Hogs. 
For answer to several inquiries for a plan of pens 
and yards for keeping about 150 hogs in a con¬ 
venient and healthful manner, we offer the follow¬ 
ing. This is an enlargement of a smaller system 
O inife 
i 
Fig. 1.— PLAN OF PENS. 
of pens and yards which have been found satisfac¬ 
tory in every respect, especially so far as regards 
saving of labor. The pens are built in a range on 
each side of a central feed-house, shown at the 
corner of figure 1. This house is a two-story build¬ 
ing. In the upper part feed is stored, to be cooked 
or prepared on the lower floor. A 
stairway in one corner leads to the 
upper story; opposite to the stairs, 
and at the right of the doorway, 
is a pump connected with a cistern 
which receives all the flow from 
the roof. The water is shed from 
the rear of the roof, so that none 
escapes into the yard. A hose is 
connected with the pump, which 
serves to convey water into the 
feed-troughs in both wings of the 
pens,for cleansing them and to sup¬ 
ply the animals with drinking water. Opposite to the 
pump is the boiler or the mixing vat. As a boiler 
will be found indispensable at times, one should be 
provided at the outset, as it may be used for soak¬ 
ing or otherwise preparing food when not needed 
for heating purposes. 
A passage-way leads on 
either hand from the 
feed-room down the 
range of pens, as shown. 
The arrangement of the 
pens is illustrated at 
figure 2 ; the passage¬ 
way is at a , the feed- 
trough with spout at 
b ; the troughs are pro¬ 
tected by cross strips fastened from the partition 
wall to the edge of each, as shown by the dotted 
lines, so as to prevent the hogs from lying in them ; 
at c is a sliding door, by which access can he gained 
from pen to pen all through the range when neces¬ 
sary for the purpose of changing or otherwise man¬ 
aging the occupants; at d is a slatted ventilator 
fixed in the wall over each door, also shown at 
figure 4. The yard and pens shown in the left- 
hand lower corner of figure 1 are for brood sows 
witli pigs, which are kept separate from the rest 
of the herd. The pens are arranged as the others, 
with the addition of 
safeguards for the 
young pigs placed 
around the walls, about 
eight inches above the 
floor andsix inches from 
it, and attached to it by 
means of iron straps 
(see figure 3). These are 
to prevent the pigs from being crushed by the sows 
When they lie down, as is often the case when 
no protection is furnished. At figure 4 is seen the 
elevation of one wing of the range with the feed 
house. The shed is made from 12 to 16 feet wide, 
12 feet high in front and 8 feet in the rear. Each 
pen should be at least 8 feet wide, which would 
give from 60 to 100 square feet, accommodating 5 
or 6 pigs ; sheds 100 feet long, with yards covering 
the included ground, would give room for a herd 
of 150. The front doors of the pens are made 
double, shutting against each second post, and 
opening from each other. One fastening answers 
for all the four doors; this consists of a semi¬ 
circular piece of hard-wood plank, which turns on 
a bolt, as shown at figure 5. When at rest it falls 
so as to fasten the four doors, and can be turned 
either way in an instant to open either pair. This 
should be secured firmly with a strong bolt with a 
large head. The floors of the pens may be made 
of hydraulic lime concrete, thoroughly saturated 
with gas tar. Such a floor is always dry, clean, and 
perfectly impenetrable either by vermin or by the 
swine. An occasional dressing of hot gas tar will 
keep lice and fleas at a distance, and thus promote 
the health and growth of the herd. Another method 
of making the floor, which the writer has found 
excellent, is to use double hemlock plank, laid so 
as to break joints, and saturated with hot gas tar. 
This is water and vermin proof, and also saves all 
the liquid manure. To do this most effectively, the 
floor is sloped for two or three inches, and a 
slightly hollowed gutter conveys the drainage into 
the outer yard, which should be paved with cobble 
stone or cemented, if possible, or otherwise well 
bedded with litter or other absorbents. The best 
absorbent is dry swamp muck; when this can not 
be provided, hard-wood sawdust, sand, dry earth, 
Fig. 2.— SECTION OF PEN. 
Fig. 4.—EXTERIOR VIEW OF PENS. 
or litter from the stables, may be kept in the 
yard; this will be turned over and well mixed. 
Prepare for Fodder Crops. 
Something to help out the pastures is necessary 
in all kinds of farming where cows are kept. Under 
present circumstances it does not pay to pasture 
during the whole season. This occupies too much 
Fig. 3.— SAFEGUARDS. 
Fig. 5.— FASTENING FOR DOORS. 
land, upon which the present onerous taxes alone 
will eat up all the profit. Five to seven acres can 
not now be spared to furnish feed for one cow. 
One acre may be found to be sufficient by good 
management and the use of fodder crops, to be cut 
green. Of these, a succession of two, or even 
three, may be grown during the season upon the 
same ground. For instance, fall-sown rye may be 
cut from May to June; by the use of a swivel plow 
a strip from which the rye has been cut may be 
plowed and sown to oats, oats and peas, oats and 
barley, or peas alone ; but the mixed crops will be 
found the most profitable. The oats first sown 
may be cut early in July; and millet, sweet corn, 
or roots, may be sown for use in September. The 
ground cleared of this last crop may be sown to 
rye or wheat again, and so the rotation may be 
kept up. The produce of one acre thus managed 
will be surprising, and the manure made by feed¬ 
ing it to cattle, sheep, pigs, and horses, will be suf¬ 
ficient to keep the soil in a rapidly improving con¬ 
dition. It will be seen that no seed is produced, 
and the exhaustion of the soil in this respect is 
avoided. This, too, enables tbe soil to reproduce 
year after year the same crops without deteriora¬ 
tion. An important point to observe is to avoid 
sowing or planting too thickly, in order that the 
fodder may be properly matured, perfect in color, 
and well supplied with nutritive matter, in place of 
mere water, as is the case in the very heavy yield 
produced by close planting on rich soils; and at 
the same time to feed with it some rich concen¬ 
trated food, such as cotton seed meal, by which 
the laxative effect of succulent provender is pre¬ 
vented, and at the same time the manure—and con¬ 
sequently the soil—is enriched. 
Composition and Value of Indian Corn. 
BY PROF. W. O. ATWATER, WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. 
The following analyses give an idea of the com¬ 
position of several varieties of corn and cobs : 
I • I 
S 1 . oe 
,S o o £ ■£ i £ 
A 
1. New England Yellow, 8-rowed. 10.5 1.8 9.7 2.4 71.6 4.4 
2. New England Yellow, 8-rowed. 15.1 1.4 10.0 1.2 67.0 5.8 
3. New Engl. “Golden," 8-rowed. 12.5 1.6 10.3 1.4 69.4 4.9 
Average of Nos. 1, 2 and 3. 12.7 1.4 10.0 1.7 69.3 4.9 
1.6 11.9 2.2 70.1 4.5 
1.4 9.2 1.5 74.3 3.4 
1.1 12.1 2.0 69.5 3.4 
1.5 9.6 2.5 72.6 5.7 
1.9 11.1 
2.2 11.7 
2.1 11.4 
1.3 8.8 
1.1 8.8 
1.4 9.2 
1.2 8.9 
2.6 65.9 7.7 
4.9 62.7 7.8 
3.8 64.8! 7.7 
1.6 81.9 3.9 
1.8 72.9 4.6 
3.1 69.1 3.6 
2.0.70.8 4.0 
2.7 69.6 4.1 
0.9,71.1' 4.0 
38.3 47.6 0.1 
4. King Phillip or Rhode Island.. 9.8 
5. Mass. White Flint.10.2 
6. Mass. Red Flint.12.0 
7. Early Dutton. 8.1 
8. Stowcll's Evergreen Sweet_10.9 
9. Burr's Sweet. 10.7 
Average of Nos. 8 and 9... 10.8 
10. Western Yellow.13.9 
11. Western Yellow, Kansas.11.3 
12. Western Yellow, Illinois.13.6, 
Average of Nos. 10,11 and 12.. 13.0, 
I I 
13. Southern White,large 16-rowed 11.6 1.5 19.6 
14. Southern White, ordinary. 13.8 1.3 8.9 
15. Cobs from N.E. Yellow, No. 2.11.5 1.3 l,2uo. u „.„ 
Cobs,German (Wolffs Tables) 14,0 2,8 1,4 37.8 42.6 1.4 
Nos. 3, 5, 6, 0, 11, and 12, were analyzed by Mr. S. P. 
Sharplesg; No. 13, under direction of Prof. S. W. John¬ 
son ; the rest by the writer and his assistants. 
Taking the results of German experiments for 
digestibility and the valuations previously given, as 
a basis, the digestible ingredients and valuations of 
the kinds of corn above named will be as follows. 
The digestibility of cobs has not, so far as I know, 
been tested. The proportions are, as assumed by 
Wolif, evidently from analogy with materials that 
have been determined: 
ORGANIC 
~ SUBSTANCE 
& DIGESTIBLE. 
KINDS OF COEN. 
W a 
a £ 
> S>| 
MONEY 
VALUE. 
N. E. Yellow, 8-rowed, av'ge.. 
King Phillip or Rhode Island. 
Mass. White Flint. 
Mass. Red Flint. 
Early Dutton. 
Sweet, average. 
Western Yellow, average. 
Southern White, ordinary.... 
Cobs from N. E. Yellow. 
Cobs, German—Wolffs Tables 
p.c. p.c. p.c. 1 : S ctj 
3 S.4 65.8 3.7 8.6 1.09 
1 10. 66.7 3 4 7.5 1.18 
1 7.7,70.3 2.6 9.9 1.00 
1 10.1 66.0 2.6 7.2 1.07 
1 8 1 69.2, 4.3 9.9 1.16 
2 9.6 61.8 5.9 8.0 1.19 
2 7.5 67.3 3.1 10.0 1.01 
1, 7.5 67.1 3.1 10.0 1.06 
0.5,43.0 0.0 86.(1 .40 
0.6 41.7 0.4 71.2 .40 
Eastern vs. Western Corn. 
These figures confirm the current opinion of 
farmers that eastern corns have a higher nutritive 
value than western, though the difference is less 
than is frequently assumed. The sweet corn leads ; 
then come the Early Dutton and Rhode Island, 
which, however, appear to better advantage, be¬ 
cause of the dryness of the samples, then the New 
England Yellow or Canada, the Southern White, 
the Western Yellow, and lowest of all, the Massa¬ 
chusetts White Flint. But it must be borne in 
mind that the number of samples is small, and fur¬ 
ther analyses may give somewhat different results. 
The Nutritive Value of Cobs 
in the table is over one-half that of corn, higher 
