490 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  uOTTAGE  GARDENER . 
June  6,  1901. 
Pigs  and  Piggeries. 
The  keeping  and  breeding  of  pigs  has  been  such  a  profitable 
undertaking  of  late,  and  there  are  so  many  fairy  tales  flying  about  as 
to  the  comfortable  sums  which  have  been  realised  out  of  the  industry, 
that  this  may  be  an  opportune  moment  to  offer  a  few  words  of  advice 
and  caution  to  intending  beginners.  In  the  first  place,  pigs  are  now 
so  dear  that  the  stock-in-trade  could  not  be  laid  in  under  greater 
disadvantage;  and  secondly,  pig  breeding  is  a  very  “  switch-backy  ” 
affair,  rarely  keeping  at  one  level  for  long,  and  for  every  upward 
movement  having  a  quickly  following  and  equivalent  downward  one. 
In  fact,  embarkiog  on  pig  breeding  when  the  animals  are  very  dear  is 
like  buying  a  mine  from  which  the  greater  part  of  the  value  has  been 
extracted.  Of  course,  pork  and  pigs  may  keep  their  price  for  some 
time,  but  it  will  be  contrary  to  all  precedent  if  they  do. 
The  proper  housing  of  pigs  is  important.  Many  people  have  an 
idea  that  anv  hovel  is  good  enough  for  the  pig.  It  is  true  that  he 
will  thrive  very  often  under  very  disadvantageous  conditions,  but 
under  them  there  is  much  greater  risk  of  loss  than  there  would  be 
under  proper  management,  whilst  the  latter,  without  doubt,  assists 
in  bringing  the  animal  more  quickly  to  maturity  in  the  case  of 
feeding  animals,  and  in  a  saving  of  food  in  nearly  all  cases.  The  sty 
should  have  the  outer  walls  of  brick  or  stone,  the  former  for  preference, 
as  a  brick  wall  is  less  easy  to  pull  to  pieces,  an  amusement  which  the 
average  pig  dearly  loves.  If  it  is  to  be  divided  into  two  or  more 
compartments  there  is  nothing  better  for  the  purpose  than  old  railway 
sleepers.  These  are  also  excellent  for  the  flooring,  which  is  very 
necessary  if  the  ground  or  situation  be  at  all  damp.  In  some  sties 
pigs  are  very  liable  to  attacks  of  cramp,  and  we  have  seen  great 
improvement  in  that  respect  resulting  from  the  introduction  of  a  raised 
platform  for  the  pigs  to  lie  upon.  Of  course  we  are  supposing  that 
the  piggery  is  well  drained,  but  with  the  best  of  drainage  on  some 
soils  there  is  this  liability  to  cramp,  and  a  raised  platform  is  the  only 
remedy  we  know  of.  The  sty  is  better  away  from  other  buildings, 
and  should  have  an  exercise  yard  attached,  and  should  be  near  a 
grass  field  or  paddock,  where  a  run  out  occasionally  is  very  beneficial 
to  breeding  sows  as  well  as  to  growing  stores. 
An  open  shed,  or  a  stable  or  cownouse,  may  b9  easily  made  into 
places  suitable  for  keeping  pigs  by  the  erection  of  proper  partitions 
made  with  sleepers  or  similar  material,  but  these  said  barriers  must  be 
made  high  enough,  for  it  is  a  very  bad  thiDg  for  a  sow  in  the  early 
period  of  gestation  to  get  a  habit  of  climbing  about,  which  she  may  do 
if  she  can  get  her  fore  feet  on  the  sides  of  the  sty.  Harm  may  accrue, 
resulting  in  the  loss  of  both  sow  and  litter.  It  sheds  or  other  high 
buildings  be  used  for  the  housing  of  pigs  (and  we  confess  that  we  like 
our  animds  to  have  plenty  of  room  overhead),  suitable  provision  must 
be  made  for  exercise.  Breeding  sows  do  well  in  an  o- dinary  farm  fold- 
yard,  but  they  must  be  put  in  the  sty  a  week  or  so  before  they  are  due 
to  farrow,  so  that  they  may  get  accustomed  to  the  |  lace,  but  of  course 
they  may  be  let  out  a  little'  each  day.  A3  the  time  of  farrowing 
approaches  all  long  straw  should  be  removed  from  the  sty  and  a  little 
Wheat  pulse  substituted ;  very  short  straw,  or  straw  cut  long,  would 
do,  but  not  chaff,  especially  Oat  chaff,  which  would  get  into  the  eyes 
of  the  young  pigs  and  blind  them.  Some  people  recommend  that  a 
sow  should  be  watched,  and  the  pigs  removed  as  they  arrive  ;  this 
sounds  very  well  if  it  can  be  done,  but  some  sows. will  brook  no 
interference,  and  are  much  better  left  alone.  In  fact,  on  farms  the  rule 
is  to  leave  the  sow  severely  to  herself  until  the  farrowing  is  over.  Two 
ounces  of  Epsom  salts  given  in  the  food  before,  and  two  ounces  of  flowers 
of  sulphur  given  after  farrowing,  are  excellent  tor  keeping  the  sow  in 
cool  condition,  and  will  not  affect  the  quality  of  the  milk  except  for 
the  better.  In  fact,  all  pigs  should  have  flowers  of  sulphur  in  their  food 
once  a  week,  and  much  less  would  be  heard  of  swine  lever  and  similar 
ailments 
As  10  food,  we  like  good  sharps  better  than  any  other  kind  of 
meal,  and  it  is  quite  as  cheap.  On  farms  where  there  is  often  a 
good  deal  of  small,  not  very  saleable  Barley,  it  is  convenient  to 
grind  it  and  use  it  as  pig  food,  with  the  addition  of  boiled  or 
steamed  Potatoes;  but  if  the  food  is  not  home  grown,  and  we 
perforce  must  buy,  we  certainly  prefer  sharps,  which  are  good  for 
pigs  of  all  ages  and  sizes.  In  summer,  if  we  have  a  number  of 
growing  pigs  in  a  yard,  there  is  nothing  cheaper,  and  few  things 
better,  than  Maize  given  whole,  and  thrown  down  on  the  causeway, 
but  never  in  a  trough.  It  must  be  well  scattered  about,  so  that  the 
pigs  take  plenty  of  time  in  finding  and  masticating  it.  They  must 
have  plenty  of  water  with  it.  For  sows  with  young  ones  a 
mixture  of  food  is  best.  Fine  sharps,  ground  Oats,  and  a  little 
bran,  is  a  good  mixture.  If  old  milk  is  available  it  is  most  valuable 
for  the  small  pigs,  especially  after  they  have  been  weaned;  but  it  is 
not  such  a  necessity  as  some  think,  for  thousands  of  young  pigs  are 
reared  without  it,  but  it  is  a  great  help  in  the  quick  feeding  of  young 
porkers.  Where  there  is  no  milk  a  good  substitute  is  tallow  crap, 
otherwise  the  refuse  from  the  tallow  chandlers.  This  can  be  procured 
at  about  Id*  per  pound,  and  may  be  mixed  or  partially  dissolved 
with  boiling  water,  and  then  mixed  with  the  meal  or  other  food 
before  serving.  There  is  a  tendency  with  many  people  to  overfeed 
pigs,  which  is  a  good  reason  for  using  sulphur  as  a  safeguard.  For 
a  well  grown  pig  4  to  7  lbs.  per  day  is  an  ample  supply  of  meal. 
We  have  kept  one  in  excellent  condition  on  the  smaller  quantity,  with 
nothing  additional  except  a  few  raw  Potatoes  or  Swede  Turnips. 
Mangold  is  an  excellent  summer  food,  especially  in  conjunction  with 
the  whole  Maize,  but  we  are  only  referring  to  animals  of  six  months 
and  upwards. 
The  most  common  ailment  amongst  pigs  is  acidity  on  the 
stomach.  The  old  fashioned  local  antidote  for  this  was  a  quantity 
of  rudd  or  ruddle  broken  up  among  the  food.  Of  course  the  active 
agent  here  was  the  chalk  in  the  ruddle,  and  any  other  form  of  chalk 
would  be  equally  effective.  With  many  amateurs  the  question  of 
bedding  or  litter  is  a  great  difficulty,  but  pigs,  though  they  love  to 
wallow,  are  all  the  better  for  cleanly  surroundings,  and  a  reasonably 
dry  bed  must  be  provided,  or  pig  keeping,  and  certainly  pig  breeding, 
had  better  be  discontinued. 
Work  on  tiie  Home  Farm. 
We  are  all  crying  out  for  rain,  for  0T2  of  an  inch  does  not  last 
lone:  when  there  are  sixteen  hoars  of  sunshine.  There  is  a  thundery 
look  about  the  sky,  which  encourages  us  to  hope  that  a  change  may  not 
be  long.  There  is  an  old  saying,  but  perhaps  only  a  local  one,  a  dry 
May  and  a  dripping  June  put  everything  in  tune.  We  have  had  a  dry 
May,  now  for  a  dripping  June.  The  dryness  of  the  surface  soil  will 
make  inexperienced  farmers  hesitate  to  go  on  sowing  Swedes  and 
Turnips,  but  where  the  tilth  is  fine  there  is  no  need  for  delay  ;  the  seed 
will  keep  as  well  in  the  soil  as  in  the  bag,  even  if  it  does  not  germinate, 
and  it  will  be  there  ready  when  the  needful  moisture  is  supplied. 
Turnips  like  a  dusty  seed  bed.  Present  conditions  will  make  strong- 
land  farmers  turn  their  attention  to  summer  fallow ;  a  good  dragging 
now  with  the  steam  cultivator,  followed  immediately  by  a  set  of  three- 
horse  harrows,  will  give  the  land  a  thorough  stirring,  and  leave  it  open 
to  the  full  influence  of  the  sunshine.  That  much  of  the  land  of  this 
country  does  not  get  sufficient  and  thorough  cultivation  it  is  easy  to 
believe.  It  was  so  when  the  times  were  good  and  farming  profitable, 
and  it  is  so  yet.  Good  farmers  work  their  land  well,  and  do  not  omit 
ploughing.  We  only  the  other  day  heard  a  very  shrewd  man  remark 
that  spring  cultivators  would  be  a  curse  if  they  led  farmers  to  negleot 
ploughing. 
Turnip  fly  is  very  rampant  this  year,  and  has  already  made  havoc 
with  crops  sown  early  on  the  frost  mould,  which  is  the  only  method 
adopted  by  many  strong-land  ocoupiers.  Of  course  this  is  only  on 
land  where  the  Turnip  crop  is  always  a  difficulty,  yet  the  crop  is 
always  such  a  heavy  one  when  a  plant  is  secured  that  its  failure  means 
a  perceptible  diminution  of  the  root  crop  of  the  country,  for  is  not 
strong  land  representative  of  the  great  majority  of  the  arable  land  ? 
Barley  has  gone  off  very  much  from  last  week,  and,  unless  copious 
warm  rain  comes  soon,  promises  to  be  little  better  than  last  year. 
Even  amongst  the  early  sown  plots  it  is  too  easy  to  see  the  thistles 
which  have  not  yet  been  grubbed  up.  We  would  rather  find  a  few 
thistles  in  the  sheaves  when  we  are  building  stooks  than  have  them 
making  themselves  too  evident  amongst  the  crop  in  early  June. 
Grass  is  still  bare,  and  seeds  are  less  proud  than  they  were,  but  all 
kinds  of  stock  are  doing  well,  as  they  always  do  on  dry  meat  if  the 
supply  be  not  too  limited.  Dairy  cattle  are  the  exception  to  this  rule, 
but  so  far  with  a  plentiful  supply  of  water  they  have  held  their  own. 
- «♦#*> - 
Some  Good  Lambing  Results. — In  many  parts  of  England, 
says  the  “Farmers’  Gazette,”  there  is  in  existence  among  flocktnasters 
a  practice  of  giving  premiums  to  shepherds  which  we  have  often  thought 
might  be  more  extensively,  adopted  with  excellent  results  on  this  side 
of  the  Channel.  This  practice  consists  of  giving  premiums  of  a  certain 
sum  for  every  lamb  that  a  shepherd  succeeds  in  rearing  beyond  a 
certain  number.  This  custom  is  very  common  over  the  greater  part  of 
the  South  of  England,  and  is  specially  popular  with  admirers  of  the 
Suffolk  sheep.  At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Committee  of  the  Suffolk 
Sheep  Breeders’  Association,  the  results  of  the  past  season’s  competitions 
for  prizes  offered  by  that  body  for  the  lowest  percentages  of  losses 
among  ewes  were  announced.  In  this  competition  the  first  prize  was 
awarded  to  a  shepherd  who,  with  402  ewes,  reared  642  lambs,  and  thus 
had  an  average  of  29  85  lambs  to  every  score  of  ewes.  The  second 
prize  went  to  one  who  reared  613  lambs  from  445  ewes,  or  an  average 
of  25-39  lambs  to  every  twenty  ewes. 
