l^sl'il hi iv HARRIS ON THE PIG. BREEDING, REARING, MANAGEMENT, AND I M PR OVE M E N T. BY JOSEPH HARRIS, MOEBTON PAKM, BOCHBSTKB, K, ILLUSTRATED. NEW YORK: ORANGE JUDD AND COMPANY, 245 BROADWAY. H 3 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by ORANGE JUDD & CO., In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. Paradoxical as it may seem, in writing a book on Pigs and in endeavoring to show that we can obtain more meat from a well-bred pig, in proportion to the food con- sumed, than from any other domestic animal, it is no part of my object to stimulate the production of pork. For over twenty years I have had the honor to be con- nected with the Agricultural Press of America, and have had my thoughts constantly directed to the means neces- sary to improve our general system of farming. A farmer's son, and myself a farmer, all my sympathies are with the farming class rather than with the consumers ; but I am satisfied that, in many respects, our interests are identical. It should be our study to furnish good food at reasonable rates. At the present time .the consumers in our large cities are obliged to pay much more for flesh-meat than it is intrinsically worth ; and, on the other hand, with the exception of those who produce beef and mutton of the best quality, farmers make nothing by raising and feeding cattle and sheep. We receive more for our meat than it is worth, and yet it costs us more than we get for it. The remedy for this unsatisfactory condition of affairs, will be found in cultivating our land more thoroughly, in growing better grass, in keeping better stock and in liber- al feeding. The introduction of better breeds of pigs will in itself do little towards improving our farms; but the farmer who once uses a thorough-bred boar and adopts a liberal system of feeding, will find that he can produce better pork at a far less cost than when he uses a common boar ; 3 4 HAEKIS OX THE PIG. and he will be likely to study the principles of breeding with an interest he has never felt before. The introduc- tion of a thorough-bred boar will lead to the introduction of a thorough-bred ram and a thorough-bred bull of a good breed, and this, in conjunction with cleaner culture and a more liberal feeding, is all that is needed to give us better and cheaper meat ; and at the same time we shall make more and richer manure, and be enabled to grow larger and far more profitable crops of grain. I believe I was the first writer who contended that, other things being equal, it was desirable to get animals that would eat, digest and assimilate a large amount of food. In the following pages I have endeavored to give some reasons for this opinion and have cited some experi- ments that confirm it. If true of pigs, it is equally true of cattle and sheep. If generally admitted, it will lead to a more liberal system of feeding and to the production of more and far better meat. It may be thought that I should have said more in re- gard to the different breeds of pigs in the United States. There is in almost every section a class of useful pigs of more or less local reputation ; but it is doubtful if they have been kept pure for a sufficient length of time to war- rant us in speaking of them as established breeds. And even if this were the case, I know of none of them that possesses the smallness of offal, perfection of form, early maturity, and fattening qualities of the Yorkshire, Essex or Berkshire. There is none of them that would not be improved in these respects by crossing with a thorough- bred boar of either of these breeds. Of the diseases of pigs I have said little, for the simple reason that I know little in regard to them. Cleanliness and good treatment are the best medicines for a pig. Anatomically, a pig approximates more closely to a man, than any other of our domestic animals, and if we know how to treat a cold or a diarrhoea in ourselves, we shall PREFACE. 5 not be far wrong in treating a pig in the same way. And so of other diseases. It should be observed, however, that a pig grows as much in eight months, as a man does in eighteen years. This rapid growth enables the pig either to throw off disease in a few days, or failing in this, the disease soon spreads throughout the whole sys- tem and carries off its victim. Thus typhoid fever is often so rapidly fatal as to be popularly spoken of as " Hog Cholera. " Our first aim, therefore, should be to guard against all hereditary diseases in the selection of pigs for breeding and to exercise great care in maintaining the health and vigor of our swine. In preparing this book, I have corresponded with many experienced breeders, and in the appendix have given some extracts from this correspondence. We have been asked by a scientific fiiend to call this a book on " the Hog " instead of on the Pig." If it were a work on natural history, hog would be the proper word, but it is purely a practical treatise on domestic swine. A pig is a young hog ; and the aim of this work is to induce farmers to so breed and feed their pigs, that they will be in the pork barrel long before they attain the age of an old-fashioned hog. It is proper to speak of " the wild hog," and there may be varieties of swine so little im- proved as to be hogs stilL Let those who have them call them hogs, but we cannot see the propriety of calling a highly refined Essex or Berkshire pig, a hog. All the modern agricultural writers on swine seem to have adopt- ed this view. Not one of them speak of the improved breeds as hogs. Stephens, in his Book of the Farm, and the writers in Morton's Cyclopedia of Agriculture, treat of pigs, not hogs. And Youatt, Martin, Richardson, Sydney, and Darwin, all speak of domestic swine as pigs, and it is hardly worth while for us to endeavor to change the usuage of the best writers. We have no desire to have our Western friends speak of the " Magie Hogs " as 6 HAEEIS ON THE PIG. Pigs. We presume Hogs is the appropriate name for them ; but if they should find it to their interest to cross them with some of the refined thorough-breds, the grades, if well fed, will arrive at maturity before they become hogs. The wants of consumers, and the interests of pro- ducers, call for more pigs, and fewer hogs, and it is the object of this work to advocate the change. J. H. Moreton Farm, Itochester, ) N. Y., April, 1870, J CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY Page 9 CHAPTER H. BREEDS OP PIGS 14 CHAPTER HI. THE FORM OP A GOOD Pia 17 CHAPTER IV. DESIRABLE QUALITIES IN A PIG 20 CHAPTER V. LARGE vs. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES... .. 22 CHAPTER VI. VALUE OP A THOROUGH-BRED PIG . . 35 CHAPTER VII. GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE 37 CHAPTER VHI. THE ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OP OUR DOMESTIC PIGS 41 CHAPTER IX. IMPROVEMENT OP THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS 47 CHAPTER X. THE MODERN BREEDS OP ENGLISH PIGS 56 CHAPTER XI. BREEDS OP PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES 98 7 8 HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER XII. EXPERIMENTS IN'PIG FEEDING 118 CHAPTER XIH. LAWES AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING 122 CHAPTER XIV. SUGAR AS FOOD FOR PIGS 135 CHAPTER XV. THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE 137 CHAPTER XVI. PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS 144 CHAPTER XVH. SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC 169 CHAPTER XVm. MANAGEMENT OF PIGS 175 CHAPTER XIX. ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING 181 CHAPTER XX. LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF PIGS 190 CHAPTER XXI. BREEDING AND REARING PIGS 192 CHAPTER XXII. MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS 203 CHAPTER XXHI. THE PROFIT OF RAISING THOROUGH-BRED PIGS 220 CHAPTER XXIV. COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS... 221 CHAPTER XXV. SUMMARY... CHAPTER XXVI. APPENDIX HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER L INTRODUCTORY. Domestic animals are kept for several objects. The Horse, Mule, and Ass, for labor ; the Ox for labor and beef; the Cow for milk and beef; the Sheep for wool and mutton, and in some countries for milk also ; Poultry for feathers, eggs, and meat. The Pig, agriculturally, is kept for meat alone. The sole aim of the breeder is to obtain a pig that will produce the largest amount of pork and lard from a given quantity of food. The same is true of cattle when kept solely for beef. In this case the main difference between the two animals is, that the ox is provided with four stomachs, and is capable of extracting sufficient nutriment, in ordinary cases, from bulky food, while the pig has but one stomach and that comparatively a small one and, consequently, requires food containing a greater amount of nutriment in a given bulk. Grass is the natural food of the ox ; roots, nuts, and acorns, worms and other animal matter, the natural food of the hog. The pig unquestionably requires a more con- centrated food than the ox or the sheep. The stomach of an ox weighs about 35 Ibs. ; tnat of a Southdown or Leicester sheep from 3 to 4 Ibs. ; and that of a pig 1 J Ibs. The weight of the stomach, in proportion to each one 9 1* 10 HARRIS ON THE PIG. hundred pounds of live weight, is : ox, 3 Ibs. ; sheep, 3 to 4 Ibs. ; fat pig, 0.66 Ibs. In other words, in proportion to live weight, the stomach of an ox, or sheep, is about five times as great as that of a pig. It is quite evident, from these facts, that the pig is not so well adapted to feed on grass or hay as the ox or sheep. This is a strong argument against the hog as an eco- nomical farm animal. In proportion to the nutriment they contain, the con- centrated foods are more costly than those of greater bulk. Not only is their market price usually higher, but it costs more to produce them. Elaboration is an expen- sive process. The common white turnip, containing from 92 to 94 per cent of water, can be grown with less labor and manure, and in a shorter period, than the Swedish turnip, containing from 88 to 90 per cent of water, and this less than the Mangel Wurzel, containing only 86 per cent of water. Carrots, which are still more nutritious, are even more costly, in proportion to the nutriment they contain. This is probably a general law. As the ox can subsist and fatten on less cencentrated and less costly food than the pig, it follows, therefore, that a pound of beef ought to be produced at less cost than a pound of pork. There are, however, several circumstances which modify this conclusion. Pigs will eat food which, but for them, would be wasted. Where grain or oil-cake is fed to cattle, a certain number of pigs can be kept at a merely nominal cost. We can in no other way utilize the refuse from the house and the dairy so advantageously as by feeding it to swine. On grain farms, pigs will obtain a good living for several weeks after harvest, on the stubbles, and in some sections, they find a considerable amount of food in the woods. Even where we have none of these advantages, the dif- ference in the cost of producing a pound of beef and a INTRODUCTORY. 11 pound of pork is not so great as the above considerations would lead us to suppose. The hog is a great eater. He can eat, and digest, and assimilate, more nutriment in a given time, in proportion to his size, than any other of our domestic animals. The extensive and elaborate experiments of Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert show that, notwithstanding pigs are fed much richer food than oxen and sheep, they neverthe- less eat about twice as much food, in proportion to live weight, as a sheep. On the other hand, it was found that 401 Ibs. of Indian corn meal and bran (dry) produced 100 Ibs. of pork (live weight), while it required 1,548 Ibs. of oil -cake and clover hay (dry) to produce 100 Ibs. of mutton (live weight.) Why a pig should gain so much more from a given quantity of food, than a well-bred sheep or steer, has not hitherto been explained. It has been attributed to the fact that the pig possesses larger and more powerful as- similating organs. Thus, Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert say : " An examination of these tables [of results of experiments] will show that the stomachs and contents constituted In the oxen about \\.}4 P er cen * of the entire weight of the body. " " sheep " 7> " " ' " " " " " " Dl? " I 1 / " " " " " " " " The intestines and their contents, on the other hand, stand in an opposite relation. Thus, of the entire body, these amounted In the pig to about 6%" per cent. " " sheep " " m " " ." " oxen " " 2% " " " These facts," they remark, " are of considerable inter- est, when it is borne in mind, that in the food *of the ruminant there is so large a proportion of indigestible woody fibre, and in that of a well-fed pig a comparatively large proportion of starch the primary transformations 12 HARRIS Otf THE PIG. of which are supposed to take place chiefly after leaving the stomach, and more or less throughout the intestinal canal." These facts explain very clearly why an ox or a sheep can thrive on more bulky food than a pig ; also why a pig can assimilate more food than an ox or a sheep, but they do not show why a given amount of food should produce so much more flesh and fat when fed to the pig than when fed to oxen or sheep unless, indeed, we are to suppose that in the case of the ox and the sheep, a considerable proportion of the food passes through the body undigest- ed and unassimilated. But an analysis of the excre- ments indicates nothing of this kind. Except when an excessive amount of grain is allowed, the food is unques- tionably as thoroughly digested and assimilated in the ox and the sheep, as in the pig. We must, therefore, look for some other explanation of the fact that pigs can gain more rapidly on a given amount of nutriment than oxen or sheep. An animal requires a certain amount of nutritive matter merely to sustain life. This matter may be derived either from the daily food supplied, or from matter previously stored up in the body. The actual amount required, va- ries greatly according to the conditions in which the ani- mal is placed. If kept comfortably warm and quiet, less is required than if exposed to cold, or compelled to labor. But in all cases, wherever life exists, a certain amount of nutritive matter is necessary for its support. Directly or indirectly, this is always derived from the food. How much food is necessary to keep an animal so that it shall neither gain nor lose in flesh, has not been accu- rately ascertained. Thousands of animals are so kept, but the actual amount consumed is seldom determined. It often happens that cows, not giving milk, are so kept during the winter that they do not weigh a pound more in the spring than in the fall. We receive absolutely noth- INTRODUCTORY. 13 ing for the food they eat. It is all consumed in sustaining the vital functions. A well-bred Shorthorn has been made to weigh 1,200 Ibs. by the time it was a year old. On the other hand, an ox is sometimes kept five years before it attains this weight. The Shorthorn was fed a considerable amount of food over and above that required to sustain life, while the other had little more than was necessary for this pur- pose. Let us assume that the latter ate 4 tons of hay a year, and that 80 per cent of it was used merely to sus- tain life. At the end of five years he would have con- sumed 20 tons of hay, 16 tons of which have been used merely to sustain the vital functions, and' 4 tons have been converted into 1,200 Ibs. of animal matter. The Shorthorn accomplished the same result in one year; and we may reasonably suppose that in this case also, 4 tons of hay or its equivalent, were sufficient to fur- nish the material necessary for the formation of this amount of animal growth. We may further assume that at any rate no more food was required to sustain the vital functions in the Shorthorn than was required by the other animal. This we have estimated at 3 tons 4 cwt. a year. It follows, therefore, that the Shorthorn, by eating 7 tons 4 cwt. of hay or its equivalent, in a single year was ena- bled to produce as much beef as the other steer produced by the consumption of 4 tons a year for five years. The consumption of less than twice as much food enabled the Shorthorn to increase five times as rapidly as the other. Seven tons 4 cwt. of hay, or its equivalent, produced as much growth (and probably more beef and fat), when fed to the animal capable of eating and assimilating it. These considerations will show why a pig, that can eat so much more food than a sheep or an ox, in proportion to size, is enabled to grow so much faster, in proportion to the food consumed. The fact that the pig has greater powers of assimilating 14 HAERIS ON THE PIG. food, merely explains why he can grow so rapidly, but it throws no light on the fact that he can gain more rapidly, in proportion to the food consumed, than any other do- mestic animal. The real explanation of this fact is the one given above. He can eat more, digest more, and as- similate more, over and above the amount of food neces- sary to sustain life. CHAPTER II. BREEDS OF PIGS. Like all other animals, pigs adapt themselves to the cir- cumstances in which they are placed. Where the supply of food is scanty and uncertain, they grow slowly, and are long in coming to maturity. Where they have to travel far in search of their food, they have legs adapted for the purpose ; and if they are obliged to seek their food under ground, their snouts soon become long and powerful. Where they are liable to molestation or attack, they soon acquire a ferocious disposition and the means for defence. On the other hand, where they have a liberal and constant supply of food, where they are provided with warm and comfortable quarters, and are never harshly treated, they become gentle in disposition, are indisposed to roam about, have finer hair and skin, shorter and finer legs, smaller head, ears and snout. They grow rapidly and mature early. Such a change does not take place at once ; and the same may be said of the conditions. A rude system of agriculture is never immediately followed by high farm- ing. There must be intermediate changes. And so it is with our domestic animals. We have almost as many kinds of hogs as we have different kinds or systems of farming. We do not call them breeds, because there is BREEDS OF PIGS. 15 little permanency of character about them. They are constantly changing, just as the management of their own- ers varies. A breed possesses fixed characteristics. If fully estab- lished, and the conditions of feeding and management are not changed, these characteristics are transmitted from generation to generation. In pigs, owing to their fecund- ity, it is a comparatively easy matter to establish a breed. Man does not create a breed. God alone creates. All that we can do is to avail ourselves of that inherent dis- position which animals have of adapting themselves to the conditions in which they are placed. The conditions are under our control. Let the breeder first make up his mind what system of feeding and management he will adopt. Then let him steadily and perseveringly adhere to it. An unstable man can never be a successful breeder. If he wishes a breed that will grow moderately 0n a mod- erate allowance of food, and arrive at maturity in two or three years, he can attain his object by feeding moderately and selecting such pigs to breed from, as come nearest his wishes. If any pigs in the litter manifest a disposition to grow rapidly, they must be rejected. Such pigs are not suited to a moderate allowance of food. Their offspring will certainly degenerate. Better select those which make the slowest growth, and which are consequently least likely to experience the injurious effects of starva- tion. By steadily pursuing this method, a breed can be obtained which will eat little and grow slowly, and yet remain healthy. If it is desired to have them attain a greater weight without increasing the daily allowance of food,' attention must be directed to this object. Do not let either the sow or the boar breed until they have at- tained their fullest growth, say at three, four, or five years of age. The advantage of such a breed lies in the fact that it would suffer less from occasional starvation, than breeds 10 HARRIS OX TEIE PIG. which are adapted to grow rapidly, and mature early, on liberal feeding. But of course such a breed can only be profitable where the food costs little or nothing and even in this case it may well be questioned whether a breed that eats more and gains faster would not be more profitable. All that we wish to show is, that no matter what the object of the breeder is, he can attain it. He can raise a breed adapted to any system of feeding and management he desires to adopt. In point of fact, the pigs will adapt themselves, sooner or later, to the supply of food and the means necessary for them to use, in order to obtain it. The breeder can, by selection, greatly acceler- ate the change, but the main cause is the food and treat- ment. In this sense the " breed goes in at the mouth." If a farmer wishes a breed of pigs that will grow with great rapidity and fatten early, he cannot attain his object without liberal feeding. If he will furnish this for sev- eral generations and at the same time provide warm and comfortable quarters, and never suffer the pigs to be harshly treated or neglected, he will do much to secure his object. Selection will do the rest. It is generally supposed that the success of the breeder depends mainly on his ability to select a boar having those points fully developed in which his sows are most deficient ; and doubtless this requires much skill and nice discrimi- nation. But we are satisfied that the cause of failure is generally owing to inconstant or illiberal feeding. The breeder must love his animals, and must give them his constant personal attention. A few weeks' neglect, starving at one season and surfeiting at another, harsh treatment, and damp, dirty pens, will counteract all the advantage derived from months of good management. Nature protects herself. The offspring of animals lia- ble to such occasional neglect will, so to speak, expect such treatment, and even if they themselves have liberal and THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. 17 constant feeding, they will not possess the qualities of rapid growth and early maturity, in the highest degree. It is the weakest link that determines the strength of a chain. And so far as inherited qualities are concerned, the rapidity of growth will be influenced more by the pe- riods of neglect and starvation, than by the occasional periods of high feeding. Starving a young, well-bred sow may not show any great and injurious effect on the sow herself, but the offspring of such a sow, if she breed at all, will be seriously injured. A few months starvation and neglect may counteract nearly all the advantages which the breed has acquired by generations of careful breeding and feeding. CHAPTER III. THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. The aim of all breeders of animals designed solely for meat, is to have the body approximate as closely as possi- ble to the form of a parallelepiped. In proportion to the size, an animal of this form contains the greatest weight. Hence it is, that farmers who have kept nothing but common pigs, and who look upon a well-formed, grade Essex or Suffolk as " small," are surprised to find, when brought to the scales, that it weighs more than an old- fashioned, ill-formed pig of much greater apparent size. Another advantage of this form is, that it gives a greater proportion of the most desirable parts of the pig. In a pig of this form the ribs are well-arched. We can- not have a flat, broad, " table-back " without this. And consequently the muscle which runs along each side of the vertebrae, is well developed, and we have a large quantity of meat of the best quality. 18 HAEEIS ON THE PIG. This form also affords abundant room for the lungs, stomach, and intestines ; and it is on the capacity of these organs to convert a large amount of comparatively cheap food into a large quantity of flesh and fat that de- termines the value of the animal We annex a portrait of a tolerably well-formed pig, with lines showing how to apply the test above alluded to. The nearer he will fill the rectangu- lar frame, the nearer he approaches to perfection of form. It would be well, for lr farmers to place a straight cane along the back, also along Fig. 1.-TESTINC, THE *OEM O* A PI O . ^ ^^ shoul( J ers and hams of their pigs, and see how near they come up to the desired standard. The length of a pig should bear a certain proportion to his breadth. Many farmers object to the improved breeds, because they are too short. In point of fact, however, they are often longer than their ill-bred favorites. They appear short, because they are so broad. A large-boned hog is longer than one having small bones. There are as many vertebrae in the shortest Suffolk as in the longest Yorkshire. A fine-boned pig cannot be long-bodied. It may ap- pear long, but this will usually be because it is narrow. Breadth and depth are of far greater importance than length. Robert Bakewell, the originator of the improved Leicester sheep, and one of the most skillful and expe- rienced breeders in the world, is said to have formed a breed of pigs that, when fat, were "nearly equal in height, length, and thickness, their bellies almost touching the ground, the eyes being deep set and sunk from fat, THE FORM OF A GOOD PIG. 19 and the whole carcass appearing to be a solid mass of flesh." Bakewell left no record of his mode or principles of breeding, but the following sentence from the descrip- tion of his pigs above quoted, throws light on the point we are now considering : " These pigs are remarkably fine- boned and delicate, and are said to lay on a larger quan- tity of meat, in proportion to bone and offal, than any oth- er kind known." In other words, Bakewell, with all his skill, could not obtain fineness of bone, and length too, any more than a builder could reduce the size of his bricks, and then make the same number form as long a wall. What he probably did, was, to take a large pig and reduce the size of the bones, and consequently the length of body, without reducing the breadth and depth of the animal. In a common sow, to be crossed with a thorough-bred boar, length of body is often very desirable ; but in a thorough-bred pig it is a doubtful quality, as indicating a want of breadth and fineness of bone. The head of a pig should be set close to the shoulders. The broader and deeper the cheeks, the better, as next to the ham and shoulder there is no choicer meat on the pig. A well-cooked cheek of bacon, with roast chicken, is a dish for an epicure. The snout should be short and delicate, and the ears small and fine. A thick, heavy, pendant ear is an indica- tion of coarseness and is never desirable in a thorough-bred pig. It should be small, fine, soft, and silky. It should be well set on the head and lean a little forward, but not fall over. An ear that is upright indicates an unquiet disposi- tion. 20 HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER IV. DESIRABLE QUALITIES IN A PIG. As the domestic hog is kept solely for its flesh and fat, the pig that will afford the greatest amount of meat and lard of the best quality at the least cost, other things be- ing equal, is the most profitable breed. It has been well said that Cincinnati owes its wealth to the discovery of a method of putting 15 bushels of corn into a three-bushel barrel, and transporting it to distant markets. This has been accomplished by means of the pig. He converts 7 bushels of corn into 100 Ibs. of pork. In accomplishing this result, the organ of first import- ance is the stomach. It is here that the first change in this wonderful process commences. In a flouring mill we have a water-wheel or steam-engine which drives the stones, and the machinery for removing the bran and oth- er inferior products of the grain from the fine flour. The capacity of the establishment is determined by the motive power and the " run of stones." A pig is a mill for con- verting corn into pork. The stomach is at once the w;iter-vvheel or steam-engine, and the stones for grinding the grain, and the motive power, which runs the mill and the machinery, is derived from the consumption of corn. Now, if we furnish merely corn enough to run the ma- chinery, and put no grain in the hopper, we lose not only the use of the mill, but of all the grain used for fuel. If we should keep the mill supplied only half the time, and yet keep the machinery running at full speed night and day, (as we must needs do in the case of an animal) would it be considered good management ? Let us see. Suppose it takes 75 Ibs. of corn to run the machinery. If we furnish no more than this, we get noth- ing in return. If we furnish 100 Ibs., (say 75 Ibs. for fuel and 25 Ibs. for the hopper,) we may obtain, say 20 DESIRABLE QUALITIES IN A PIG. 21 Ibs. of flour. If we furnish another extra 25 Ibs. to the hopper, or 125 Ibs. in all, we get 40 Ibs. of flour ; if we furnish 150 Ibs., we get 60 Ibs. of flour. In other words, 150 Ibs. of corn will furnish three times as much flour as 100 Ibs. It may be said that more power would be required to run the mill when it is grinding than when it is running empty. But in the case of an animal it is doubtful how far this objection holds. It is not improbable that the conversion of each additional pound of corn into pork generates the amount of power necessary for the change. But whether this be so or not, no one can question the advantage to be derived from furnishing all the grain that the mill will grind and manufacture. Of the desirable qualities in a pig, therefore, a vigorous appetite is of the first importance. A hog that will not eat, is of no more use than a mill that will not grind. And it is undoubtedly true that the more a pig will eat in pro- portion to its size, provided he can digest and assimilate it, the more profitable he will prove. The next desirable quality is, perhaps, quietness of dig- position. The blood is derived from the food, and flesh is derived from the blood. Animal force is derived from the transformation of flesh. The more of this is used in un- necessary motions, the greater the demand on the stomach, and the more food will there be required merely to sustain the vital functions and the more frequently flesh is transformed and formed again, the tougher and less pala- table it becomes. This quality, or quietness of disposition, combined with a small amount of useless parts or offal, has been the aim of all modern breeders. Its importance will readily be perceived if we assume that 75 per cent of the food is ordinarily consumed to support the vital func- tions, and that the slight additional demand of only one-sixth more food, is required for the extra offal 22 HARRIS ON THE PIG. parts and unnecessary activity. Such a coarse, restless animal would gain, in flesh and fat, in proportion to the food consumed, only half as fast as the quiet, refined animal. A little calculation will show this to be true in theory, as it is undoubtedly true in practice. Thus take two pigs. No. 1 eats 100 Ibs. of corn, 75 Ibs. of which are required to sustain the vital functions. He gains, say 20 Ibs. No. 2, a coarse, restless pig, eats 100 Ibs. of corn, 87 Ibs. of which are necessary to support the vital functions. No. 1 has 25 Ibs. of food over and above the amount required to sustain the vital functions, and gains 20 Ibs. of pork. No. 2 has only 12J Ibs., and consequently, cannot produce more than 10 Ibs. To assume that a rough, coarse, savage, ill-bred, squeal- ing, mongrel hog will require only one-sixth more food to "run his machinery," than a quiet, refined, well-bred Berkshire, Essex or Suffolk pig will not be considered ex- travagant ; and yet it undoubtedly follows that, for the food consumed, the quiet pig will gain in flesh and fat twice as fast as the other. If in addition to this he will eat 25per cent more food, he will gain four times as fast. The two great aims of every pig breeder should be to lessen the demands on the stomach for offal or least valu- able parts, and for unnecessary activity on the one hand, and on the other to increase the power of the stomach, and digestive and assimilative organs as much as possible. CHAPTER V. LARGE vs. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. Mr. Lawes' experiments on the different breeds of sheep, prove conclusively that well-bred mutton sheep of the same age, consume food in almost exact proportion to their size LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 23 or live weight. Two Cotswold sheep, weighing 120 Ibs. each, will eat as much food as three Southdown sheep, weighing 80 Ibs. each. But the two Cotswolds will gain much more than the three Southdowns. The average in- crease for one hundred Ibs. live weight was, with the Cots- wold, 2 Ibs. 2 oz. per week ; and with the Southdowns, 1 Ib. lOf oz. per week both breeds having precisely the same food. In other words, two Cotswold sheep, weigh- ing 120 Ibs. each, would eat the same amount of food as three Southdowns weighing 80 Ibs. each; but the two Cotswolds would gain 17 Ibs. each, while the three South- downs gained only 9 Ibs. each. Where Cotswold mutton brings as much per pound as the Southdown, it is evident that the Cotswolds are the more profitable breed for fat- tening. We know of no similar experiments on the different breeds of pigs. Reasoning from analogy, we might con- clude that, as the large Cotswold sheep gained much more, for the food consumed, than the small Southdowns, the large Yorkshire pigs would gain much more, for the food consumed, than the small Suffolks. This may or may not be true. If it should prove to be a fact, we should conclude that a pig of the large breed ate much more food over and above the amount required to keep up the animal heat and sustain the vital functions, than a pig of the small breed; and, as we have attempted to show in a previous chapter, the large pig would, in such a case, gain much more in proportion to the food consum- ed, than the small pig of the same age. There can be no doubt that a large pig, other things being equal, will eat more food than a small pig of the same age. It is equally true that a large pig, at ordinary temper- atures, will not require, in proportion to its weight, as much food to keep up the animal heat as a small pig. A pig weighing 100 Ibs. will not radiate as much heat as two 24 HARRIS ON THE PIG. pigs weighing 50 Ibs. each. The larger the pig, the less surface is there exposed to the atmosphere in proportion to weight. It follows, therefore, that a large pig, eating more food and losing less animal heat, would have a greater amount of food to be appropriated to the formation of fat and flesh, in proportion to live weight, than a smaller pig of the same age. So far as this kind of reasoning goes, therefore, it would seem that the large breeds of pigs are preferable to the small breeds. This conclusion is opposed to the opinion of a large number of very intelligent and observing pig breeders and feeders. There can be no doubt that the weight of testimony, so far as the production of a given amount of pork from a given amount of food is concerned, is against the large breeds. The truth of the matter is probably this : The small breeds mature earlier than the large breeds. This in itself is a great advantage. The pigs are not only ready for the butcher at an earlier age, but as animal life is always at- tended by a constant transformation of tissue, every day we gain in time, saves the amount of food necessary to supply this waste and keep up the animal heat. Early maturity, therefore, is one of the principal aims of the breeder and feeder. But early maturity is always attended with a diminution of size ; and the small breeds owe their value, not to their small size, but to their early maturity and tendency to fatten while young. In point of fact, however, the term Small Breed or Large Breed, as used by our Agricultural Societies, has no very distinct meaning. The New York State Agricul- tural Society offers prizes for two classes of pigs and only two. 1st. " Large Breed ; which, when full grown and fatten- ed, will weigh over 450 Ibs. dressed." LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 25 2d. " Small Breed ; which, when full grown and fatten- ed, will not weigh over 450 Ibs. dressed." Exhibitors seem to have entered their pigs in the class for small breeds one year, and in that for large the next. Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk and Yorkshire have all been ex- hibited, first in one class and then in another, and fre- quently the same breeder will exhibit Berkshire or Essex at the same fair in both classes. The, same state of facts seems to exist in England. There are Large Yorkshires and Small Yorkshires, Large Berkshires and Small Berkshires. Of late years, a new class of " Medium " Breeds has been formed at the Agricultural Shows. There, as here, it is not always easy to determine the class to which a particular breed belongs. An English breeder of " Small Yorks," says he can " get them up profitably to 600 Ibs. when thick bacon is required." On the other hand, the advocates of the Large York- shires claim that pigs of this breed " attain a good bacon size at a very early age, and when killed, they cut more lean meat in proportion to the fat than the smaller breeds." A sow of this breed, which took the Prize at Rother- ham, in 1856, age three years and two months, weighed 1,315 Ibs.* The author above quoted, says : " The large breed is equally valuable for making large or small bacon, that be- ing only a matter of age ; as porkers of a few weeks old, they are un equaled ; their flesh being very rich and well- flavored, and not so fat as the small breeds." On the other hand, Mr. George Mangles, of Givendale, Ripon, one of the largest and most successful breeders and feeders in Yorkshire, furnishes the London Farmers' Magazine, for June, 1861, the following interesting ac- count of his experience : " About ten years ago, I commenced pig-keeping on a * Youatt on the Pig. By S. Sidney. London : ISfljO. Page 14. 2 20 HAKKIS ON THE PIG. larger scale than the generality of farmers. What I wanted, and what my farm required, was a quantity of good manure. I first tried buying stores in the neighbor- hood, but soon gave that up, as they were chiefly of the large breed, and required too much food and liberty. I had no alternative but to breed my own stores. With a view to find a profitable sort, I purchased a few of the best from different breeders of note, and kept them sepa- rate, and also a few stores of each sort together, living on the same kind of food. I also tried the different crosses ; but, to get the cross, I must have pure stock at first ; so I considered it best to keep to a pure breed. I tried the Essex, the black Leicester, the Berkshire, the large York- shire, the small Yorkshire, and lastly the Cumberland small breed. I must confess that at the outset I had but little experience to guide me ; not understanding the prin- ciples of breeding, I committed many foolish mistakes, which I paid dearly enough for ; and if these few lines should meet the eye of any one wishful to form and keep a breed of pigs, I shall be glad for such a man to profit by the experience of another. I never expected pigs to live on nothing : because the manure made from pigs liv- ing on nothing would be worth nothing, and it was good manure I was aiming at. I found any breed pay, except the large breeds. All the crosses having the small breed for the sire always paid : whichever breed is intended to be kept, the best bred ones should be obtained. I do not advocate breeding in-and-in ; but I do advocate, if you want to maintain the same style of animal, generation after generation, to cross with the same blood, but as far dis- tant as you can get it. I do not know a better sign of pure breeding than a litter of pigs all alike, or three or four sisters breeding alike to the same boar. "When the breed is obtained, one thing must always be kept in mind, the first boar a sow is put to, influences the succeeding lit- ters for three or four times. LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 27 "After the breeding, come the feeding and attention. Milk and fat must go in at the mouth before it makes its appearance in the animal. I do not believe those, who say their pigs get fat on nothing. I know from experience that one pig would live where another would starve, and what it would take to make one large-bred pig fat, would make several smaller-bred ones 'up.' A great help to profitable pig-keeping is warmth, and confinement, and regularity in feeding ; as "by also keeping the skin of the animal clean by washing and brushing occasionally. If two animals of the same litter be put into two different sties, and have the same quantity of food each, the one that is kept warm and with the skin clean will gain more weight than the other. I found that out one winter, when Jack Frost was astir, before I put up a new pig-shed. My man was feeding a lot of pigs alike, tfnly some were in common sties and others in a warm shed. The difference was very striking : those kept warm fed nearly half as fast again as the others. This induced me to build a long covered shed sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide, that would hold seventy porkers or fifty bacon pigs, where, when the thermometer has been below freezing point out- side, it has inside been very warm and comfortable. The pigs have their food warm in winter, and are never starv- ed by the cold ; they are bedded with clean straw every otlier day, and the shed is kept rather dark. The manure made is of first quality and fit to use for turnips. " Perhaps some of the readers of this paper would like to know something about the dietary of my pigs. I have not included sugar in my list of feeding ingredients. I have never gone higher than new milk, which they always take without sweetening. In the first place, I must say that I exhibit at a few of the leading agricultural meet- ings, and am generally, if not at the top of the ladder, not many spokes off. I keep my breeding stock different to my show stock, as I do not like breeding animals to be 28 HABRIS ON THE PIG. over-fat ; but show animals are obliged to be fat, or the judges will pass them over. The over-feeding of prize animals is a very great evil, but one that can not be very well remedied. A show of lean breeding animals would be a very lean show indeed in many respects : an exhib- itor must always sacrifice some of his best animals to please the public fancy. I think there is less risk in fat breeding pigs than any other animal. I have had several very fat sows pig, and never lost any. I gave them noth- ing but a very little bran and water a week before pig- ging, and but little after for a week, while I put a little castor oil in their food directly after pigging. I have the greatest trouble in reducing the male animals, as they will nearly hunger to death before they will part with their fat. I generally turn them into a large yard, and give them plenty of water, and a wurzel or two every day, or turn them out to grass in summer. " To my regular breeding pigs and stores, I am giving boiled rape-cake and barley-meal, one feed a day, and one feed of raw potatoes or wurzel ; and if in summer, I turn them to grass, or soil them with clover in the yards. " I soil a good many every year. A week or two be- fore the sow pigs, I contrive to put her into a loose box, with a railing around to keep her from crushing the pigs. I can always tell when she is going to pig by trying if she has milk in the paps : if a sow gives milk freely, she will pig any time. I then contrive to be, or have some one, near at hand, to take the pigs away as she pigs them, as the sows are sometimes uneasy and will crush them. Af- ter she has pigged, I feed her with warm water and bran, and then give her the pigs and leave them, because the less they are disturbed the better. I always feed the sow sparingly at first, as I have sometimes found, when a sow has been fed too liberally at first, the flow of milk is greater than the pigs can take; consequently the udder be- comes hard, and the sow is very uneasy, and will scarcely LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 29 let the pigs suck her. If such is the case, the best way is to rub the udder well with the hand three or four times a day. Small-bred sows are commonly very quiet and tractable. " Generally when the pigs are three weeks or a month old, they will scour, if proper care has not been paid to the sow's feeding. I never could get a man that could get me a litter through without scouring. I have tried different plans, but the one I have found most successful is, to always give the sow a tablespoonful of the following mixture in her food : Mix together 2 Ibs. of fenugreek, 2 Ibs. of anise-seed, -J Ib. of gentain, 2 oz. carbonate of soda, and 2 Ibs. of powdered chalk. The sow gets very fond of this, and the little pigs, too, like it. Give the pigs also plenty of coal ashes to root amongst. I prefer oats, wheat, and a little barley ground together, for sows giving milk. I have never tried the sugar diet, but I have found new milk fresh from the cow to work wonders in a short time. " Warmth, cleanliness, and regularity in feeding, a lit- tle good food and often, are the main secrets in rearing young pigs. I never like to see food left in a pig's trough : just give what they can eat up and no more. When pigs are put up to feed they should be kept warm and quiet. Five porkers or three bacon pigs are plenty together. The pen they are kept in need not be very large, but the pig8 should be rung, and a little fresh bedding spread about them every second day. Pigs like to be kept warm, but plenty of fresh air must be allowed to circulate through the pens, or else disease will soon show itself." According to the editor of Youatt on the Pig, Mr. Mangles " is a plain farmer, feeding pigs for profit," and his statements will be received with all the more confi- dence on this account. We give the details of his manage- ment, not only because they are interesting and instructive in themselves, but because the system of management and 30 HAEKIS ON THE PIG. feeding have often more to do with the profits of pig breeding and feeding than the mere question of large or small breeds. On page 66 we give a portrait of one of his Prize pigs of the Small Breed, from a steel engraving in the London Farmers' Magazine for June, 1861. It will be observed that Mr. Mangles says he " found any breed pay except the large breed." " All the crosses having the small breed for the sire always paid." To the same effect is the testimony of Mr. Hewitt Davis, a name familiar to all readers of English agricultural liter- ature. He says: " My experience in stock keeping has been so decidedly in favor of breeding and fatting of pigs, that I may, with advantage to many who think differently, give some ac- count of my management. That I should do so is the more necessary from farmers having generally a very low opinion of the profit to be gained from the breeding of pigs, and I cannot but ascribe their failures too often to the negligence with which this stock is looked after. On an arable farm of 200 acres my stock has been 12 sows and two boars ; and their produce, according to the season, consisted either of rising stores running in the yards, or on the leas or stubbles ; or of porkers in the sties fatting for the market. From March to October my stock may be said to have lived loose on store keep, principally green food ; and from October to March (the parent stock ex- cepted) in sties, fatting on roots and boiled corn. The sows on an average gave me, one with another, 14 pigs a year each, so that in summer my stock was about 100 up- on store keep, and in winter about 200, of which 180 were in sties finishing for market. The spring litters went off in January and February as large porkers of 30 stones (240 Ibs.) each, and the autumn-born as small porkers of about 7 stones (56 Ibs.) each ; the first realizing about 5 each, and the last about 30s. each, so that each sow re- LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 31 turned about 45 a year ; and this amount there is no dif- ficulty in obtaining, large pork selling at 3s. 4d. per stone of 8 Ibs. (II cts. per lb.), and small pork at 4s. 4d. (14 cts. per lb.). Success, in the raising of pig stock, I found, was to be attained only by attention to fully carrying out the fol- lowing principles viz., the accommodation for pigs must be sunny, dry, sheltered from cold wind, and yet well ven- tilated. Their sties being carefully protected on the north, east, and west sides, and open only on the south ; so that whilst no cold winds can have access, there should be no obstruction to the sun shining in and on to their beds. The pigs must be regularly and carefully attended ; suf- ficient should be kept to wholly occupy their attendant's time, and to them should that attendant's time and atten- tion be wholly given. An old man is better than a young one ; and this is an office suited to one infirm or past gen- eral labor. The sows must never be permitted to farrow earlier than the end of March, nor later than October. The cold of winter is fatal to many farrows, and young pigs are ill able to bear up against it. Provide roots (potatoes, kohlrabi, swedes, carrots, and mangel wurzel) for their keep, aided with boiled corn, from September to June ; and tares, clover, beans, and maize, green, from May to September. Breed from large, strong sows, with boars of the finer breed, having in view the gaining of large far- rows, good nursing, and a rapid attainment of weight ; look to the mother for nursing, and the father to correct coarseness of form in the mother. Attached to the sties have a boiling-house with copper and food cisterns ; and in front of the sties a yard for the pigs to be turned into. Attention to these points makes all the difference between profit and loss." The point in Mr. Davis 5 statement to which we wish to call particular attention is this : " Breed from large, strong sows, with boars of the finer breed, having in view the gaining of large farrows, good nursing, and a rapid 32 HAEEIS ON THE PIG. attainment of weight ; look to the mother for nursing, and the father to correct coarseness of form in the mother." In other words, aim to get the digestive powers of the large breed in the body of a small, highly refined pig. Increase the supply of food and lessen the demand upon it for everything except the formation of flesh and fat. It will be found that, consciously or unconsciously, all the eminently successful pig feeders have aimed to attain this result. The question of Large vs. Small Breeds, therefore, can only be answered by taking these objects into considera- tion. We need both breeds. The large breed to give us sows, and the small breed to give us boars. It is a mis- take to refine and reduce the size of the large breed, and then to breed from these " improved " pigs of the large breed. To produce pigs merely for the butcher, we should resort to crosses with a large, vigorous, unpampered sow put to the finest, thorough-bred boar of the small breeds that can be obtained. The larger the sow and the smaller the boar, the more will the little pigs be able to eat in pro- portion to their size, and the greater will be their growth in proportion to the food consumed. Mr. John Coate, a breeder of " Improved Dorsets," who took the Gold Medal, five years in succession, at the Smith- field Club Show, for the best pair of pigs, says : " Crosses answer well for profit to the dairyman, as you get more constitution and quicker growth." One of the most extensive farmers in West Norfolk writes to Mr. Sidney : " The cross between the Berks boar and Norfolk sow (white), like all cross breeds, is most profitable to the feeder, but we must have pure breeds first." And Mr. S. adds : " This Norfolk opinion is con- firmed by all my correspondents. The Berkshire pig is in favor in every dairy district, either pure or as a cross, but chiefly as a cross." Again, the same author says : " The Improved Essex is LARGE VS. SMALL BREEDS AND CROSSES. 33 one of the best pigs of the small black breeds, well calcu- lated for producing pork and hams of the finest quality for fashionable markets ; but its greatest value is as a cross for giving quality and maturity to black pigs of a coarser, hardier kind. It occupies, with respect to the black breeds, the same position that the small Cumberland- Yorks do as to the white breeds that is to say, an improved Essex boar is sure to improve the produce of any large dark sow." Again: "The Berkshire breed have benefited much from the improved Essex cross. The best Devonshire pigs have a large infusion of this strain. The improved Dorsets, the most successful black pigs ever shown at the Smithfield Club Shows, have borrowed their heads, at least from the Boxted [Essex] breed." A Bedfordshire farmer writes : " The Woburn breed described by Youatt was a good sort of pig, of no partic- ular character, except great aptitude to fatten. They were discontinued in consequence of the sows being very bad sucklers, in favor of a cross-bred animal, the produce of Berkshire sows and white Suffolk boars, the best that could be got. These are prolific, of good quality, can be fed at any age and to a fair medium weight. A cross like this pays the farmer best." Mr. Thomas Wright says, the cross of the Berkshire with the Tarn worth " produces the most profitable bacon pigs in the kingdom, the Berkshire blood giving an extra- ordinary tendency to feed, and securing the early maturity in which alone the Tamworth breed is deficient. The cross of the Berkshire boar with large white sows has been found to produce most satisfactory results to plain farm- ers." The editor of the work from which these extracts are made says, that the current of opinion among English farmers, both as regards sheep and pigs, is towards crosses. " Breeding pure-bred stock pays well as a separate busi- 2* 3 i HARRIS OX THE PIG. ness, if judiciously conducted; but the ordinary tenant farmer will generally find that a cross-bred sheep, a cross- bred pig, and even a cross-bred ox, in the first cross, fat- tens more profitably than a pure-bred animal." That this is the general opinion among practical farmers there can be no doubt. But there is no advantage in crossing merely for the sake of crossing. There should be an object in view. We should aim to improve the form, early maturity and fattening qualities of the off- spring. In doing this, the tendency always is towards reducing the size. Bakewell reduced the size of the Lei- cester sheep, and Ellman of the Southdowns. Fisher Hobbs reduced the size of the original Essex pigs by using Lord Western's Neapolitan-Essex boars on selected Essex sows of large size, with good constitutions, and enormous eaters. The Berkshire pig was originally " a much larger and coarser animal than now." The small Leicesters were " the great improvers of the gigantic Yorks." " What, then," it may bo asked, " have we gained by the improvement ?" We have gained this : While the size to which the animal would attain at maturity has been reduced, yet we can get a much greater weight, with less offal, in a given time, and with a far less consumption of food. An improved Essex pig at three years old will not weigh as much as the original unimproved pig at the same age, and with the same food. But at one year old the improv- ed Essex can be made to weigh as much as the other would at eighteen months or two years. They have, or ought to have, the digestive powers of the large, old breed, com- bined with the small bones, little offal, early maturity, and fattening qualities of the Neapolitan Essex. They can eat a large quantity of food, and convert it rapidly into pork of the highest quality. We say they ought to be great eaters, and have power- ful digestive organs. But the high feeding necessary to develop the fattening qualities in a breed, is apt to weaken THE VALUE OF A THOROUGH-BRED PIG. 35 the digestive organs ; and it is best, in raising pigs for the butchers, to breed from large, healthy, vigorous sows, and a thorough-bred highly refined boar of a small breed. Such a cross will furnish grades that will eat more and fatten more rapidly than the thorough-breds. To cross thorough-breds is absurd. There is nothing to be gained by it that cannot be obtained by breeding from common or grade sows with a thorough-bred boar ; be- sides thorough-breds are always more costly than common stock or grades. That a cross, for instance, between a thorough-bred, highly refined Essex boar and a thorough- bred Berkshire sow would afford healthier, hardier, and more profitable pigs for the butcher than either thorough- bred Essex or thorough-bred Berkshires, may be true. It is not an easy matter to maintain the health and high character of any of our improved breeds. In-and-in- breeding, especially with pigs, leads to degeneracy ; and all pig breeders find it necessary to introduce a new strain of blood, either from animals bred distinct on their own farm, or, what is considered better, from the same breed kept in another section of country. By judicious selection, in this way, the breed can be maintained or improved. For the same reason, a cross between two distinct breeds, may give a litter of pigs better than either of the parents. But this is not only an expensive way of raising pigs for the butcher, but equally good, if not better pigs can be ob- tained by using a thorough-bred boar on grade, or common sows, selected with judgment. CHAPTER VI. THE VALUE OF A THOROUGH-BRED PIG. It cannot be denied that many farmers in the United States have purchased thorough-bred pigs, and after keep- ing them a few years, have given them up in disgust. One 36 HABEIS ON THE PIG. cause of this result may be found in the erroneous ideas prevalent in regard to the object of keeping improved thorough-bred animals. No farmer could afford to keep a herd of high-bred Duchess Shorthorns simply for the pur- pose of raising beef for the butcher. Their value consists in their capacity to convert a large amount of highly nutritious food into a large amount of valuable beef, and in the power they have of transmitting this quality to their offspring when crossed with ordinary cows. It is in this last respect that pedigree is so important. But the former quality is due in a great degree to persistent high feeding for several generations. Were they submitted to ordinary food and treatment, especially when young, they would rapidly deteriorate. But put one of these splendid Short- horn bulls to a carefully selected ordinary cow, and we get a grade Shorthorn that, with ordinary good feed and treatment, will prove highly profitable for the butcher. The same is true of improved thorough-bred pigs. Their valuable qualities have been produced by persistent high feeding, and by selecting from their offspring those best adapted to high feeding. Pigs that grew slowly were rejected, while those which grew rapidly and matured early were reserved to breed from. In this way these quali- ties became established in the breed ; and these qualities cannot be maintained without good care and good feeding. In the case of pigs, we could well afford to give the necessary food to fatten thorough-bred pigs for the butch- er. But we cannot afford to raise the young thorough- breds for this purpose. This would be true, even if we could buy thorough-bred sows and boars to breed from, at the price of ordinary pigs. The reason we cannot afford to raise highly refined, thorough-bred pigs for ordinary pur- poses, is, that if we feed them as they must be fed to maintain their qualities, they are apt to become too fat for breeding ; and if we feed and treat them as ordinary slow-growing pigs are treated and fed, they lose the qual- GOOD PIGS XEED GOOD CAEE. 37 ities which it is the object of the breeder to perpetuate. To raise highly improved, thorough- bred pigs, requires more care, skill, judgment, and experience than we can afford to bestow on animals designed to be sold in a few months to the butcher. The object of raising improved thorough-bred pigs is simply to improve our common stock. They should be raised for this purpose, and for this purpose only. The farmer should buy a thorough-bred boar from some relia- ble breeder, and select the largest and best sows he has to cross him with. A thorough-bred boar at six weeks or two months old can usually be bought for $20 or $25. Such a boar in a neighborhood is capable of adding a thousand dollars a year to the profits of the farmers who use him. CHAPTER VII. GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE. We have said that an improved thorough-bred boar in a neighborhood is capable of greatly improving the qual- ities of the common stock, and adding largely to the prof- its of feeding pigs. But it is nevertheless a fact that such boars have been used by some farmers with little or no benefit. There are several reasons for this : There are farmers in every neighborhood who half starve their breeding sows. Some of them do this deliberately, from a conviction that it improves their breeding and suckling qualities, just as some dairymen think a cow must be kept poor if she is to be a good milker. They mistake the cause for the effect. The cow is thin because she is a good milker, and not a good milker because she is thin. So a good sow gets very thin in suckling her pigs, but it is a great mistake to keep her thin, in order to make her a good breeder and suckler. 38 HARRIS OX THE PIG. We have kept thorough-bred boars for some years, and have observed that those farmers who are liberal feeders speak highly of the cross, but those who believe in starv- ing their sows, and letting the little pigs get their own liv- ing, assert that their pigs from a thorough-bred boar are no better than those from common boars. The trouble is not in the thorough-bred boar, but in the sows. We use the improved thorough-bred boar in order to obtain pigs that will grow rapidly. But a pig cannot grow rapidly unless it has a liberal supply of food. It would be absurd to buy a superior mill, and then condemn it because it would not make choice family flour out of bran ; and it is equally absurd to expect a pig, however perfect in form and fattening qualities, to make flesh and fat out of air and water. -A sow that has been starved all her life cannot produce vigorous, healthy pigs of good size, and with a tendency to grow rapidly and mature early. To put such a sow to an improved, thorough-bred boar, in hopes of getting good pigs, is as foolish as it is to hope to raise a large crop of choice wheat on wet, poor, neglected land, simply by pur- chasing choice seed. There is no such easy method of improving our stock. We must commence by adopting a more humane system of feeding, especially while the pigs are young. Then select the largest, thriftiest, and best- formed sows and put them to a good thorough-bred boar. Let the sow be regularly and liberally fed, without mak- ing her too fat. When with young she has a natural ten- dency to lay up fat, and it sometimes happens that a sow gets so fat that her pigs are small, and there is considera- ble danger of her lying on them. But there is far less danger from having a sow fat than is generally thought. After she has pigged, feed the sow on warm slops, and other food favorable for the production of milk. Let the little ones be fed liberally, as soon as they commence to GOOD PIGS NEED GOOD CARE. \, 39 eat, and then the beneficial effect of using a good thor- ough-bred boar will be seen. " But," it may be asked, " will not such liberal feeding produce good pigs without using a thorough-bred boar ?" It will certainly produce better pigs than the starving system. But the effect of an improved thorough-bred boar in such a case is wonderful. We would rather pay $5 apiece for such pigs at two months old, than to accept as a gift, pigs from the same sow got by a common boar. At a year old we should expect the grades, in proportion to the food consumed, to bring at present prices, at least $10 a head more than the common stock. We have a neighbor who is a good farmer, and who takes delight in feeding a good pen of pigs every fall and early winter. He " did not believe " in thorough-breds, and always spoke of my Essex, Berkshires, and Suffolks, as " nice little pigs." After watching the effect of a cross with good-sized common sows, he finally concluded to bring a young sow to one of our Essex boars. She was 16 months old, and certainly would not weigh over 120 Ibs. It was then our turn to speak of little pigs. It so happened that we had a grade Essex sow the same age that accidentally took the boar at nine months old, and had a litter of nine pigs. She was very fat, and lay upon three of them. The remaining six were as handsome pigs as could be desired. These six pigs we sold at two months old, for feeding, for $35, and the sow, in a month after they were weaned, was killed, and dressed over 300 Ibs., worth at the time 14 cts. per Ib. or $42. Here then were two sows of the same age, one of which brought in $77, and the other at a liberal estimate was not worth $20. The difference was due simply to the use of a thor- ough-bred boar, and to liberal feeding. The one was half starved, under the mistaken impression that such treatment was best for breeding sows. The mother of the other was liberally fed, and her little ones were never starved. 40 HARMS ON THE PIG. During the summer, however, they had nothing but the wash and milk from the house, and the run of a good clover pasture. On this, the whole litter kept quite fat, and with the exception of this one sow, that proved to be with pig, were sold the first of October to the butcher, without having had any corn or grain of any kind for sev- eral months. The sow alluded to above, out of this litter, received the same treatment ; but in a week or ten days after she pigged, we commenced to fatten her, and never did sucking pigs thrive better ; and when they were weaned, the sow was actually fat, and in a month afterwards was very fat. Now there is nothing remarkable in all this. We have had pigs do very much better, because better fed. But it certainly enabled us to silence the sneers of a prejudiced farmer against liberal feeding and thorough-bred pigs. Another case deserves to be mentioned, showing the importance of liberal feeding in the case of well-bred pigs. One of our neighbors, a city man, who believed in good breeds and good feeding, had a common sow of good size and pretty fair form. He put her to a thorough-bred Prince Albert Suffolk boar, and had a litter of capital pigs. He afterwards put her to a thorough-bred Essex boar. But by this time, he got tired of farming, and at the sale, this sow was purchased by another neighbor who half starved her. She had a fair litter of pigs sometime in October. During the winter they had a little wash from the house and what they could pick up in a yard where cows receiv- ed little or nothing but straw. The next summer they had the run of the roadside, with yokes around their necks to keep them out of mischief. A meaner and more ut- terly forlorn lot of pigs it has never been our lot to see. And this good man attributed his ill-luck to our thorough- bred boar ! In one sense he was right. The sow had been accus- tomed to liberal feeding, and the boar was descended from ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OUR DOMESTIC PIGS. 41 stock which, since the days of Lord Western and Fisher Hobbs, had been bred for the purpose of rapidly convert- ing all the food they could eat into, choice pork. No won- der that such a litter of pigs would not stand starvation as well as those more accustomed to it. Had the sow and the litter of pigs been liberally fed, they would have brought more money, with pork at 14 cts. per lb., than he received that year from his whole farm of 100 acres ! CHAPTER YHI. THE ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OUR DOMESTIC PIGS. JsTathusius has shown that all the known breeds of pigs may Be divided in two great groups : one resembling, in all important respects and no doubt descended from, the common wild boar ; so that this may be called the >SW scrofa group. The other group differs in several import- ant and constant osteological characters ; its wild, parent- form is unknown ; the name given to it by Nathusius, ac- cording to the law of priority, is Sus Indica, of Pallas. This name must now be followed, though an unfortunate one, as the wild aboriginal does not inhabit India, and the best known domesticated breeds have been imported from Si am and China.* Wild hogs still exist in various parts of Central and Northern Europe. The wild boar is described as having large tusks, a stronger snout, and a longer head than the domestic pig ; smaller ears, pointed and upright ; in color, when full grown, always black. He does not attain his full growth under four or five years, and will live for * Darwin Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. 1, page 85 HARRIS ON THE PIG. ORIGIN AND IMPROVEMENT OF OUR DOMESTIC PIGS. 43 twenty or thirty years. The sow breeds only once a year, and has seldom more than five or six at a litter ; suckles 3. WILD BOAK. them three or four months, and does not allow them to leave her until they are two or three years old, and able Fig. 4. ORIGINAL OLD ENGLISH PIG. to defend themselves. Occasionally they grow to a great size, but usually they are not as large as the domestic pig. 44 HARRIS OX THE PIG. The engravings in different parts of the book are, many of them, selected from different works, for the purpose of illustrating the changes which have been wrought in the hog by domestication, breeding, etc. Great improvements have been effected by skillful breeders in the form of cattle and sheep, but we think these illustrations will show, that far greater improvement has been effected in the form of the pig than in any other animal. The picture of the " original old English pig " (fig. 4), shows a decided improvement in form over the Wild Boar (fig. 3). It has shorter legs, shorter head and Fig. 5. OLD IRISH PIG. From Richardson. snout, heavier cheeks, a straighter and broader back, and larger hams. It will weigh more, in proportion to size, and afford more meat and less offal than the wild hog. The engraving of the old Irish " Greyhound Hog " (fig. 5), shows an intermediate form between the wild and do- mestic animal. Richardson, from whose work the picture is taken, describes them as follows : " These are tall, long- legged, bony, heavy-eared, coarse haired animals ; their throats furnished with pendulous wattles, and by no means possessing half so much the appearance of domes- tic swine as they do of the wild boar, the great original IMPROVEMENT OP THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 45 of the race. In Ireland, the old gaunt race of hogs has, for many years past, been gradually wearing away, and is now, perhaps, wholly confined to the western parts of the country, especially Galway. These swine are remarkably active, and will clear a five-barred gate as well as any hunter ; on this account they should, if it is desirable to keep them, be kept in well-fenced inclosures." The picture of the " original old English pig " shows that great improvement can be made merely by regular feeding and judicious selection ; but it must be remem- bered that probably it took hundreds of generations to effect the change indicated in the engravings. That it could have been effected in a much shorter time, is undoubt- edly true. But the fact remains that, centuries after the wild pigs had generally disappeared from the Island, the domestic pig derived from them was still a very coarse, slow maturing, and unprofitable animal. The French and Germans, as compared with the Eng- lish, have made but little improvement in the breeds of pigs, and many of the animals to be found upon the Con- tinent are very much like the old English hog, bony, tall, gaunt, wiry-haired, and slow to fatten. On page 46 we give a portrait of a Craonnaire boar, which took a prize at a French agricultural show in 1856. HAKEIS ON THE PIG. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 47 CHAPTER IX. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. The improvement in the breeds of pigs has kept pace with the improvement in general agriculture. High breeding is profitable when accompanied with high feed- ing and high farming; but a highly refined animal is not suited to a rude, primitive system of agriculture. The Eng- lish breeds of pigs to-day, as compared with those of half a century ago, do not show greater improvement than is found in the general system of farming. There are still poor farmers in England, and there are also poor breeds of pigs ; but it must be admitted that we can find in England the best specimens of high farming, and the best specimens of well-bred cattle, sheep, and pigs ; and as good culture is rapidly becoming more general, there is an increasing demand for improved breeds, at high prices. There can be no doubt that the general improvement in agriculture, and the more general demand for improved breeds has greatly stimulated the efforts of the profes- sional pig breeders ; and it is doubtless true that several of the English breeds of pigs are to-day superior in form, early maturity, and fattening qualities, than any other breed in the world. The early English breeders made great improvements, but being ahead of their times, they met with compara- tively little demand for their improved pigs, and no ade- quate remuneration for their skill and labor. It is not necessary to review the means employed by the breeders of the last century to improve the English breeds of pigs. Suffice it to say that it is generally ad- mitted that much of this improvement is due to crossing the large English sows with the highly refined Chinese boars, and in selecting from the offspring such animals as 48 HAERIS ON THE PIG. possessed, in the greatest degree, the form and qualities desired. By continued selection, and " weeding out," the breed at length became established. The Improved Berkshire is one of the earliest and best known of these Chinese-English breeds. The old Berkshire hog had maintained a high reputa- tion for centuries. It is described as shire. Like every other breed within reach of a good market, they have been much improved within the last twenty years ; but no Hampshire man has made himself celebrated as a pig-breeder, and I cannot find any instance of Hampshire pigs taking prizes at the Smithfield Show; 92 HARRIS ON THE PIG. therefore, it may be concluded that, although the county abounds in useful animals, it is not worth while to resort to it either for establishing a new or improving an old breed. Of his class, the Berkshire is a better animal than the dark Hampshire hog, both having, when unimproved, a want of thickness through the shoulder, which has been corrected by a cross of Neapolitan or Essex, and both are slow feeders. u The LINCOLNSHIRE PIG cannot now be distinguished from Yorkshire. At the Lincoln Royal Agricultural So- ciety's Show, the prizes were easily earned away by Berkshires; but that proves nothing, as some judges never give a prize to a white pig, and others never to a black one. " The SUFFOLK, a white pig, once appeared frequently in the catalogues, and in the prize-lists of the Smithfield Club Show, but of late years it seems to have given way to more popular names. Suffolk has a leading breeder of pigs in Mr. Crisp, of Butley Abbey ; but he breeds both black pigs and white pigs, and calls his black pigs Suf folks, being a sort of cosmopolitan breeder, a purchaser of the best pigs he can find of any color. His most cele- brated pigs are quite black. Mr. Barthropp, of Creting- ham Rookery, celebrated for his Suffolk horses, but not a pig-breeder, writes of the swine of his native county in terms which might be applied to almost every district not distinguished by a thorough-bred sort. 'The old Suf- folks were white, with rather long legs, long heads, flat sides, and a great deal of coarse hair ; they made good bacon hogs, but were not so well adapted for porkers as the present improved Suffolks are. These are the white, with short heads, and long cylindrical bodies upon short legs, and fine hair, which breeders try to get long, fine, and thin. These are the best Suffolks ; but there are a great many about the county, the result of crosses with the black Essex, which have 'no character,' although they THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OP PIGS. 93 are useful animals.' The best Suffolks, as before men- tioned, are Yorkshire-Cumberlands, that have emigrated and settled in Suffolk, and thence been transported to Windsor. " The NORFOLK PIG, also described by Youatt, is, accord- ing to the report of one of the best farmers in the county, ' an indescribable animal, the result of the mixture of many breeds in a hocus pocus or porous style ; and al- though they have improved of late years, the county stands very low in that division of live-stock.' ' They really are (writes another Norfolk farmer) a disgrace to our county. The only thing to recommend them is, that they are great breeders. If they would have three or four less, and better quality, it would pay better.' In the days of the first Earl of Leicester, he had, of course, some good pigs for the time, and they then found their way into book, and have remained there ever since. The only noted pig-breeder in Norfolk cultivates the improved Berkshire. " BEDFORDSHIRE cannot boast of a county pig, but a pig was bred at Woburn, white, with occasional brown spots, and depicted in Youatt's original edition of this book, which I have the very best Bedfordshire authority for saying, was ' a good sort of pig, without any particular character, good feeders, but bad swillers, and they were therefore allowed to die out, and replaced by Berkshire sows, crossed with Suffolk boars. Indeed, the Bedford- shire breed were so little known, that a tenant of one of the first-class farms of that county told me that ' he did not know that they had a breed until he saw it marked over one of Prince Albert's pens, about ten years ago, at the Smithfield Club.' " At present a white breed is the most fashionable, which means salable, in Bedfordshire. " Another very eminent Bedfordshire farmer says : * The 94 HAEKIS ON THE PIG. breed of pigs in this county is wretchedly bad, and has been ever since I have known it.' " A third writes me : ' The Woburn breed, described by Youatt, was a good sort of pig, of no particular character, except great aptitude to fatten. They were discontinued, in consequence of the sows being very bad Bucklers, in favor of a cross-bred animal, the produce of Berkshire sows and white Suffolk boars, the best that could be got. These are prolific, of good quality, can be fed at any age, and to a fair medium weight. A cross like this pays the farmer best.' " Herefordshire has a useful white pig, but no attention has been paid to it. " The dairymen in Cheshire breed and buy a great many dark pigs, black, black-spotted, and red-and-black, of the Shropshire and Welsh breeds, using Berkshire boars, and also Manchester or * Yorkshire ' boars. " A tenant of R. Egerton Warburton, Esq., of Arley Hall, writes in answer to a set of questions which that gentleman was kind enough to circulate among his tenants: " ' There is no distinct Cheshire breed. The pigs are mostly cross-bred, short-eared, and long-sided. The fa- vorite breed is a cross between Berkshire and Chinese.' " The Shropshire, of which great numbers are introduced into Cheshire by traveling pig-jobbers, are of a dark red- and-black color, long-snouted, and lengthy ; not very fine in the coat. " The Welsh pigs are generally a yellow-white, but some are spotted black-and-white. "The (Cheshire) dairymen depend more on these Welsh- men and proud Salopians than on breeding. The cross of the Manchester boar with the Shropshire and Welsh produces a larger and coarser breed than the small York- shire. " The Cheshire farmers buy in their stores at about six- teen weeks, feed them from eight to twelve months, and THE MODEHN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 95 sell them weighing from 240 Ibs. to 300 Ibs. These are considered, in Cheshire, the best selling weights for bacon. I observe that the farmer who uses most Welsh pigs keeps them twelve months, and sells them at 300 Ibs., which will scarcely pay for four months more keep than the York- shire, Manchester, and Shropshire sold after eight months. " An immense improvement has taken place in Cheshire pigs within the last thirty years, in quality and weight. They are made fat at least six months sooner than thirty years ago. " One farmer says few or no Irish pigs are brought into Cheshire; another, a good many, but not so many as formerly. The great importation is of Shropshire and Welsh. Yet a county member, who ought to be an au- thority, writes me that * Shropshire cannot boast of a county pig.' " As a general rule, dark pigs would seem to be in favor on English dairy farms. " The MIDDLESEX is a name which has become known from winning prizes at the Smithfield Club, in 1841, 1848, 1850, 1851, 1854, 1856. It is not a county pig, but of the same class as the Windsor. Mr. Barber, of Slough, Buckinghamshire, is the principal breeder and exhibitor of Middlesex. Captain Gunter used to show it before he settled permanently in Yorkshire. " The NOTTINGHAMSHIRE BREED, whatever that may be, has won one prize in Baker-street, and the Warwickshire crossed with Neapolitan two, many years ago. FANCY BREEDS. " By fancy breeds, I mean pigs named after a person or a place. The prizes awarded to pigs at the Smithfield Club Shows are a very good evidence that the breed, if a 96 HARRIS ON THE PIG. breed, had good feeding qualities, although it may not have been suited for the ordinary work and treatment of a farm. Cross-bred animals have had the greatest suc- cess. Pure Essex and Berkshire, and large Yorkshires, have not met as much success as at breeding stock shows. The most successful animals at Smithfield have been cross- bred. The prize- winning white pigs, under whatever name, have all had a large dash of Cumberland- York- Leicester ; the black pigs, of Neapolitan-Essex. " Among the most successful exhibitors at the Smithfield Club Shows, has been H.R.H., the Prince Consort, with what has lately been called the Windsor breed. " This is a white pig, the result, apparently, of many crosses, the prevailing blood being small York-Cumber- land. Thus, H.R.H. won, according to printed prize-list, in 1846, with Bedfordshires. 1847, " Bedfordshire and Yorks. 1848, " Suffolks. 1849, " Suffolks. 1850, " Yorkshires. 1851, Bedfordshire and Suffolks. 1852, " Suffolks. (These were, all but one, second prizes.) 1853, " Suffolks. (First prize and gold medal for best pen of pigs in any class.) 1854, " Windsors. " And since that time only the breed has been called Windsors. His Royal Highness took a first prize in small boars at Warwick with his Windsor breed, and a com- mendation for a Berkshire sow. " It is a tribe greatly in demand among gentlemen pig- breeders, and crosses admirably with strong county sows. " The COLESHILL is a white pig, closely connected with THE MODERN ENGLISH BREEDS OF PIGS. 97 the York-Cumberlands bred at Coleshill, by the Earl of Radnor, who had stock from Earl Ducie, who had stock from Mr. Wyley, of Bransby, Yorkshire, and Mr. Brown, of Cumberland, for more than twenty years. The Coles- hills, between 1847 and 1850, had great success at the Smithfield Club Shows ; since that time, they seem to have somewhat lost their reputation, and two of my York- shire correspondents describe them as * toys.' ' At one time they were of a good size, but they have by no means maintained the even character that would entitle them to the name of a breed." When any of Lord Radnor's stock pass into other hands in England, the produce generally ceases to be called Coleshill s. They become Suffolks, Yorkshires, Middlesex, according to the fancy of the breeder. They are esteemed, and much better known among the fashionable pig-breeders in France than in England, and there their opponents term them ' drawing- room pigs ' (cochons de salon). The Coleshills carried off first prizes and gold medals at the Smithfield Shows in 1846 and 1847, and second prizes in 1844, 1845, 1847, and 1850. " The BUSHEY BREED are white, bred by the wealthy banker, Mr. Majoribanks, and were long called York- shires, and have recently been named after their place of birth. They have no distinctive character to distinguish them from their competitors. " The BUCKINGHAMSHIRE took the first Smithfield prize in 1840, but in these and many other names it is difficult to find any distinctive character." This is additional evidence, if any were needed, that the most successful prize-winners resort to crossing. The whole system of awarding prizes to pigs needs a thorough revision. As it now stands, it is simply a means of ena- bling breeders to sell highly fed, cross-bred " toys " at high prices. The " Prince Albert Suffolks," which we now 5 98 HARRIS ON THE PIG. learn are nothing but high-bred grades, have been intro- duced into the United States. Perhaps the writer has less cause than he supposed, to regret that one which he kept until four years old, finally found her way to the pork barrel without ever breeding a single pig. CHAPTER XI. BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. We have no " native " American pig. Our stock origin- ally came from Europe, and principally from Great Britain. And it is highly probable that the largest and best specimens of the period were brought over by the colonists ; and as improvements were afterwards effected in England, good animals of the improved breeds were imported. Attempts have also been made to improve our pigs by using Chinese boars and their crosses ; and there can be no doubt that individual breeders in this way succeeded in effecting a great improvement in the early maturity and fattening qualities of their stock. But although these attempts attracted considerable attention at the time, the pigs so obtained were never generally popular. They were too small and delicate for the prevailing taste of the period. In 1832, the Improved Berkshires were introduced into the United States, and soon attracted the attention they so well deserved. In the course of half a dozen years, they were introduced into nearly every State in the Union. Breeders became excited. The agricultural pa- pers were filled with communications extolling the merits of the Berkshires and after a careful perusal of these BKEED3 OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 09 articles at this time, we find that the statements were not as highly colored as might have been expected. As a rule, the pigs were quite as good as they were represented to be. It was hardly to be expected that breeders should say to intending purchasers, " It is of no use for you to get a well-bred pig unless you are prepared to give it bet- ter treatment than you do the common sort." The trouble was not in the pigs, but in the farmers. Berkshires were fully as valuable as the breeders claimed, and yet a great and wide-spread disappointment soon manifested itself. For a time the supply was not equal to the demand, and doubtless hundreds of pigs were sold as " pure Berk- shires " that were nothing but grades. But the general complaint was that the Berkshires were not large enough. The advocates of the breed met this complaint by state- ments of weights, giving many instances where the Berk shires and their grades dressed 400 Ibs. at a year old, and that at 18 or 20 months old, they could be made to weigh 500 or 550 Ibs., dressed. One of the prominent breeders stated that he had a thorough-bred Berkshire that gained 496 Ibs. in 166 days, and when killed, dressed 626 Ibs. To meet the demand for large pigs, fresh importations were made of the largest Berkshires that could be found in England. One boar, " Windsor Castle," imported in 1841, by Mr. A. B. Allen, it was claimed would weigh, at two years old, when in good flesh, 800 Ibs. At the same time, Mr. Allen deprecated the prevailing taste for such large hogs, and very justly argued that smaller pigs, with less offal, would mature earlier and fatten more rapidly on a given amount of food. But then, as now, the demand was for the largest pigs that could be found, and it is said that this very boar was afterwards sold to a gentleman in Ohio for one thousand dollars. But the excitement soon began to abate. Farmers who had paid $50, $100, and, in one instance we have met with, $250 for a single pair of Berkshires, found that their 100 HARRIS OX THE PIG. neighbors did not like the looks of the new comers. Ordinary pigs were selling at from 81 to $3 per cwt., and few could be persuaded to pay even 810 for a pair of thorough-breds. Thus ended the Berkshire excitement. The reaction was so great, that for years afterwards there were farmers who would not have received as a gift the best Berkshire in the world. And to this day, thous- ands who do not know a Berkshire pig when they see it, have a very decided prejudice against the breed. A few years later, the Suffolks were introduced by the Messrs. Isaac & Josiah Stickney, of Boston. These gen- tlemen unquestionably procured the best specimens of the breed that could be purchased in England, and they bred them with great care and skill. Other importations were made, and the Suffolks have probably been more exten- sively diffused throughout the New England, Middle, and Western States than any other improved English breed. About the same time, the Improved Essex were intro- duced, but, being entirely black, they never became popu- lar in the Northern States. They are principally in the hands of our large stock breeders, and other gentlemen of wealth, but are rarely found on ordinary farms. Being in the hands of men knowing the value of pedigree, they are probably, to-day, as "pure-bred" pigs as can be found in the United States or in England. The large Yorkshires were introduced soon after the breed became noted in England, and importations have been made from time to time. But no special efforts have been made to create an excitement in regard to this breed, and it has not been extensively diffused. The small York- shires, or Prince Albert Suffolks, were introduced about ten years ago, and, for a time, attracted considerable at- tention. But they are not favorites with the majority of farmers. The above comprise the principal English breeds that have attracted any special attention in this country, and BREEDS OF PIGS IX THE UNITED STATES. 101 before alluding to breeds originating in the United States, it may be well to inquire why these valuable English breeds have never been favorites with the generality of our farmers ? That these breeds are not now, and never have been popular, is unquestionably a fact. Except some kept by the writer, we do not know of a single thorough-bred Berkshire, Essex, Suffolk, or Yorkshire pig within ten miles, and it is doubtful whether there are any in the county, although they have been repeatedly introduced. As a general rule, these thorough-bred pigs are kept only by persons who raise them to sell for breeding purposes. They are not kept for the sole object of making pork. For the latter purpose they are seldom as profitable as the offspring of a good common sow and a thorough-bred boar. The handsomest pigs we have ever seen were so ob- tained ; and one would think that farmers, seeing such a result, would continue to use thorough-bred boars. But such is seldom the case. They prefer to use one of these large handsome grades, rather than the smaller and more refined thorough-breds, and in this way the beneficial in- fluence of the improved blood is soon lost. We think this is the principal reason why these highly- refined English breeds are not favorites with ordinary farmers. Their real value consists in their perfection of form, smallness of bone and offal, and the great develop- ment of the ham, shoulder, cheeks, and other valuable parts ; and added to this is their ability to transmit these qualities to their offspring. This ability is in proportion to their purity, and hence the value of pedigree. When one of these pure-bred boars is put to a good grade or common sow, we get precisely what we want pigs hav- ing the form, the refinement, the early maturity, smallness of offal, and tendency to fatten of the thorough-bred, combined with the vigor, constitution, appetite, and great digestive powers of the larger and coarser sow. In other 102 HARRIS ON THE PIG. words, as far as the production of pork is concerned, we get a perfect pig and there the improvement ends. We have attained our object, and all that we have to do is to repeat the process. To select boars from these grade pigs, and to use them in hopes of getting something better, is mere folly. It can lead to nothing but disappointment. And yet this is the common practice of those who are, once in a while, induced to try the thorough-breds. They soon find themselves possessed of a stock of non-descript pigs, none of them equal to the first cross, and some of them inferior to the sow first put to the thorough-bred boar. Then we hear complaints of the " degeneracy" of the improved breeds, when, in point of fact, no sensi- ble man could expect any other result. Another cause of the unpopularity of the thorough-bred English pigs is, the wretched treatment to which they are often subjected. When we first commenced keeping thorough-bred pigs, a farmer of the neighborhood who, some years before, had paid a high price for a pair of Suffolk pigs, and who failed to raise a single thorough-bred pig from them, remarked, " You will soon get tired of this business. I have tried it. They won't breed. You are keeping them too fat. The only way to treat them is to turn them to a straw stack, and let them live on that." The fact that he never raised a pig from his sow did not commend his treatment, and we continued feeding our pigs sufficient food to keep them growing rapidly, and have had no cause to regret it. The only sow that has ever failed to breed with us was a Prince Albert Suffolk, purchased in the neighborhood from a farmer who had probably tried the " straw-stack " mode of feeding. The aim of a good breeder of pigs is to get a breed that will grow rapidly and mature early. And the better the breed, the more rapidly will they grow. But the best stove in the world cannot give out heat without a supply of fuel ; neither can the best-bred pig in the world grow BREEDS OF PIGS Itf THE UNITED STATES. 108 rapidly without food ; and the more thoroughly the power to grow rapidly has become established by long and careful breeding, the less capable does the pig be- come to stand starvation. It may sometimes be necessary to starve a pig for a short time when it has become too fat. In this case the pig gets food from its own fat and flesh, and sustains no permanent injury. But to starve a young, growing pig, is always injurious and the more rapidly the pig is designed to grow, the more detrimental and permanent will be the effects of such treatment. The handsomest lot of white pigs we have ever raised, were from a sow got by a thorough-bred Earl of Sefton (York- shire) boar. She was a very large sow, and not coarse for her size. This sow we put to a thorough-bred highly re- fined Prince Albert Suffolk, and had a litter of " beauties." There was not a poor pig among them, and they were so uniform that it was difficult to tell one from another. The sow had been liberally fed, and at the time of pigging was very fat, and we continued to feed her and the little ones all they would eat. The result was a lot of pigs that we have never seen excelled. Encouraged by this result, we purchased from a neighbor, at an extra price, a litter of pigs got by the same thorough-bred boar, and at the same time another litter of common pigs from an- other neighbor. Both litters ran together, and had the same food and treatment, and the common pigs did better than the grade Suffolks. The grade Suffolks were, in fact, decidedly poor pigs a very different lot from the pigs from our own sow, got by the same boar. One cause of the difference must probably be assigned to the fact that the sow was not as large or as good as ours, and was not as well fed. And another reason for the difference was, the pigs, for the first two months, had not had all the food they were capable of eating. They never recovered from this neglect, and the common pigs were a stronger, more vigorous and 104 HARRIS ON THE PIG. healthier lot, and ultimately made much the heaviest pork. If we had had no other experience than this, we should certainly condemn thorough-bred pigs. But we know that the fault was not in the breed, but in the treat- ment which the sow and her young litter had received. Common pigs are better than improved pigs that have been injured, while young, by neglect and starvation, but the improved pigs, if the mother has been liberally fed, and they themselves are allowed as much food as they require to grow rapidly, will be found altogether su- perior to the common pigs, and vastly more profitable. To say that, up to the time they shut them up to fat- ten, the majority of farmers half starve their pigs, will not be considered too strong an assertion by any one who has turned his attention to the subject. And this being the case, it is very evident that the improved English breeds cannot be popular and the same is true of all other improved breeds of animals. We must adopt a better system of farming before we can hope to see the improved breeds of cattle, sheep, and pigs generally in- troduced and fully appreciated. Improved breeds necessi- tate improved farming, and improved farming cannot be very profitable without improved breeds, improved seeds, and improved implements. To tell a poor farmer that " it is just as easy to raise a good animal as a poor one," is telling him what, in his case, is not true. If he thinks he can do so merely by buying one or two im- proved animals to start with, he will soon find out his mistake. He should first improve his farm, and adopt a better system of feeding and management, and then he will find it nearly as easy to raise good animals as pool- ones, and vastly more profitable. We are now prepared to consider the breeds of pigs which are most popular in the United States, and may be able to discover the cause of their popularity. BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. CHESTER COUNTY WHITE PIGS. (Figure 27.) 105 The most popular and extensively known breed of pigs in the United States at this time is, unquestionably, the Chester County breed, or, as they are generally called, the "Chester Whites." The rearing and shipping of these pigs has become a very large and profitable business. One firm alone in Chester Co., Penn., informs us that, for the last three or four years, they have shipped from 2,500 to 2,900 of these pigs each year, and many other breed- ers have also distributed large numbers of them. There are several reasons why the Chester Whites are Fig. 27. CHESTER COUNTY WHITE. more popular than the English breeds. In the first place, they are a large, rather coarse, hardy breed, of good con- stitution, and well adapted to the system of management ordinarily adopted by the majority of our farmers. They are a capital sort of common swine, and it is certainly for- tunate that they have been so extensively introduced into nearly all sections of the country. Wherever Chester Whites have been introduced, there will be found sows 5* 10G HAEKIS ON THE PIG. admirably suited to cross with the refined English breeds. No cross could be better than a Chester White sow and an Essex, Berkshire, or Small Yorkshire thorough-bred boar. We get the form, refinement, early maturity, and fattening qualities of the latter, combined with the strong digestive powers, hardiness, and vigorous growth of the Chester Whites. If the first cross does not give pigs possessing sufficient refinement and early maturity, a good, thrifty, well-formed sow should be selected from the litter and put to a thorough-bred boar, and this second cross will, so far as our experience goes, be as refined as is desirable for ordinary farm pigs. When the pigs are to be killed at four or five months old for fresh pork, a sow may be selected from this second cross, and again put to a thorough-bred boar. This is probably as far as it is desirable to carry the refining process. The pigs from this third cross would have 87 1 1 2 per cent of thorough- bred blood in them, and so far as the production of pork is concerned, would be more profitable than the thorough- breds. We think this is the proper use to make of the Chester White pigs. They have many excellent qualities. They are large, hardy, strong, vigorous, have good constitu- tions, breed well, and are good mothers. Whether, as a breed, they are thoroughly established, is rather doubtful. There are probably families among them that have been bred long enough to permanently establish their good qualities. But it is certain that many Chester Whites have been sent out that produce litters, the pigs of which differ from each other as widely as the litters of common sows and far more widely than the litter of a common sow put to a thorough-bred boar. Paschall Morris, of Philadelphia, who has bred Chester Whites for many years, and who is thoroughly acquaint- ed with the breed, describes them as follows : " They are generally recognized now as the best breed in this coun- BREEDS OF PIGS IN TIIE UNITED STATES. 107 try, coming fully up to the requirements of a farmer's hog, and are rapidly superseding Suffolks, Berkshires, and other smaller breeds. "The best specimens maybe described as long and deep in the carcass, broad and straight on the back, short in the leg, full in the ham, full shoulder, well packed for- ward, admitting of no neck, very small proportionate head, short nose, dish face, broad between the eyes, moder- ate ear, thin skin, straight hair, a capacity for great size and to gain a pound per day until they are two years old. Add to these, quiet habits, and an easy taking on of fat, so as to admit of being slaughtered at almost any age, and we have, what is considered in Chester County, a careful- ly bred animal, and what is known elsewhere as a fine specimen of a breed called ' Chester County White.' They have reached weights of from 600 to 900 Ibs. "We have recently heard of a case where a farmer in the West had purchased some pigs from Chester County, and wrote back that part of them were full-blood, part half- blood, and part no Chesters at all. We know of another case where a purchaser insisted that a pig from Chester County was half Suffolk. "There is considerable misapprehension about the Ches- ter County breed, so-called. It is constantly forgotten that it is not an original, but a made up breed. They differ from each other quite as much as any one known breed differs from another. We have often seen them, and the offspring, too, of good animals, with long noses, whicli would root up an acre of ground in a very short time, slab-sided, long-legged, uneasy, restless feeders, re- sembling somewhat the so-called race-horse breed at the South, that will keep up with a horse all day on ordinary travel, and that will go over a fence instead of taking much trouble to go through it. They show more develop- ment of head than ham, and as many bristles as hair, and are as undesirable a hog as can well be picked up. Any 108 HA KRIS ON THE PIG. traveler through Chester County can see such specimens continually. The standard of excellence in all animals, no matter how high or how pure may be the breed, so- called, is only to be kept up by judicious care in feeding, breeding and management. If either is neglected, they are sure to run out, and go down hill. With swine most especially, ' the breed is said to be in the trough.' " When persons speak, therefore, of a pure Chester hog, or a half-blood, or a quarter-blood, we consider it only absurd. There is no such thing. By an original breed is meant, one that has been long established, and of which there are peculiar marks and qualities by which it has been long known, and which can be carried down by propagation. Such is the Devon cow and the South- down sheep. The difference in results between an original and a recently made up breed may be compared to that between a seedling and grafted variety of fruit. If the seed of a very fine pear or apple is planted, there is no certainty, perhaps no probability, that the fruit will be the same as the parent. A graft of the parent tree, how- ever, always produces the same. The results of the other are accidental. The law of breeding domestic animals, that c like produces like,' applies more certainly to dis- tinct and original breeds, like Devons or Southdown s, than to a made up breed of recent origin, like the Chester County hog. The owner of a very fine animal, who, for several years, has been selecting his stock carefully, and feeding them liberally, has the chances greatly in his favor that c like will produce like,' but there are very often to be seen very poor specimens from good parentage, and also very good individual animals from very inferior pa- rents. We have one now which, at a year old, will not weigh over 250 Ibs. ; she is the offspring of large and well-shaped parents. In adjoining pens are others which, at the same age, will weigh about 400 Ibs. The hair, sometimes, is straight, at others, waved or curly. The BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 109 ear is often small and erect, then again large, thick, and lopped, like that of an elephant. Blue spots often appear on the skin, and sometimes black spots on the hair. These and other great variations, in external form and other qualities show that the Chester County pig represents his individual self, and is not a type of a well established breed. "In the best specimens there are, however, a contribu- tion of more valuable points than belong to any other. As Ellman and Webb and Bake well did with sheep, and with a far less favorable starting point, it is hoped some one may be found to take up the Chester County hog, and, by a persevering course of careful selections, breed him up to a still higher standard, and give him a more definite type and character. "Any one can do this for himself, but the constant varia- tions in their appearance would seem to show that it has not yet been done by any one. An impure Southdown lamb cannot be produced from a full-bred dam and sire ; and yet a misshapen and ill-shaped pig is sometimes pro- duced from what are called ' pure Chesters.' '' Coming from a distinguished advocate and breeder of Chester County pigs, this statement is as candid as it is explicit. We may take it for granted that the Chester Whites are not an established breed, like the Berkshires or Essex. They will not breed true. This would not be so very objectionable in itself, but it follows that, when we wish to improve our common stock, we should not re- sort to a Chester County boar. It is an axiom in breed- ing that we should use nothing but thorough-bred males. Chester County sows, when judiciously selected, are far superior to our ordinary run of pigs, and this breed will long continue valuable for the purpose of furnishing good breeding sows to cross with some good thorough-bred boar of the English breeds. And it may be, as Mr. Morris suggests, that we shall 110 HARKIS OX THE PIG. be able to so improve the Chester County pigs by such " a persevering course of careful selections," as to give the breed a better and " more definite type and character," and to so thoroughly establish these characters, that we may use the boars with a reasonable prospect of improv- ing any common breed with which they are crossed. Until this is done, however, it will be a mistake to use Chester County boars, except for the purpose of obtaining large, vigorous sows, to be crossed with some thoroughly estab- lished breed. The " Hog Breeders' Manual," a little work published in the interest of Chester County pigs, says : " The Chester and Suffolk make a very fine cross. If a new breed could be made by crossing these two breeds, and continuing, and the offspring were a uniform mixture of the two, I should consider it the maximum of perfection." In other words, the Chester Whites are too coarse, and need to be refined by crossing with some of the thorough- bred English breeds. This is undoubtedly true; and coming from a prominent breeder of Chester Whites, may be regarded as decisive on this point. But why should a farmer wish for a " new breed " when, by using a thor- ough-bred Suffolk boar on a Chester White sow, he can attain at one step the cc maximum of perfection ?" True, he cannot breed from these perfect pigs. He cannot hope to make them " more perfect ;" but, by continuing to use thorough-bred boars, he is always sure of obtaining good pigs. What more is needed ? We think it would be a mistake if the Chester White breeders should refine their pigs too much. The chief value of the breed consists in its size and vigor, and in furnishing strong, healthy sows, to be crossed with thorough-bred boars of a refined breed. There is no object to be gained by refining, or, in other words, reducing the size and vigor, of the Chester Whites. BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. Ill , * THE " CHESHIRE," OR JEFFERSON COUNTY PIGS. (Fig. 28.) This is a breed of pigs originating in Jefferson County, N". Y. For a dozen years or more they have been exhibit- ed at the Fairs of the 1ST. Y. State Agricultural Society, and for the last six or seven years have carried off nearly all the prizes offered for pigs of the large breed. They were first exhibited, to the best of our recollection, under the names of " Cheshire and Yorkshire," and afterwards as " Improved Cheshires," and in 1868, one of the largest breeders exhibited them as "Improved Yorkshires." Fig. 28. JEFFERSON COUNTY PIG. These different names, in different years, indicate the nature of the breed. They have been very extensively distrib- uted throughout the country, and especially in the West, under the name of " Cheshires." It would be better, we think, to call them the " Jefferson County " pigs, as in- dicating the place rather than the nature of their origin. The latter is uncertain, while there can be no doubt that Jefferson County is entitled to the credit of establishing a very popular and valuable breed of pigs. The old Cheshire pig was one of the largest and coarsest breeds in England, but Sidney says " these unprofitable HARRIS ON THE PIG. giants are now almost extinct." A Cheshire (England) correspondent of this author writes, under date March 17, 1860, as follows : " The old gigantic, long-legged, long- eared pig, of a large patched black and white color, is all but extinct. My son met with a fine specimen last year in a sow which he brought to breed with our boar of the Berkshire small breed, but changed his mind and fed her. She showed no propensity for fattening at two years old. She weighed, when killed, 42 score, 12 Ibs. 852 Ibs; but as 3'| 4 d. per pound was the best we could get for her, we took her for the family, and the meat was surpris- ingly good. She was lean fleshed. The hams weighed 77 Ibs each." It is said that a large sow of the old Cheshire breed was taken from Albany to Jefferson County, and about the same time some thorough-bred Yorkshires were intro- duced into the same neighborhood from England. We have not been able to definitely establish the fact, but it is highly probable that the pigs which were first exhibited at the N. Y. State Fair as " Cheshire and Yorkshire " were from Yorkshire boars, crossed with the descendants of this sow. The pigs, as we recollect them when first exhibited, were very large, rather coarse, but well shaped. Since then, they have, from year to year, approximated more closely to the Yorkshires. They are still large, but have finer bones and ears. The best specimens, as shown by the leading breeders, are as handsome pigs as can be desired. Color, white ; small, fine ears, short snout, with a well-developed cheek ; long and square bodied ; good shoulders and hams, and very small bones for such large hogs. As compared with the Chester County breed, they are nearly or quite as large, have finer bones, ears, and snout, and are altogether superior in form, beauty, and refine- ment to any Chester Whites we have ever happened to see. They have doubtless obtained this refinement from BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 113 the Yorkshires. The leading breeders in Jefferson County admit very freely that the breed is of mixed origin, but it is claimed that they have been kept pure sufficiently long to thoroughly establish the breed. We believe that this, at any rate, has been the aim of some of the breed- ers. When thoroughly established, the breed will occupy a similar position to pure-bred large Yorkshires. The boars will be useful to cross with coarse Chester White sows, where larger hogs are desired than can be obtained by using Berkshire, Essex, or Suffolk boars. THE MAGIE (OHIO) PIGS. The Hon. John M. Millikin, in his Prize Essay on the Agriculture of Butler County, Ohio, gives an account of a large breed of pigs which have obtained considerable celebrity in some parts of the West. He says : " No county in the United States, of equal area, has produced so many hogs of a superior quality as the county of Butler. The breed which is so highly esteemed by our farmers is the result of careful and judicious breeding, conducted by our best breeders in this county, and the adjoining county of Warren, for the last forty years. "The precise history of the method adopted to produce this popular breed of hogs cannot be given as fully and as reliably as its present value and importance demand. The best information, of a reliable character, which can be obtained, gives us to understand that as early as about 1820, some hogs of an improved breed were obtained and crossed upon the then prevailing stock of the county. Among the supposed improved breeds of hogs, there were the Poland and Byefield. They are represented as being exceedingly large hogs, of great length, coarse bone, and deficient in fattening qualities. Subsequently more de- sirable qualities were sought for, and the stock produced by the crosses with Poland, Byefield, and other breeds, 114 HAKRIS ON THE PIG. underwent very valuable modifications by being bred with an esteemed breed of hogs then becoming known, and which were called the Big China. They possessed important qualities in which the other breeds were sadly deficient. At a later period, Mr. Wm. Neff, of Cincin- nati, an extensive pork packer, and fond of fine cattle and hogs, made some importations of fine stock from England. Among them were some Irish Graziers. They were white in color, of fair size, fine in the bone, and possessing ad- mirable fattening qualities. Berkshires, about the same time, were attracting much attention, and both breeds were freely crossed with the then existing stock of the county. The result of these crosses was highly advanta- geous in the formation of a hog of the most desirable quali- ties. The Berkshires had obtained, with many breeders, great favor, while others objected to them, because they thought them too short, and too thick in the shoulder. Nevertheless the Berkshire blood was liberally infused into our stock of hogs, but in such a judicious manner, as to obviate the objections urged against them, and to se- cure their conceded good qualities. " Since the formation period of our breed of hogs, as above stated, there have been no material or decided in- novation upon the breed thus obtained. Our breeders have carefully selected and judiciously bred from the best animals thus produced among us. Where defective points have been apparent, they have been changed by careful breeding. There has been, for many years, no admixture of any other breed of hogs. Our own breed is now, and has been for nearly thirty years, the stock predominant in this county. Our breeders believe that they have a well established breed of hogs, which is unsurpassed in the most desirable qualities of a good hog. This breed of hogs, although of recent origin, may be regarded as thor- oughly and permanently established. They have been bred so long, and with such judgment and uniform sue- BREEDS OF PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 115 cess, that they may be confidently relied upon as possess- ing such an identity and fixity of character as a distinct breed, as to give assurance that they will certainly and unmistakably propagate and extend their good qualities. " They can scarcely be said to have a well-established, distinctive name. They are extensively known as the 4 Magie stock.' They are sometimes called the ' Gregory Creek hogs,' but more generally they are known as the ' Butler County stock.' It will be doing no one injustice to say that D. M. Magie has bred these hogs as extensive- ly and judiciously as any other man in the county. He has not only bred them for his own use, but also to sup- ply the extensive demand that has been made upon him from all parts of the West and North-west. " While we claim that Butler County has more good hogs than any other county in the State, we do not desire to do our neighbors any injustice by appropriating all the credit for this breed of hogs to ourselves. Warren County assisted in the formation and establishment of this breed of hogs. They continue to raise them in their purity and full perfection, and take into the market as fine lots of hogs as have ever been raised and sold. "In verification of what we claim, we propose to show the averages of hogs sold and delivered to packers not isolated cases, nor single specimen hogs, but the lots of hogs raised by our farmers, and sold in the market. These hogs are usually wintered over one winter, and are sold at ages ranging from eighteen to twenty-one months. Mr. David M. Magie has made the following sales : One lot of 63 Hogs Average weight 444 Ibs. 40 80 60 72 103 43 35 130 ,.417 ,.433 .400 .413 ..408 ..467 ,.451 ,.458 116 HABKIS OX THE PIG. Thomas L. Reeves sold 39 head, 17)^ months old, averaging 459 Ibs. Jeremiah Beaty " 35 " L. Miltenberger " 35 " Abraham Moore " 40 " William Gallager " 71 " " " the first 22 of same, 449 4G6 473 528 "These are individual lots, among many which have been noticed as remarkable for their high average. Al- though they have never been equaled, so far as the pub- lic know, yet some may regard another kind of evidence as more conclusive. To such we submit the following facts, kindly furnished by Mr. Chenoweth, who, for many years, has weighed the hogs packed by Jones & Co., at Middletown, in this county. The hogs there packed are mainly furnished by citizens of this county, and Warren County. In the season of 1862-3, there were packed 4,956 hogs, averaging 305 Ibs. 1863-4, " " 5,538 " " 276 " " " 1864-5, " " 5,370 " " 282 " " " 1865-6, " " 6,003 " " 345 " " " 1866-7, " " 5,013 " " 335 " In 1867-8, a dozen of the best lots averaged 459 Ibs. " These figures," says Mr. Millikin, " must decide the superiority of our breed of hogs over all others. To pro- duce such averages, the stock must be of the best quality, and then care and judgment in breeding must be prac- ticed, and good attention given in raising and fattening." It is evident that the Butler County farmers know how to raise and fatten hogs. But it does not follow, from the figures given above, that there is necessarily any special merit in the Magie breed. We know farmers who take great pride in having heavy hogs, who make them weigh from 450 to 500 Ibs. at 18 or 20 months old. And yet these very hogs are of such a kind, that no intelligent man, who is acquainted with the merits of the improved breeds and their grades, would tolerate on his farm for any other purpose except to cross with some highly re- fined thorough-bred boar. We are not acquainted with BREEDS OP PIGS IN THE UNITED STATES. 117 the Magie hogs, and would not be understood as saying that they are of this kind. They may be the best breed in the world, but the fact that the credit of the breed is awarded to the county, and not to individuals, does not indicate any special and decided characteristics. Breeds do not originate in this way. It is not to the farmers of Leicestershire that we owe the Leicester sheep, but to Robert Bakewell ; it is not to the farmers of Durham, but to the Messrs. Collins, that we owe the Durham or Shorthorn cattle. The farmers of Sussex are entitled to no credit for the Sussex or Southdown sheep. Ellman did more to improve these sheep than all the other Sussex farmers had accomplished in a thousand years. We owe the Essex hogs to Lord Western and Fisher Hobbs, and not to the farmers of the county and so it always is. The old Essex pig was one of the worst in England ; Fisher Hobbs made it one of the very best in the world. 118 HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER XII. EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. Boussingault weighed a litter of five pigs at the mo- ment of their birth. The smallest weighed 2 1 1 5 Ibs., and the largest 3 1 1 3 Ibs., the average of the whole litter being 2 3 | 4 Ibs. each. At the end of 36 days he weighed them again, and they then averaged 17.3 Ibs., showing a gain of nearly 3 Ibs. each per week. During the next five weeks they gained 3 1 1 2 Ibs. each per week. The quantity of food consumed was not ascertained. Dr. M. Miles, Professor of Agriculture in the Michigan Agricultural College, has made some valuable experiments in feeding young pigs, in which the amount of food con- sumed and the gain each week were accurately ascertained. Six grade Essex pigs, two weeks old, were selected for the experiment. They weighed 25 Ibs., or a little over 4t Ibs. each. At the end of the first week they weighed 46 1 1, Ibs., showing a gain of a little over 3 1 | a Ibs. each, a gain of about 90 per cent in one week. At the end of the second week they weighed 84 Ibs. They were then di- vided into two separate pens, three in a pen. The pigs in pen A weighed 43 1 1 2 Ibs., and those in pen B 40 1 1 2 Ibs. At the end of the third week the three pigs in pen A weighed 52 1 1 2 Ibs. ; those in pen B, 54 Ibs. At the end of the fourth week pen A weighed GG 1 !, Ibs.; pen B, 69 1 ]., Ibs. At the end of the fifth week pen A weighed 79 Ibs. ; pen B, 85 1 1 2 Ibs. Sixth week, pen A, 89 1 1 4 Ibs ; pen B, 93 1 1 4 Ibs. At this time one of the pigs in pen B met with an ac- cident and was killed. It weighed, alive, 30 Ibs., and dressed, 23 Ibs. To the end of the eighth week the pigs were allowed all the new milk they would drink, and what corn they EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 119 would eat in addition. After the eighth week the milk was discontinued, and they were allowed all the corn-meal they would eat, mixed fresh with a little water. During the first week the pigs consumed about 23 1 1 3 Ibs. each of milk, and gained 3' | 2 Ibs. each. Second week, they consumed 48 ibs. each of milk, and gained a little over 6 Ibs. each. Third week, consumed 47 Ibs. milk, and gained 3 3 1 4 Ibs. each. Fourth week, consumed 52 Ibs. milk, and gained 5 Ibs. each. The amount of food consumed for each pound of live weight of the pigs was 1st week. 2d week. 3d week. 4th week. 3.93 Ibs. 4.43 Ibs. 2.95 Ibs. 2.57 Ibs. The gain for each hundred pounds of live weight was 1st week. 2d week. 3d week. 4Jh week. 86.00 Ibs. 80.64 Ibs. 26.78 Ibs. 37.69 Ibs. The amount of food consumed to produce one pound of increase was 1st week. 2d week. 3d week. 4t?i week. 6.53 Ibs. 7. 70 Ibs. 12.52 Ibs. 10.56 Ibs. These experiments, confirmed as they are by others giv- ing similar results, show conclusively that a young animal eats much more, in proportion to live weight, than an older one. Thus, for each pound of live weight, the pigs ate nearly 4 Ibs. of milk the first week, and only 2 1 | a Ibs. the fourth week. It would also seem that the younger the animal, the more rapidly it gains in proportion to the food consumed. Thus, it required about 7 Ibs. of milk the first fortnight to produce a pound of increase, and ir| a Ibs. the second fortnight, or about 65 per cent more. So far, therefore, these results strikingly confirm the conclusion we should arrive at from theoretical considera- tions, that the more food an animal can eat, digest, and 120 HARRIS ON THE PIG. assimilate in proportion to its size, the more it will gain in proportion to the food consumed. During the second month, each pig ate, in pen A, 37 Ibs. of milk per week, and 1 Ib. each of oats and corn, and gained 2.83 Ibs. each per week. This also shows a great falling off in the consumption of food in proportion to live weight, and a still greater falling off in the rapidi- ty of increase in proportion to the food consumed. During the eighth week it required nearly double the amount of food to produce a pound of increase as during the fourth week. After the eighth week, as we have said, the pigs were fed exclusively on corn-meal. The following table shows the amount of food consumed by each pig per week, and the increased growth obtained from it. Food consumed by each pig per week. Increase in live weight of each pig per week. Food required to pro- duce 1 Ib. of increase. Pen A. PenB. Pen A. Pen B. Pen A. PenB. 3d month. 4th " 5th " 6th " 7th " 8.00 Ibs. 13.75 10.00 10.66 Meal. ( 14.16 Roots. \ 5.00 24.50 Ibs. 18.25 " 25.00 " 25.87 " 23.18 " 1.70 Ibs. 3.50 " 4.25 " 0.75 " 2.04 " 6.56 Ibs. 4.50 " 5.93 " 4.62 " 3.75 " 4.68 Ibs. 3.92 3.82 8.88 J7.00 J2.42 3.81 Ibs. 4.06 " 4.22 " 5.24 " 5.98 " Average of 5 months. Meal.... 14.23 Roots... 1.00 23.39 " 2.67 " 5.14 Ibs. Meal.. 5.32 Roots. 0.37 4.55 " It should be remembered that these pigs were all of one litter, and that in both pens they had the same food, (except that during the seventh month of the experiment the pigs in Pen A were allowed roots in addition to the corn meal) were fed at the same time, and in the same conditions, and both were allowed all they would eat, and yet the pigs in pen B ate 61 per cent more food than those in pen A, and gained over 92 per cent more. We cannot tell why one pig differs from another pig of the same litter. But, aside from this, it is not difficult to understand why pigs, that eat more food, should gain more in proportion to the food consumed. It is owing to EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. 121 the fact that, in the case of the small eaters, nearly all the food is used merely to support the vital functions. In a previous chapter (page 21) we have endeavored to ex- plain this matter in detail. One of the pigs in pen A gained nearly as much as those in pen B ; and had the pigs been fed separately, the result would doubtless have been even more strikingly in favor of the large eaters. The following table shows the weight of the pigs -when six weeks old (the fourth week of the experiment), and for each month afterwards. Pen A. 'I, 21 . f 86 88 47 42 49i/ 2 71 1/ 2 58 GO 101 % I 52 64 1201/2 8* 46 Pen BJ 5 1231/2 48i/2 1 so 1100141131 |23 44 I 64 | 79i/ 2 | 964 142il29 At ten weeks old, the pigs were not allowed any more milk, but were allowed all the corn-meal they would eat. From this time, until they were 30 weeks old, a period of five months, pig 1 gained 27 l \ 9 Ibs., pig 2, 35 3 | 4 Ibs., and pig 3, 97 1 1 4 Ibs., all in the same pen. Taking the pens to- gether, we have shown that the pigs in pen A ate about 5'lj Ibs. of food to produce 1 Ib. of increase, while the pigs in pen B required only 4 1 1 2 Ibs. to produce the same result. But it is undoubtedly true that these figures do not show the whole advantage to be gained by having pigs that can eat and assimilate a large amount of food. Pig 3 probably ate much more than his proportion of the food, and gained even still more in proportion to the food consumed. Thanks to Professor Miles, we are not left wholly to conjecture on this important point. Finding 6 122 HAKKIS ON THE PIG. that pigs No. 1, and No. 2 had no tendency to lay on fat, and that they were increasing only in bone and muscle, he thought it desirable to ascertain the amount of food which each pig consumed; so, at the beginning of the 21st week of the experiment, the pigs were put in separate pens, and allowed, as before, all the food they would eat. During the first week afterwards, Pig 1 ate 11 Ibs. meal. " 2 " 12^ " " " 3 " 25) " " During the month the pigs ate and gained as follows : Pig 1 ate 48> Ibs. meal, and lost 1 Ib. " 2 " 51K " " " gained 4 Ibs. " 3" 100 " " " gained 19} Ibs. Pigs 1 and 2, together, ate precisely the same amount of food as pig 3 alone. But in the one case, the 100 Ibs. of corn gave 19'| 9 Ibs. of increase, and in the other only 3 Ibs. So much for a good appetite. CHAPTER LAWES AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS IN PIG FEEDING. The most extensive experiments on fattening pigs are those made by J. B. Lawes, Esq., and Dr. J. H. Gilbert, at Rothamstead, near St. Albans, in England. These gentlemen have, for many years, devoted themselves to such investigations ; their experiments Avere conducted with the greatest care, and in the most thorough manner, and the results are worthy of entire confidence. Unfortu- nately, as it seems to us, the experiments were confined exclusively to pigs shut up to fatten ; and no particular attention was given to the breed, or the previous history of the pigs. The principal object of the experiments was to ascertain the best kinds of food for fattening pigs, and the best proportion of nitrogenous to non-nitrogenous food. ULWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 123 " In the selection of the animals," say Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert, " it was only sought to get such as resembled each other in character, age, and weight, in the several pens ; and, with this view, a competent person was em- ployed to go to the various sties and markets in the neighborhood to purchase animals suited to our object. " Forty pigs were purchased, as nearly as possible of the same character, and all supposed to be about nine or ten months old. The pigs were weighed and marked, and thirty-six of them selected out, and divided into twelve lots, of three each, in such a manner as to give equal weights in each lot, but it was found that, in selecting them by weight alone, ' they did not secure animals of sufficiently equal feeding quality in the several pens.' On the following day, therefore, they were changed from pen to pen, so as to provide, as much as possible, a similarity in this respect betwe"en pen and pen, and, at the same time, to retain a near equality in weight also. This being done, the weights stood as follows : TABLE I. SHOWING THE WEIGHTS OP THE PIGS WHEN ALLOTTED TO THE PENS, FEB. 3, 1856. J & | 3 | J 3 2 OB Nos. of the Pigs. J^ 1 I a ci 1 I I I 1 1 1 I t- 1 ci 1 1 a Pen 10 Pen 11 a 1 146 146 140 149 140 133 133 132 130 199 131 130 2 100 115 1S 133 3 112 112 113 113 115 122 121 117 119 120 120 129 Total weight of 3 Pigs. 379 380 370 378 378 378 378 382 373 377 379 374 "The allotment thus completed, all the pigs were fed on a mixture of one part bean meal, one part lentil meal, two parts Indian corn-meal, and four parts bran these being the foods fixed upon for the subsequent experiment. The pigs were allowed as much of this food as they would eat." " Upon this mixture," say the experimenters, " all were kept for twelve days, prior to commencing the 124 HARRIS ON THE PIG. exact experiment, in order that they might become accus- tomed to their new situation, and reconciled to their new companions, for, in the allotment, the various purchases had necessarily "been intermixed in some cases, greatly to the disapprobation and discomfort of the individuals of those purchases. For a time, constant quarrels en- sued, and the molested animals frequently jumped from pen to pen, until they fell in with former associates. In- deed, at first, it was no uncommon occurrence, after they had been left for some time, to find some pens almost de- serted, and others crowded. The use of the whip was found to be very efficacious in settling these disputes, and at length, all seeming to live amicably together, the exact experiment was commenced on Feb. 14, twelve days after the first allotment." This account will prove interesting, and furnish valua- ble hints to such of our agricultural colleges as may contemplate making experiments on animals. It shows, furthermore, taken in connection with the weight of the pigs, that little attention had been paid to their breeding or management. They were, evidently, common store hogs, active, and quarrelsome, and the fact that, at from nine to ten months old, they only weighed 112 to 146 Ibs., indicates that the farmers of England do not treat their pigs much better than the farmers of America. During this preliminary period of twelve days, the pigs gained as follows : TABLE II. SHOWING THE GAIN OF EACH PIG DURING THE TWELVE DAYS OF THE PRELIMINARY PERIOD. Nos. of the Pigs. j S i 5 * J J i S 5 1 2 1 4 i I 1 Jl 1 2 1 cl a i 2 1 iU II 1... SOlll 14 '20 17,11 21 16 15 31 8 10 28 5 20 24 21 22 15 9 13 '26 11118 2611 20 e! 1022 916 2 3 Total gain in each Pen J6li42 52 49 :>.'} 67137 5055 39144 LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 125 During this period, of twelve days, tlie pigs were all fed on the same food, and were allowed all they chose to eat, and yet it will be seen that the gain is far from uniform. " Those pigs," say the experimenters, " having flourished most, which had fallen in for the lion's share, whilst the weaker ones, which had been obliged to sulk in the rear until their more powerful companions had in- dulged to the full, clearly indicated their misfortunes by their weights. After that time, however, very little ir- regularity occurred from this cause vigilant care being taken that each animal should have his full share of food and it soon happened that the mere approach of the whip, was sufficient to awe the pugnacious delinquent into humble retreat, while his weaker neighbor, in his turn, took precedence at the trough. These ill-tempers, though at first very troublesome, gave way surprisingly by a little perseverance, and the evil of them, in the course of comparative experiments is, after all, much less than in submitting to a faulty allotment." The experiment proper, commenced Feb. 14, and con- tinued eight weeks. The following table shows the weight of each pig at the commencement of the experiment : TABLE III. SHOWING THE WEIGHT OF EACH PIG AT THE COM- MENCEMENT OP THE EXPERIMENT, FEB. 14. i g g g OB OB OJ | i i JJ Nos. of the Pigs. i 1 =1 1 1 1 I iO d J, 1 J- 1 1 1 cl Pen 101 I Pen 121 1 176 157 168 178 168 157 148 145 15fi 149 137 149 2 135 14 181 181 1<>8 144 1% 144 14<> 138 150 130 3 1**) 1<>? T>8 18 185 144 141 148 180 joq 186 150 Total weight of 3 Pigs. 440 422 422 427 431 445 415 432 428 416 423 429 The following table shows the weight of the pigs at the end of the experiment, after being fed eight weeks : 12G HARRIS ON THE PIG. TABLE TV. SHOWING THE WEIGHT OP EACH PIG AT THE END OF THE EXPERIMENT. .0 n ,Q B .0 ,0 s .8 ,8 | i i J t Nos. of the Pigs. J I =1 1 2 1 4 d I 1 i ft I z cl 1 J> 1 Pen 10 Pen 11 Pen 12- 1 279 293 239 298 264 263 249 287 205 176 197 263 2.. 9s. of peas (beans and lentils), and 2 Ibs. of bran each, per day, and all the Indian corn-meal they would eat in addition. These pigs gained 14 : | 2 Ibs. each, per week, or over 2 Ibs. per day. The next best gain is 128 HARRIS ON THE PIG. in pen 2, with 2 Ibs. of Indian meal each, per day, and all the pea meal they would eat. They gained exactly 2 Ibs. per day. With Indian meal alone, the pigs gained not quite O 1 ^ Ibs. each, per week. With Indian meal, and a small al- lowance (2 Ibs. each, per day,) of peas, the gain is not quite IS 1 ^ Ibs. per week; while with Indian meal, and 2 Ibs. each, per day, of bran, the gain is over 12 3 | 4 Ibs. per week. The most curious result, however, is in pen 12, where the pigs had all they would eat of each of the three kinds of food. The gain is but a fraction over 10 1 1 2 Ibs. each, per week. The following table shows the amount of food consumed by each pig, per week, and the average increase in live weight, per head, per week, during the experimental period of eight weeks : TABLE VI.-SHOWING THE AVERAGE WEEKLY CONSUMPTION OF FOOD, AND THE INCREASE, PER HEAD, DURING THE TOTAL PERIOD OF THE EXPERIMENT. 1 DESCRIPTION AND AVERAGE QUANTITIES OF POOD CONSUMED PER PIG, PER WEEK, IN LBS. y Limited food. Ad libitum food. 1 Total food consumed \ per iveek, per pig. Ibs. 1.... 2.... 3.... 4.... None. 14 Ibs. Indian meal. 14 Ibs. bran. 14 Ibs. Indian meal, & 14 Ibs. bran. 63 Ibs. bean and lentil meal, 12.62 14.00 8.33 10.50 52 " " " " " 30 40J " " " " " wit 81*4" " " " 5.... 6.... 7... 8.... None. 14 Ibs. bean and lentil meal. 14 Ibs. bran. 14 Ibs. bean and lentil meal, and ) 14 Ibs. bran. f 45% Ibs. Indian meal. 4514 64% 9.21 12.42 12.87 14.46 9... 10.... 11.... 12.... t9^ Ibs. bean and lentil meal. 19^ Ibs. Indian meal. 14 Ibs. bean and lentil meal, and ) 14 Ibs. Indian meal. } None. 18 Ibs. bran. 18 " " 28*4 Ibs. bean &len til meal. ) 25*4 ft>s. Indian meal. V 3 Ibs. bran. } 46 57 4.16 4.75 7.42 10.58 L AWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 129 It is very evident that bran, fed in a large quantity, or with a small proportion of other food, is a very indiffer- ent food for pigs. It is too bulky, in proportion to the nutriment it contains. The pigs were weighed every two weeks, and it was so obvious after the first weighing, that the pigs in pens 9 and 10 were not getting food enough (though having all the bran they would eat), that the limited food was increased to 3 Ibs. per pig, per day, in- stead of 2 Ibs. But, even with this addition, it is clear that the pigs did not get sufficient nutriment. Their stomachs were not capable of holding enough of this bulky, and probably rather indigestible, food. The pigs in pens 9 and 11, ate precisely the same amount of bran per week, but the pigs in pen 11 were allowed 8 3 1 4 Ibs. of meal more than pen 9 ; and it will be seen that this 8 3 | 4 Ibs. of extra meal produced over 3*| 4 Ibs. of extra increase. Comparing pen 1 with pen 5, it will be seen that the pigs having pea meal alone, gain over 3 Ibs. a week more than those having Indian meal alone ; but the pigs in pen 1 ate more pea meal than the pigs in pen 5 did of Indian meal, and the actual increase from the food consumed is, if anything, rather in favor of the Indian meal. It will be found that 100 Ibs. of pea meal produce 20 Ibs. of in- crease, while 100 Ibs. of Indian meal produced 20.3 Ibs. increase. It would seem from this that 100 Ibs. of peas will not produce any more pork than 100 Ibs of corn. At the same time, it would seem that pigs will grow or fatten faster on peas than on corn. They are capable of eating more peas than corn. By comparing pens 2 and 6, we have the same general indications. In pen 2, the pigs had pea meal ad libitum, and 2 Ibs. of corn meal each, per day; while in pen 6, they had Indian meal ad libitum, and 2 Ibs. of pea meal each, per day. Pen 2 ate the most food, and gained the most rapidly. But still the amount of food required to 6* 130 HARRIS ON THE PIG. produce a given increase is almost identical. In pen 2, 100 Ibs. of meal produced 21.2 Ibs. of increase ; in pen 6, 21.3 Ibs. The more we study these results, the more are we im- pressed with the importance of the study of physiology and breeding, in connection with the chemistry of food. Thus, in the same pen, on the same food, one pig gains 45 Ibs., and another 114. In another pen, one gains 65, and another, on the same food, 143 Ibs. And so it is in all our experiments on animals. There is a cause for this, and we cannot but hope that the subject will receive more attention from scientific investigators than they have hitherto bestowed upon it. We should remark that, in pen 5, with Indian meal alone, one of the Pigs, No. 1, during the first fortnight, gained over 2 Ibs. per day, while the other two only gained about half as much. Before the end of the first fortnight, however, " it was observed that this fast gain- ing pig, and one of the others, namely, No. 3, had largo swellings on the side of their necks, and that, at the same time, their breathing had become labored. "It was obvious," say Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, " that the Indian corn-meal alone was, in some way, a defective diet ; and it occurred to us that it was comparatively poor, both in nitrogen, and in mineral matter, though we were inclined to suspect that it was a deficiency of the latter, rather than of the former, that was the cause of the ill effects produced. We were, at any rate, unwilling, so far to disturb the plan of the experiments, as to increase the supply of nitrogenous constituents in the food, and accordingly determined to continue the food as before, but at least to try the effect of putting within reach of the pigs a trough of some mineral substances, of which they could take if they were disposed. The mixture which was prepared was as follows : 131 20 Ibs. finely sifted coal ashes, 4 Ibs, common salt, 1 Ib. superphosphate of lime. " A trough containing this mineral mixture was put into the pen at the commencement of the second fort- night, and the pigs soon began to lick it with evident relish. From this time the swellings, or tumors, as well as the difficulty in breathing, which probably arose from pressure of the former, began to diminish rapidly. In- deed, at the end of this second fortnight, the swellings were very much reduceid, and at the end of the third fort- night, they had disappeared entirely. The three pigs consumed of the mineral mixture, de- scribed above, 9 Ibs. during the first fortnight, 6 Ibs. during the second, and 9 Ibs. during the third. It may be also well to state that ' a butcher, with a practised eye, selected and purchased the carcass of one of these [Indian corn fed] pigs, which had been diseased, from among the whole thirty-six, after they had been killed and hung up.' " Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert also made a second series of experiments on 36 pigs, divided as before, into 12 pens. The foods used were the same as in the first series, except that barley-meal was substituted for Indian corn, and the pigs were allowed 3 Ibs. each, per day, instead of 2 Ibs. The pigs were about nine months old, and ranged from 105 Ibs. to 138 Ibs. each. They were shut up in the pens April 26, and allowed all they would eat of a mixture of equal parts of bean and lentil meal, barley-meal, and bran. They were kept on this food until May 9, when they were again weighed, and the exact experiment com- menced. All the pigs seem to have done remarkably well on this food, many of them gaining over 2 Ibs. a day. During the subsequent experimental period, however, no less than five of the pigs died, and for this reason we will not enter into a detailed account of the experiment. 132 HARRIS ON THE PIG The five pigs that died were in five different pens, feeding on different food. But it appears that they all belonged to one of the purchased lots of eight, and possibly to one litter, and, as Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert remark, "the loss was probably due to the bad constitution of the ani- mals." The weather, however, was very hot, and unfa- vorable to the health of pigs kept closely confined and fed on rich food. The gain of some of the pigs in this series was quite remarkable. Thus, in pen 2, which was allowed 3 Ibs. of barley-meal per pig, per day, and bean and lentil meal ad libitum, one of the pigs gained 120 Ibs. in eight weeks, or 15 Ibs. a week. Lj the same pen, the other two pigs gained, one 65 Ibs., and the other 99 Ibs., during the same period, and on the same food. In pen 5, with bar- ley-meal alone, ad libitum^ one of the pigs gained 142 Ibs. in the eight weeks, or 17 3 1 4 Ibs. a week. One of the other pigs in this pen gained 87 Ibs., and the other pig died. It is very evident from these experiments that the suc- cess of a pig-feeder will depend much more on good judg- ment in selecting, or on care in breeding, the pigs he in- tends to fatten, than on the particular kind of grain given to them. The best result of any pen in this series was where the pigs were allowed a mixture of 1 part bran, 2 parts bean and lentil meal (say pea-meal), and 3 parts barley-meal. The three pigs on this food gained 310 Ibs. in eight weeks, or within two pounds of 13 Ibs. each per week. Another pen, having precisely the same food, gave almost exactly the same gain, or 307 Ibs. in eight weeks. An adjoining pen, having the same food, but a greater proportion of bean and lentil meal, and less barley-meal, gained 283 Ibs. in the eight weeks, or about 11 s | 4 Ibs. each per week. One hundred pounds of the former mixture gave 20 Ibs. of in- crease j of the latter, 18 1 1 4 Ibs. LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS. 133 Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert also made a third series of experiments, the pigs being fed on dried codfish, in con- junction with bran, Indian meal, bean and lentil meal, and barley-meal, in different proportions. The codfish was boiled in water, and the meal mixed with it before being fed to the pigs. The following table shows the composition of this dried codfish, together with the composition of the other foods used in this and the preceding experiments : TABLE SHOWING THE COMPOSITION OP THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF FOOD USED IN MESSRS. LAWES' AND GILBERT'S EXPERIMENTS ON PIGS. PER CENTAGE RESULTS. Description of Food. Dry Matter. Ash. Nitrogen. Fatty Matter. 4^ O 1 Organic Matter only. II llj ^ In Fresh Substance. s In Fresh Substance. a Egyptian Beans 88.3083.57 S7.30i82.43 86.62J81.64 89.7088.33 89.8988.62 84. 79178.77 82.38 I 80.19 80.95i7S.77 82.5380.48 59.26^40.60 4.73 4.87 4.98 1.37 1.28 6.02 2.19 2.18 2.05 18.66 5!584!52 5.754.56 1.5311.72 1.4211.95 7.10i2.61 2.66:1.82 2.6911.83 2.481.55 31.49:6.60 4.80 5.18 5.26 1.92 2.17 3.08 2.21 2.26 1.88 11.13 2.292.60 2.232.55 2.21:2.55 5.105.68 5.596.22 4.925.80 2.342.84 2.33:2.88 1.41|1.71 0.90:1.52 Lentils Lot 1 " Lot 2 Indian Meal Lot 1 " " Lot 2 Bran Barley Lot 1 " Lot 2 " Lot 3 Dried New Foundland Codfish In pen 1 the pigs were given, and compelled to eat, 14 Ibs. each of codfish, per week, mixed with equal parts bran and Indian meal. Of this mixture they had all they could eat, and consumed 47 Ibs. each, per week, and gained 10.09 Ibs. each. In pen 2, each pig had, as above, 14 Ibs. codfish, and ate with it 45 1 1 4 Ibs. Indian meal alone, per week, and gained 12.15 Ibs. In pen 3 the pigs had a mixture of equal parts Indian meal and bran, and as much codfish as they chose to eat. They ate 47 Ibs. of the mixture of bran and meal, and 134 HARRIS ON THE PIG. only T\ t Ibs. of codfish each, per week, and gained 8.94 Ibs. It will be seen that, when left to their own choice, the pigs in pen 3 ate only about half as much codfish as those in pens 1 and 2, where their other food was kept back until they had eaten their allowance of 2 Ibs. of codfish per day. The above pigs were about nine or ten months old, and were similar in character, weight, etc., to the pigs in the first two Series of experiments. In another series of experiments with eight pigs, seven months old, and " more finely framed " than the preced- ing pigs, 1 Ib. of codfish was given to each pig, per day, with, in one pen, barley-meal alone, and in the other, with a mixture of 2 parts barley-meal, and 1 part bran. In pen 4, the pigs ate 7 Ibs. of codfish, and 49 Ibs. of bran and barley meal each, per week, and gained 9.40 Ibs. In pen 5, the pigs ate 7 Ibs. of codfish, and 57 1 1 2 Ibs. of barley-meal each, per week, and gained 11.75 Ibs. These facts will prove interesting and useful to farmers living near the sea-shore, in localities where fish are used for expressing oil, and where the refuse is sold for manure, or for food for pigs. An analysis of this refuse, taken in connection with the above experiments, should indicate its value as food for pigs, and it is an easy matter to cal- culate the value of the manure made by the pigs. SUGAR AS FOOD FOB PIGS. 135 CHAPTER XIV. SUGAR AS FOOD FOR PIGS. Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert also made some experiments on pigs to ascertain the nutritive value of sugar as com- pared with starch. Twelve pigs weighing from 72 Ibs. to 98 Ibs. each were placed in four pens, 3 pigs in a pen. Lentils and bran were selected as the nitrogenous food, and in pens 1,2 and 3 the pigs were allowed 3 Ibs. of lentil meal, and 1 Ib. of bran each per day, and in addition, the pigs in pen one were allowed all the sugar they would eat, and those in pen 2, all the starch they would eat, and in pen 3 a mixture of equal parts starch and sugar. The pigs in pen 4 were furnished, in separate troughs, all the lentil meal, bran, starch and sugar they would eat. The experiment was con- tinued 10 weeks. In pen 1, the pigs ate nearly 2 Ibs. of sugar each per day, and in pen 2, a nearly identical quan- tity of starch ; the other food being the same in kind and quality in both pens. The increase obtained from 100 Ibs. of food was in pen 1, 20.8 Ibs., and in pen 2, 19.9 Ibs. The pigs in pen 3, having a mixture of equal parts starch and sugar, and the same quantity of lentil meal and bran as in pens I and 2, ate 2f Ibs. each per day of the starch and sugar. The increase from 100 Ibs. of total food was 19.8 Ibs. In pen 4, where the pigs were allowed all they chose to eat of the different foods, each pig ate per day on the average, lentil meal 4 Ibs. 6 oz., bran 3 oz., starch 3f oz. and sugar 2 Ibs. 2 oz. They ate more food and gained more rapidly than in any other pen. The increase from 100 Ibs. of food was 21.3 Ibs. 130 HARRIS ON THE PIG. Without going into further details, it is evident that the pigs show a great preference for sugar as compared with starch, but it does not appear that sugar produces any materially greater increase than starch. Certainly there is no benefit approximating in the slightest degree to the increased cost of sugar ; and it is very doubtful whether we should gain any marked advantage by converting our barley into malt or of growing sugar beets instead of ordinary beets or mangel wurzel. We should add that a mixture of 20 Ibs. of coal and wood-ashes, 2^ Ibs. of superphosphate of lime and 2% Ibs. of common salt was placed in troughs in the pens. This quantity being distributed to the 12 pigs during each period of two weeks. Messrs. Lawes & Gilbert say : This mineral mixture was always taken with the greatest avidity and relish ; so much so, that the animals would leave their other troughs the moment the fresh supply of this was put within their reach. They were, moreover, upon the whole, very healthy throughout the experiment, and yielded good rates of increase. In Messrs. Lawes' & Gilbert's account of these experi- ments, the actual gain of each pig is not given. But since writing the above, we have found the weights of the pigs at the commencement and at the end of the experiment, from which it appears that the pigs in pen 1 gained 8.2 Ibs. each per week. " " " 2 " 8.2 Ibs. " " " " " 3 9.1 Ibs. " " " " " 4 " 10.4 Ibs. " " " To a practical farmer these actual figures are more in- teresting than mere percentage results. From this it would appear that, leaving the question of cost and profit out of the question, there may be cases where, with an unlimited supply of other food, a little sugar may be given to a pig with advantage. A pig with a delicate appetite THE VALUE OF PIG MAXUKE. 137 might be given ordinary food, and then when he had eaten all he would of it, by mixing a little sugar with the food, he might be induced to eat more. CHAPTER XV. THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE. There is much misconception in regard to the relative value of manure from different animals. It is often said that the manure of pigs is richer than that from cattle, horses, or sheep. This is sometimes the case, and some- times not. It depends entirely on the food. An animal does not " make manure " any more than a stove makes ashes, or a thrashing machine makes grain, chaff, and straw. We feed a thrashing machine with a certain num- ber of bundles of wheat, and get from it a certain amount of grain, straw, and chaff but the machine does not make them. It was all in the bundles, and the machine merely separates them. And so it is in the case of an animal. A pig has no more to do in making rich or poor manure than a thrashing machine has in making white or red wheat. It depends entirely on the food. There is little or no difference in the composition or value between the manure of a pig fed on clover, and that of a sheep, or a cow, or a horse, fed on clover. But if a pig is fed on clover, and the sheep is fed on straw, the manure of the pig will be by far the most valuable, sim- ply because the clover contains a greater proportion of the more important elements of plant-food. A ton of corn, fed to a pig, will not give manure worth as much as a ton of clover hay fed to a sheep, for the 138 HARRIS ON THE TIG. simple reason that a ton of clover hay contains more of the valuable constituents of plant-food than a ton of corn. But a ton of pig manure from a corn-fed pig may be, and often is, worth more than a ton of sheep manure from sheep fed on clover hay. The explanation of these appa- rently contradictory statements is this : A ton of corn contains more nutritious matter than a ton of clover. It contains more starch and oil, and these are digested and assimilated by the pig, and consequently there is a less quantity of matter to be voided as excrements. On the other hand, although a ton of clover contains a greater proportion of the more valuable elements of plant-food than a ton of corn, yet the clover does not contain nearly as much nutritious food as the corn. There is a large proportion of crude material that cannot be digested, and this is voided in the excrements ; consequently, we get more manure from the ton of clover hay than from a ton of corn. It is not worth as much, weight for weight, but it is worth more as a whole, because there is more of it. In other words, a ton of pig manure from corn may be worth as much again, as a ton of sheep manure from clo- ver hay ; and, in point of fact, pig manure is ordinarily worth much more per ton than the manure from cows, horses, or sheep. But, at the same time, it is equally true that, if the same food was fed to a sheep that we feed to the pig, the manure of the sheep would be equally valua- ble. Pig manure is usually more valuable, in proportion to its weight or bulk, than ordinary farm-yard manure, because the pigs are fed on more nutritious food, or, in other words, on food containing a less proportion of crude, indigestible matter, and consequently we get less bulk of manure from the pig, but it is more valuable. But it is a grave error to suppose that a pig will make better manure than a sheep, a cow, or a horse. The following table, prepared by Mr. Lawes, shows the average composition of different articles of food, together THE VALUE OF PIG MANUilE* 139 with the relative value of the manure made from the con- sumption of one ton of each food. PER CENT. Valve of manure in $ i 4b ^-S * P !3'S 'si 1 * II , 1 1 1. Linseed cake 83.07.00 89.08.00 89.08.00 90.04.00 84.03.00 84.52.40 84.02.00 88 3 00 4.92 7.00 5.75 3.38 2.20 1.84 1.63 1.89 5.23 1.65 3.12 1.76 1.37 1.27 0.96 0.66 0.96 2.12 4.75 6.50 5.00 3.80 4.00 3.40 4.20 4.30 4.20 1.25 1.80 1.80 1.65 1.70 2.00 2.60 2.58 2.55 2.50 1.50 0.90 0.60 0.50 60 0.25 0.22 0.18 0.35 0.20 0.22 19.72 27.86 21.01 15.65 15.75 13.38 16.75 16.51 18.21 4.81 6.65 7.08 6.32 6.65 7.70 13.53 14.36 14.59 9.64 6.43 3.87 3.74 2.68 2.25 2.90 1.07 91 86 1.50 80 1.14 2. Cotton-seed cake* 3. Rape cake . . . 4. Linseed. . . 5. Beans 6. Peas 7. Tares 8. Lentils 9. Malt dust 94.08.50 85. OH 75 11. Indian meal 88.0 85.0 84.0 95.0 86.0 86.0 86.0 86.0 84.0 84.0 82.5 82.0 81.0 85.0 83.0 12.5 11.0 8.0 24.0 13.5 15.0 1.80 1.70 2.20 2.60 2.85 5.60 6.20 6.60 7.50 6.00 5.55 5.95 5.00 4.50 5.50 1.00 .68 .68 1.00 .70 1.00 1.13 1.87 1.35 1.60 1.17 6.44 7.52 7.95 1.25 0.88 0.90 0.85 0.55 0.37 0.48 0.09 0.13 0.11 0.32 0.13 0.42 0.35 0.50 0.55 0.65 0.50 .46 .49 .45 .30 .50 .11 0.89 0.65 0.63 0.93 0.25 0.18 29 0.43 0.23 0.36 12. Wheat 13. Barley 14 Malt 15. Oats. .. 16. Fine pollardt 17. Coarse pollard^: 18. Wheat bran . . 19. Clover hav 20. Meadow hay 21. Bean straw 22. Pea straw 23. Wheat straw . . 24. Barley straw 25. Oat straw 26 Mangel wurzel 27. Swedish turnips 28 Common turnips 29. Potatoes 30. Carrots 31. Parsnips * The manure from a ton of undocorticated cotton-seed cake is worth $15.74 ; that from a ton of cotton-seed, after being ground and sifted, is worth $13.25. The grinding and sifting, in Mr. Lawes experiments, removed about 8 per cent of husk and cotton. Cotton-seed, so treated, proved to be a very rich and economical food. t Middlings, Canielle. * Shipstuff. This table is of great value to the farmer. Hitherto, we have worked pretty much in the dark in regard to the profit or loss of fattening pigs. Many farmers contend that there is no profit in feeding hogs, while others claim 140 HARRIS ON^ THE PIG. that, when the manure is taken into consideration, there is no farm stock that pays so well. But it must be con- fessed that the wildest estimates are often made in regard to the value of the manure. By the aid of the above ta- ble it will not be difficult to form a pretty correct estimate of the value of the manure from any given lot of pigs, provided the kind and amount of food consumed is known. Thus, if a pig was fed exclusively on corn from the time it was weaned until it had gained 350 Ibs., it would eat about 1,500 Ibs. of corn. Now, as the manure from a ton of corn is worth 86.65, the manure from 1,500 Ibs. is worth $4.99. We may assume, therefore, that when pigs are fed on corn, in the production of every hundred pounds of pork, live weight, we get $1.42 worth of ma- nure. Or, assuming that a fat pig will dress 80 per cent of its live weight, we may conclude that, in the produc- tion of every hundred pounds of pork, we get manure worth $1.78. In other w r ords, in calculating the profit or loss of feeding pigs on corn, we may add I 3 1 4 cents per pound (in gold), to the price of the pork for the value of the manure obtained. On the other hand, if the pigs are fed on peas, we get manure worth more than twice as much, and may add 3 1 | a cents a pound to the price of the pork for the value of the manure made in its production. In this case, if pork sells for 7 cents per pound, we may calculate that for every dollar's worth of pork sold, we have 50 cents' worth of manure ; or, if the pork sells for 10 1 ), cents per pound, for every dollar's worth of pork sold we have 33 cents' worth of manure in the pig pen. Boussingault states that pigs from 5 to 6 months old will eat 19 Ibs. of green clover per day equal to about 5 Ibs. of clover hay each. On such food we may safely calculate that a good pig will gain half a pound of pork a day ; and if so, a pig that would dress 200 Ibs. would have eaten green clover equal to one ton of clover hay;; THE VALUE OP PIG MANURE. 141 and as the manure from a ton of clover hay is worth $9.04, we may calculate that every hundred pounds of pork so produced, leaves us $4.82 worth of manure. When pigs are fed skimmed milk, we shall probably not be far wrong in estimating that the manure made in producing 100 Ibs. of pork is worth $5.00. Taking these four estimates together, and striking a mean, we have the following result : Value of manure in producing 100 Ibs. of pork from Indian corn $1.78 " " ' " " " " Peas 3.56 " " " " Clover ; 4.82 " " " " " " Skimmed Milk 5.00 Average of the whole $3.79 In other words, where pigs are fed on clover and skimmed milk during the summer, and are afterwards fat- tened on half peas and half corn, we may calculate that every pound of pork sold, leaves on the farm 3 3 1 4 cents' worth of manure. It must be borne in mind that these are gold prices, and also that this is merely the value of the manure made by the pigs from the food consumed. The litter and other materials thrown into the pen have not been taken into the account. The pig cannot be credited with the manure so obtained. If we throw into the pen 100 Ibs. of pea or bean straw, we add about 19 cents to the value of the manure heap ; but this is not derived from the pig, but from the straw ; and so it is with anything else thrown into the pen. The pig converts it into manure, but adds nothing to its value. The pig creates nothing. Whatever of value there is in the manure heap is derived from the food consumed, and from the materials used as litter. And yet it is nevertheless true, that we can obtain from the pig pen a large amount of valuable manure that other- wise would be wasted. On farms, we have seldom time to attend to such mat- ters, and there is not as great a necessity for it ; but per- 4 HAREIS ON THE PIG. sons who have only a garden or small place, should have a pig pen, with a small yard attached, into which all the refuse material of the garden can be conveniently thrown such as the clippings of the lawn, weeds, potato tops, pea and bean haulm, leaves, coal ashes, the loose dirt that is raked up in the garden beds, alleys, and walks, and the thousand and one things that we denominate rubbish. The whole of it should go into the yard attached to the pig pen. This is a much better way of disposing of it, than endeavoring to make a " compost heap." With such a yard, there never need be any trouble in determining where the materials in the wheel-barrow should be emptied. You have always a place for all rubbish that is lying around loose, and it will be an easy matter to keep the premises neat and clean. " But oh, the smell !" exclaims a gentleman who let his Irish coachman keep a pig, "I cannot endure it." True; but this is the fault of the man, and not of the pig. A" respectable, well brought up pig is the cleanest of all our domestic animals. Let him be washed once a week, and let plenty of dry earth, or soil of any kind, be scattered freely and frequently about the pen and yard, and all trouble from this source will cease, and the pig, if well bred, and well fed, will become one of the most popular features of the establishment, and he will be profitable also. He will pay in using up the refuse from the house and from the garden ; pay in delicious hams, spare-ribs, and tenderloin ; pay in firm, white, sweet lard ; and, above all, he will pay in furnishing a large, rich compost for the garden, which, with the addition of a little superphos- phate and guano, will pay double and treble in the abundance of crisp vegetables and well developed fruit. The main point in managing a pig pen in such a case is, to furnish an abundance of earth to keep it clean. The pigs will root it over and mix it with the manure. The earth, especially if of a sandy nature, will at once favor THE VALUE OF PIG MANURE. 143 decomposition and absorb the gases, and they in their turn will develop the plant-food in the soil, and we get a large quantity of manure that is free from smell, and not unpleasant to work over or use in the garden. Where horses are kept, the refuse litter from the stables should be thrown into the pig pen. Horse manure is apt to ferment too rapidly, while pig manure is very sluggish. Mixing the two together improves both ; and besides, the horse manure, when dry, makes a good bed for the pigs, and saves litter. For garden vegetables, rich manure is especially valu- able. It is desirable to concentrate the manure as much as possible. We do this by fermentation, which reduces the bulk, and at the same time renders the plant-food in the manure more immediately available. The plan here suggested, of throwing the dry manure from the horse stables into the pig pen, will tend still more to concentrate the manure. Pigs void large quantities of liquid, which contains nearly all the nitrogen of the food. The horse manure will absorb this, and, of course, we get a much more concentrated manure from the pig pen than when straw alone is used for bedding. We may not get any more plant-food from the two combined than we should if the droppings from the stable and from the pig pen were used separately, but we get it in a more concentrated form and in a more available condition ; and this is a point of far greater importance than is usually supposed. We are inclined to believe that- many of the diseases which affect vegetables in our old gardens are caused, or at least increased, by the excessive accumulation of carbonaceous matter in the soil, caused by the frequent use of manure deficient in phosphoric acid, potash and ammonia. The manure from a pig pen littered with horse droppings, thoroughly decomposed and mixed with earth, would furnish garden vegetables with all the plant-food they re- quired in an available condition, and there would be less 144 HARRIS ON THE PIG. danger from fungi than where a large quantity of poor manure was frequently used. On many farms half the value of the manure made by pigs is wasted. There is no part of the establishment so miserably managed as the pig pen. It is often nothing more than a pen of rails, with a little hovel in one corner, covered with corn-stalks, or straw, and the pigs are left to eat the corn on the ground, and wallow in mud and filth. If pork can be made at a profit in this way, it must be a good business when conducted properly. CHAPTER XVI. PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. In selecting a site for a pig pen, the first requisite is dry ness. A side hill, sloping towards the barn-yard, is a desirable location ; and if this cannot be found in a con- venient place, it is not a difficult or expensive matter, with a dirt scraper and a span of horses, to form a basin in the barn-yard, using the dirt to make a high and dry founda- tion for the pig pens, and forming a slope towards the basin, so that the liquid from the pens will rapidly drain away to the manure heap. If the soil is not dry, it must be drained with tile, or stone underdrains, at least two feet deep ; and if there is sufficient fall, four feet would be far better. These underdrains are not designed to carry off the water from the surface, but to make the soil underneath dry. Surface drainage must be attended to also ; for, as the liquid from well-fed pigs is the most valu- able portion of the manure, it is especially important that the whole of it should either be absorbed by the straw or other bedding in the pen, or drain away to the manure heap. The next important consideration in locating the pig PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 145 pen is, convenience of feeding. Where there is much milk or whey, the pen should be located with reference to con- veying it to pigs with the least labor. The only objection to having a pig pen near the house is, the smell ; but the labor required to carry the slops of the house, etc., through a dirty barn-yard, would provide muck and other absorb- ent materials for rendering the pig pens free from all un- pleasant odor, and furnish a large quantity of valuable manure into the bargain. Pigs should have access to fresh water at all times, and the piggeries should be near a pump. If there is no well, a large cistern should be provided, and the rain-water from the buildings conveyed into it; and, in any case, the buildings must be furnished with gutters, to prevent the water running on to the manure, and washing out its soluble and most valuable plant-food. Where stone is abundant, this is the cheapest and best material for the lower story of the pig pens. The floors may be laid with flags, and the joints grouted with water- lime and gravel, or the whole may be grouted with lime and gravel, taking care to provide good drainage. We should add, however, that a farmer of much experience, who built an expensive piggery, and nagged and grouted the bottom of the pens, says that his pigs did not thrive in them, and he subsequently put in plank floors. He thought the grouted floor was cold and damp. He is satisfied, at any rate, that pigs do much better on plank, than on stone, or grouted floors. Some of our own pig pens have no other floor than beaten earth ; and we are inclined to think that there is no material superior to it, and certainly none so cheap. The great point is, to have the ground high enough, so that the pens shall be always dry. If not so high that the liquid will not run rapidly away, draw on several loads of clay, and pound it down hard with a beater. Keep the pen well littered, and always clean ; let the pigs 7 140 HAKKIS OHf THE PIG. have access to fresh earth, ashes, charcoal, etc., and they will not root up the floor. In arranging the pig pen, special attention should be given to providing a ready means of cleaning out the manure, and supplying it with fresh bedding. A pig pen should be cleaned out every day, as regularly as we clean out our staples. If the pens are conveniently ar- ranged for the purpose, it is but a few minutes work, and it will soon lead the pigs to form cleanly habits, and thus save bedding. In pens for breeding sows, we have found it very con- venient, in cold weather, to have a partition between the sleeping and feeding apartments, with a sliding door, that can be easily closed. It is desirable, when pigs are to be made ready for the butcher in eight or nine months, that the sow should farrow early in March; and it often hap- pens that this interesting event occurs during a severe snow storm. With a warm sleeping apartment, and with a door that can be closed at night, or at any time after the sow has been fed, thousands of pigs that are now lost might be saved. This plan is particularly essential where the feeding apartment is partially or wholly uncovered. But even where both apartments are covered, it is better to have a partition that can be opened in warm weather, and closed during cold storms. The only objection to this plan is, that the sow has not so much room, and there may be increased danger of her crushing the pigs against the sides of the pen. This ob- jection, however, is more apparent than real, from the fact, that no matter how large the pen is, the sow is almost certain to make her bed near one of the sides. She almost invariably, in pigging, places her back against the rail or side of the pen, the object probably being to prevent the little pigs from getting on the wrong side of her, where they would, in cold weather, be likely to perish before they find the teats. Our breeding pens have a rail on the PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 147 inside, about six inches from the sides of the pen and about one foot high, but the sows before pigging take special pains to fill the space with straw, and we are satis- fied that if they did not, the little pigs, when born during a cold night, would often get on the backside of the sow and be chilled to death. The accompanying plan of a piggery (fig. 29) is furnish- ed us by Dr. M. Miles, Professor of Agriculture in the Michigan Agricultural College, who writes : " It needs but little explanation, except in regard to the backside of the building. The lean-to is a shed, open above the pen partition, that separates it from the yard. This Fig. 29. PIGGERY AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. ELEVATION. opening may be closed in winter, if desirable. The up- right, or main building, is not boarded up below the roof of the lean-to. Figure 30 gives the ground plan. The curved, dotted lines, show the swing of the doors, and the straight, dotted lines, mark the position of the low partitions, enclosing the bed. The plan of arrangement can be carried out with a single pen, or it can be indefinite- ly extended for large establishments. The shed for pro- tecting the manure can be readily cleaned out by a cart or wheel-barrow, running through the open doors, between the shed pens, while the swine are shut out in the yards, or in the front pens. I have not attempted to show the arrangement of the troughs, but simply mark their posi- 148 HAERTS ON THE PIG. tion. Swine can be easily changed from, one pen to another, by shutting out others in the yard, or front pen. The upper story is for storing feed, or bedding, etc." The writer's pig pens are of a very simple kind, put up by an ordinary farm hand, as a temporary arrangement, 8X64 Fig. 30. PIGGERY AT THE MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. GROUND PLAN. but, as they are found to answer a very good purpose, in the absence of anything better, we give a description of them. The old pig pen, which we found on the farm, was placed on one corner of the barn-yard, selected, apparent- ly, because it was the lowest and wettest hole about the premises. The bottom was laid with plank, to keep the pigs out of the water. This was very well ; but the mo- ment the pigs stepped out of the pen, they plunged, into PIGGEKIES AND PIG PENS. 149 a wet mass of manure and filth. They were obliged to wallow through this mud and manure every time they went to or from the pig pen. We have a weakness for hyacinths and roses, but found that the largest beds of them afforded no pleasure so long as there was such a pig pen in one corner of the garden. Thanks to the invention of India rubber boots, it was possible to get about on the backside of the pig pen. We endured this two years, being determined not to fall into the common error of new-comers, of tearing down old buildings before we had determined where to erect new ones. At length, however, with axes, crowbars, a span of horses, and a log chain, we made short work with the old pig pen. Not a stick of it was left standing. The ground being cleared, the first thing was to dig an under- drain, 3 feet deep, underneath, and at the point where the surface-water settled ; we covered the tiles with stones to the top of the land, so that the water from a heavy rain could pass off rapidly. We may add, that the soil underneath the old pig pen, for two feet deep, was found to be the blackest and richest of manure. With a plow and a dirt scraper, this was all removed, and ultimately drawn on to the land. This manure was certainly worth three times as much as the old pig pen. The barn-yard was on a side-hill, the pig pen, as we have said, being on one of the lower corners. On the north side of the barn-yard there is a barn, with cow sta- bles underneath, and a horse barn at the north-west corner. The pig pen was at the south-west corner. The first thing done, was to build a stone wall on the west side of the yard, 80 feet long, and 6 feet high, laid in mortar. The next thing was, to plow out the cen- ter of the barn-yard, and, with a dirt scraper, and a span of horses, make a basin 5 or 6 feet deep, with sloping sides. The dirt from this basin was emptied along the side of the stone wall, 15 or 16 feet wide, with a 150 HARRIS ON THE PIG. A3T7V S PIG een sle I K| I PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 151 gentle slope from the wall, and the old hole, where the former pig pen stood, was raised in the same way. This gave us a dry foundation. As we have said, the wall was built 6 feet high, but, by the time we had scraped out the basin, and put the dirt on the side of the wall, we had raised the land 18 inches, or 2 feet. In other words, the land on the east side, towards the barn-yard, was nearly 2 feet higher than on the opposite side of the wall. The tmderdrain alluded to, runs along the side of the wall, on the west side, outside the barn-yard, and now, instead of needing India rubber boots, we can walk around in slippers. On the top of the wall, a stick of timber was placed, and we proceeded to put up a common shed, with roof boards, 14 feet long, and battened in the ordinary way. Of course the roof slopes towards the wall, so as to carry the water outside of the barn-yard, where it soaks through the soil to the underdrain. This shed is divided off into pig pens, as shown in the diagram, figure 31, The pens are 12 feet deep, and 16 feet wide. (It would have been better to have had the roof boards 16 feet long instead of 14 feet, as it would have added very little to the expense, and would have given us pens 14 feet deep.) Between each two pens is an alley, 3 feet wide, boarded up on each side about 3 feet high. The pig trough is placed along-side these partitions, and the food is poured into it from the alley. Each pen is divided off into two parts one for sleeping, and the other for feeding. The sleeping apartment is boarded up tight, with a sliding door, against the wall. One of the boards that forms the partition between the feeding and sleeping apartment is hung on hinges, so that it can be opened or shut, according to the weather. It is fastened by a common wooden button. One of the boards which form the outside of the pen is hung in the same way. This is very important, as it enables us to give an abundance of fresh air in warm weather, and we can close 152 HARRIS ON THE PIG. up the pen tight during a storm. It is also convenient in cleaning out the pen and putting in fresh bedding. We do not recommend these pens to any one who can afford to build better ones. Their chief merit consists in their cheapness. They can be easily cleaned out, and sup- plied with fresh litter. Our pigs, when old enough, are allowed to run out every day, into the barn-yard, in win- ter, and the pasture in summer ; and we find this arrange- ment convenient for letting them in and out of the pens, as each pen opens directly into the barn-yard. If well- bred, and properly treated, the pigs will go to their own pens as readily as cows or horses will go to their own stalls. This may be doubted by those who ill-treat their pigs or, in other words, by those who treat their pigs in the common way. But it is, nevertheless, a fact, that there is no more docile or tractable animal on a farm than a well-bred pig. There is a good deal of human nature about him. He can be led where he cannot be driven. A cross-grained man will soon spoil a lot of well-bred pigs. They know the tones of his voice, and it is amus- ing to see what tricks they will play him. We have seen such a man trying to get the pigs into their respective pens, and it would seem as though he had brought with him a legion of imps, and that seven of them had entered into each pig. No sow would go with her own pigs, and no pigs would go with their own mother ; the store pigs would go into the fattening pen, and the fattening pigs would go where the stores were wanted. Should he get mad, and use a stick, some active porker would lead him in many a chase around the barn-yard ; and when one was tired, another pig, with brotherly affection, would take up the quarrel, and the old sows would stand by enjoying the fun. Let no such man have charge of any domestic animals. He is a born hewer of wood, and drawer of water, and should be sent to dig canals, or do night-work for the poudrette manufacturers. PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 153 At their regular feeding time, we can take twenty or thirty of our own pigs, and separate them into their re- spective pens in a few minutes. They inherit a quiet dis- position, and we would dismiss on the spot, any hired man who should kick one of them, or strike him with a stick, and we cannot bear to hear an angry word spoken near the pens. The alleys between the pens we find convenient for storing away a small quantity of straw, a little of whicli can be used every day, to replace that removed in clean- ing the pens. By making a small hole in the side of the pen, little sucking pigs can come through, and eat a little milk or crushed oats out of a small trough, placed in the alley where the sow cannot get at it. We have some pens that have no partition between the sleeping and feeding apartment. They are not as warm as the others, but having abundance of straw, they answer very well for store or fattening pigs or for a breeding sow in mild weather. On the whole, however, it is better to have the sleeping apartment separate, the pigs being warm, and not so liable to be disturbed. For a breeding sow, the sleeping apartment is 10 x 12 ft., and the feeding apartment 6 x 12 ft. Such a pen can be used also for six or eight store pigs, or for three or four fattening pigs. We have smaller pens, 12x12 ft., either undivided or divided into a sleeping apartment 7x 12 ft., and a feeding apartment 5 x 12 ft. Such a pen, if divided, answers very well for a litter of young pigs, after weaning, or for fat- tening two or three pigs, and we have used them for a small sow to farrow in. The most serious objection to this shed-made pig pen is, that the roof boards must be put on with great care, and well battened, or it will leak. They should, also, be well saturated with petroleum, to keep them from shrink- ing and warping. 7* 154 HARRIS ON THE PIG. Paschal Morris, of Philadelphia, an extensive breeder of Chester Whites, describes his plan of ^a piggery as follows : " The plan of the piggery, delineated in the accompany- ing engraving, (fig. 32) is susceptible of reduction or exten- sion, for a larger or smaller number of pigs, and is intended to supersede the not only useless, but objectionable, as well Fig. 33. PASCHAL MORRIS' PIGGERY. ELEVATION. as expensive, mode of constructing large buildings under one roof, where confined and impure air, as well as the difficulty of keeping clean, interfere greatly with both health and thrift. Twenty-five or thirty breeding sows, farrowing at different periods of the year, can be accom- modated under this system of separate pens, by bringing them successively within the enclosure, or an equal num- PIGGEBIES AND PIG PENS. 155 ber of hogs can be fattened, without crowding or interfer- ence with each other. " The entrance, as seen in the engraving, is on the north side of the building, which fronts the south, as does also each separate pen. The main building is 32 feet long, by 12 feet wide, with an entrance gate, at each lower corner, to the yard of two first divisions. The entry, or room, in the center, is 8 feet wide, allowing space for slop bar- rel, feed chest, charcoal barrel, (almost as indispensable as feed chest,) hatchway, for access to root cellar, underneath the whole building, and also passage-way to second story. This latter is used for storing corn in winter, and curing Fig. 33. PASCHAL MORRIS' PIGGERY. GROUND some varieties of seeds in summer. A wooden spout, with sliding valve, conveys feed to the chest below. The grain is hoisted to the second floor by a pulley and tackle on the outside, as observed in engraving. "The perspective of main building allows a partial view of platforms, surmounted by a board roof, and divisions in the rear. The ground plan, fig. 33, allows six of these on either side of the passage-way. The first two pens, to the right and left of the door, are 12 x 12 feet each, and at- tached to them are 25 feet in length of yard, by 15 feet wide. "All the yards are extended 3 feet wider than the building, which admits of the two entrance gates at the corners. 156 HARRIS ON THE PIG. "Another division then commences, consisting of a raised platform, 6 to 8 feet wide, and extending the same width as the first pen, with a board roof over it, and also boarded up on the back, which answers the purpose of a division fence, to separate from the pen behind. Twenty- five feet of yard are also attached to this, and the same arrangement is continued to all the six divisions. " We have found this board roof and wooden floor, on the north side of each pen, and fronting the south, to be ample protection in cold, wet, or stormy weather. The floor is kept perfectly clean, and even the feeding trough is not on it, on account of more or less of wet and dirt, always contiguous to the trough, which freezes in winter, and becomes slippery. " Each yard is used for the deposit of refuse vegeta- bles and weeds, litter, etc., thrown in from time to time, to be consumed or converted into manure. This is conveniently loaded into a cart, passing along on the outside of each range of pens. " The passage-way between each range of pens gives convenient access to the feeder for all the divisions. A door also communicates from one division to the other, to make changes when necessary ; and also a door, or gate, from each pen to the outside, so that one or more can be removed, and others introduced, without any confusion or interference from any of the other pens. The two pens under the main roof of the building, being more sheltered, are reserved for sows who may happen to far- row very early in the season, or in extreme cold weather, which is always avoided, if practicable. " For several reasons, the boiler for cooking food is in a rough shed, adjacent to the piggery, and entirely outside of it. There is no reason why this should be necessarily a part of the piggery. " The above plan is not offered as embracing much that PIGGERIES AND TIG PENS. 157 158 HARRIS ON THE TIG. is novel in arrangement, but as one that combines many advantages " 1st. Complete separation, as well as easy communica- lion between each pen, as well as to outside from each. " 2d. Avoiding close and confined air, and admitting of extension or alteration for a large or small number of pigs. " 3d. Facilities for keeping clean and receiving refuse vegetables and weeds, etc., for conversion into manure, and also for loading from each pen into a cart, passing along outside. " 4th. Cheapness. With the exception of the main building, all the rest can easily be erected by an intelli- gent farm hand." The illustrations (figs. 84, 35 and 36) were engraved for the American Agriculturist, from plans forwarded by Mr. Roseburgh, of Amboy, 111. They were designed and con- structed for use on his own premises, and have, there- fore, the merit of being the production of a practical man. Fig. 34 represents the elevation. The main building is 22 by 50 feet, and the wing 12 by 16 feet. It is supplied with light and air by windows in front, ventilators on the roof, and by hanging doors or shutters in the upper part of the siding, at the rear of each stall or apartment these last are not shown in the engraving. Fig. 35 shows the ground plan. The main building has a hall, jET, 6 feet wide, running the entire length. This is for convenience of feeding, and for hanging dressed hogs at the time of slaughtering. The remainder of the space is divided by partitions into apartments, A,B, for the feed- ing and sleeping accommodation of the porkers ; these are each 8x16 feet. The rear division of each apartment, B, B^ is intended for the manure yard: Each apartment has a door, D, D, to facilitate the removal of manure, and also to allow ingress to the swine when introduced to the pen. The floors of each two adjoining divisions are in- clined toward each other, so that the liquid excrements PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 159 and other filth may flow to the side where the opening to the back apartment is situated. Two troughs, $, T, are placed in each feeding room. That in the front, $, is for food, and T, for clear water, a full supply of which is al- ways allowed. This is an important item, generally over- looked ; much of the food of swine induces thirst, and the free use of water is favorable to the deposition of fat. An excellent arrangement (shown in fig. 36,) is adopted \ V Fig. 35. GROUND PLAN OP MR. ROSKBURGH'S PIGGERY. to facilitate the cleaning of the troughs, and the transfer- ring of the hogs to the main hall at slaughtering. The front partition of each apartment, JF\ (fig. 36,) is made separate, and contrived so as to be swung back, and fas- tened over the inside of the trough, T 9 at feeding time, or when cleaning the trough. It may also be lifted as high as the top of the side partition, If, when it is desired to 100 HARRIS ON THE PIG. take the hogs to the dressing table. Triangular pieces, E, E, are spiked to each front partition, and swing with it, forming stalls to prevent their crowding while feeding. These are supported, when the apartment is closed, by notches in the inner edge of the trough, made to receive them. The wing, W, (fig. 35) is 12 by 16 feet. This answers for a slaughtering room. In one corner, adjoining the main hall, is a well and pump, P, from which, by means of a Fig. 36. VIEW OF FRONT PARTITION. hose, water is conveyed to the troughs. At the opposite corner, JT, is a large iron kettle, set in an arch, for cook- ing food, and for scalding the slaughtered swine. We would suggest that, in many localities, it would be a de- sirable addition to have this wing built two stories high, the upper part to be used for storing grain for the hogs, and also that a cellar be made underneath for receiving roots. We give from the American Agriculturist illustrations taken from the working drawings of a pig-house which has recently been built at Ogden Farm (Newport, R. L). It is submitted to those of our readers who may con- template improvements of this sort. The building is 14 x 32 feet, and cost (built of rough pine battened, with cedar shingles on the roof) only $425, including the exca- PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 161 vation of the manure pits, and the boarding up of their sides. " Fig. 37, is the ground plan. There are four pens 8 x 10, two 6 x 10, and two 6x12. The troughs all open into the center area, and are opened by swing posts, which expose them to the attendant for cleansing or filling, or to the swine for feeding, as may be desired. The two large bins at the sides of the entrance door are filled with dry earth, with which the pigs are treated to the luxury of the earth- .f Fig. 37. GROUND FLAN OP OGDEN FARM PIGGERY. closet to the great improvement of the air of the build- ing, and of the manure. The floors of the pens are made of 2-inch planks, 6 inches wide, laid with 1-inch openings between them, which secures the immediate passage of the urine to the pits below, and the gradual working through of the dry manure, mixed with earth. In the center of the open floor stands a Prindle steamer, whose 7-inch smoke-pipe discharges into the middle of a 12-inch galvanized iron ventilator, whereby efficient ventilation is secured. The food is cooked in pork-barrels, which may 162 HARRIS OX THE PIG. be moved about at pleasure ; the flexible steam hose, with an iron nozzle, conveying the steam to the bottom of the barrel. Figure 38 is a cross section, showing the manure 38. CROSS-SECTION OP OGDEN FAIiM PIGGEUY. pits, pens, etc. More than fifteen cords of manure can be stored in the pits, which are to be emptied through shut- tered windows. Figure 39 is the front elevation of the Fig. 39. FRONT ELEVATION OP OGDEN FARM PIGGERY. building, which is to have small yards at the sides, com- municating with the pens by slopes from the outer doors. This house will accommodate from thirty to forty shoals, or a corresponding number of breeding animals." PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 1G3 Mr. Geo. Mangles, a very extensive breeder and feeder of pigs in Yorkshire, England, has constructed a cheap and simple shed for fattening pigs, engravings of which, taken from Mr. Sidney's edition of Youatt on the Pig, we annex. Mr. Mangles' description is as follows : " For feeding pigs the best arrangement is a covered shed (shown in figure 40), kept dark, with partitions to hold three pigs in each division, as feeding-pigs do not require much exercise. If the pigs be fed regu- Fig. 40. MR. MANGLES' COVERED SHED FOR FATTENING PIGS. larly, and a little fresh bedding spread every day, the animals sleep and thrive very fast. The improvement they make in a warm, covered shed, with plenty of fresh air, is astonishing. A feeding-pig cannot be too warm, if he has plenty of fresh air. " I have had pigs fatten very fast upon latticed boards, with pits underneath for the droppings. The boards should be swept occasionally, and sawdust sprinkled over Fig. 41. MR. MANGLES' SHED. GROUND PLAN. them and swept through. This plan will only do for feeding-pigs (not for pigs for sale, breeding, or exhibition), as their houghs swell very much; but young pigs always do better on boards than on stone floors. " The covered pig-shed (fig. 41), of which a plan ac- companies this description, will hold about sixty pigs ; the 164 HARRIS ON THE PIG. roof is of light spars, covered with felt, but thin boards would be better and cheaper in the end. The pigs thrive in an extraordinary manner in this shed, which is divided into nineteen pens, of different sizes, some of which I find useful at lambing time to put ewes and lambs in at night." DESCRIPTION OF ISOMETRICAL PLAN OF PIG-SHEDS, (Fig. 42,) SHOWING THE INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS. " Length of shed, 60 feet ; breadth, 18 feet, inside ; height of walls (of brick], 6 feet ; height of pens inside, 3 feet, 6 inches ; thirty-three posts, 9 feet long, and 3 inches square out of ground ; five posts, 5 feet long, by 3 inches ; two strong posts for doors, 6 inches square. Pens. 4 rails, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 1 inches. Q ti " " " 14 " 8 feet, 4 in., " " 8 " 7 feet " " 4 rails 6 " " 4 <' 5 " " 600 poles, 3 feet 6 in. long, 3 in. by 1 inch. 90 feet boards, 11 in. by 1 inch. 150 boards for doors, 11 in. by 1 inch. " Wood-work for Hoof. Three boards for the center, to nail rafters to, 20 feet long, 9 inches deep, and 1 inch thick ; sixteen rafters, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 2 ; 58 rafters, 13 feet long, 3 inches by 1 ; 120 feet of rails, 3 inches by 1|-, to lie on wall, to nail rafters to ; eight rails, 20 feet long, 3 inches by 1|- ; ten lengths of felting, 60 feet long; 1,660 feet boarding, required 11 inches broad. " There are air-holes in the brick walls to every pen, on one side ; on the side where the folding doors are set, there are four air-holes, and two holes for throwing the manure out. One end of the shed is boarded half way PIGCEEIES AND PIG PENS. 1C5 166 HARRIS ON THE PIG. up, the rest of it up to the point of the gables of open palings ; the other end is boarded, and a large space is filled with Venetian blinds, or louvres. " The floor of the pens is of beaten soil ; a drain, 3 feet deep, filled with stones, leads to the liquid manure pit. The passage is laid with bricks, and the entrance is flagged, and a cart can be backed up to take the manure when the pig pens, or pits are cleaned out. I generally let the pits get full of manure, and contrive to empty Fig. 43. SECTION OF COVERED POOD HOUSE OF TA.TTENHALL PIGGERY. them against the turnip season. They are soon emptied; it takes one hand more than the ordinary force for filling manure. " I whitewash the walls and partitions every year, and the man keeps the passage swept and covered with saw- dust. My troughs are iron, with many divisions, and filled by hand from the passage. Each pit will hold five or six porkers, or three bacon pigs." One of the most elaborate piggeries in England is that at Tattenhall Hall, in Cheshire, forming a part of the model farm buildings on a dairy farm of 330 acres, in the occupation of Mr. George Jackson. The pig sheds are each six feet high, and the feeding troughs, and the pas- sage alongside them, are under cover. Figure 43 gives a section through the food-house, and figure 44 a ground plan of the arrangement. w The floors of the pig-yards and the pig-sheds are of PIGGERIES AND PIG PENS. 167 strong sandstone flags. The two near sheds are provided with doors, to keep them warm in cold weather, and with iron doors, fifteen inches square, set in the outer wall, for ventilation in hot weather. A joist is set on three sides, one foot from the wall, and one foot from the floor, to Fig. 44. GROUND PLAN OP TATTENHALL PIGGERY. prevent mothers from overlaying their young. The c out- lets,' or yards, are too small ; but we were cramped for space. The drains to all the liquid manure-tanks are trapped. " ' Whey,' says Mr. Jackson, c forms the staple food of my pigs, the fatting ones getting a portion of Indian 168 ' HARRIS ON THE PIG. corn-meal and barley-meal, with, occasionally, in winter, roots.' " It will be seen that the food-house is the receptacle of these kinds of food. The Windsor troughs, with swing doors, push back, and shut out the pigs while the solid food is put into the troughs, and one key locks up the whole. The whey is laid on to all the troughs from four large whey-cisterns in the buttery, and one hundred pigs are, all summer, daily fed with as many gallons of whey per meal, in one minute, by simply lifting a valve. By this plan is pig-feeding made easy, and they get properly, instead of laboriously and irregularly, fed. The iron gates are provided for enabling to cleanse and straw the sties. The rain-water goes off by a drain, and the liquid manure passes to the ' tank,' from which it is drawn by drain, at pleasure, into a liquid manure cart, in the middle of a ten-acre meadow. The fowls are over the food-house, the floors of which are flags, but are equally adapted for boards." These plans are given merely for the purpose of fur- nishing useful hints. Each farmer must determine for him- self what kind of pig pens are best suited to his wants to his location, system of feeding, etc. But whatever plan he may adopt, he should recollect that dryness, warmth, and good ventilation, are absolutely essential to the best success in pig feeding. There is one point in Mr. Mangles' plan that is worthy of consideration, and that is, the " beaten soil " for the floors of the pens, and the stone drain, three feet deep, under the pens, to carry the drainage to the liquid manure pit. Where such thorough drainage is provided, there can be no doubt that earth floors, beaten hard, answer a good purpose, and save much expense. When the floors are made of plank, they soon get worn in holes, and the liquid soaks through the joints; and if not ultimately lost, we loose the use of it for several years, or until the 1G9 pen needs a new floor, and the soil underneath is thrown out and replaced with fresh earth. With beaten clay floors, very little liquid will soak into the earth, and if it does, the plant-food which it contains would be" absorbed near the surface, and, by scraping the floors, it would all find its way to the manure heap. CHAPTER XVII. SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. In some convenient place, near the pig pens, there should be a receptacle for the wash from the house, milk, whey, waste vegetables, and other refuse. This is often nothing more than an old pork or cider barrel. It is dif- ficult to conceive of anything more inconvenient. It is too high, and too circumscribed. A far more convenient and inexpensive arrangement is to make a tub out of two- inch pine planks say six feet long, two feet and a half wide, and two feet, or two and a half or three feet high according to the number of pigs kept. Or, what is better still, make such a tub out of plank twelve feet long, and have a partition in the middle. In this way you have two tubs in one. The food for the store pigs can be kept in one, and that for the fattening pigs in the other. In our own case, we find it desirable to have two such tubs, each twelve feet long, and divided in the middle. Such tubs are often made flaring, being wider at the top * than at the bottom. "We do not think there is any ma- terial advantage in this, and it requires more skill to make the grooves fit true, and it is not so easy to furnish them with a tight-fitting cover. The latter is very desirable. It should be put on with hinges, and made of planed and 8 170 HARRIS ON THE TIG. matched inch boards, and divided in the center of the tub, so that one part may be closed while the other is open, if desired. , At the house, a barrel should be placed in some con- venient place, for the reception of all dish-water and re- fuse. If this barrel is set on wheels, as shown in the engraving, fig. 45, copied from the Ameri- can Agriculturist, it can be easily conveyed to the pig pens, and emptied into one of the tubs above described. It Fig. 45. PORTABLE SWILL BARREL. , , , ,, , -, should then be mixed with a little meal, and allowed to remain until the particles of meal become quite soft. It is then much more easily digested. If a slight fermentation takes place, by which the starch of the meal is converted into sugar, and a little of it into alcohol, the pigs appear to relish it all the better. A small amount of meal fed to store pigs in this manner, in summer, enables us to obtain 46. HEWN-OUT PIG- TROUGH. much more benefit from the milk, whey, and house wash than when fed alone. Every pig pen should be provided with two troughs one for food, and the other for water. When wood is abundant, the commonest, and perhaps SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. 171 the cheapest pig trough, is made by taking a log about fifteen inches in diameter, and, with an axe and adze, hewing out the inside. For out-door feeding, they are the most convenient troughs we are acquainted with, as they are not easily upset. When used for pigs confined to pens, the log should be hewn out in two divisions, one for food, and the other for water, as shown in fig. 46. A twelve-foot log will give about six feet of trough for food, and two and a half to three feet for water. A better and equally simple pig trough is made ffom two-inch pine or hemlock planks. The planks should be from nine to fifteen inches wide, according to the size of if/, Fig. 47. PLANK PIG TROUGH. the pigs, and the number in a pen. The planks are nailed firmly together at right angles, with twenty- penny nails, put nine inches apart. There should be either two troughs for each pen, or the one trougli should be divided into two compartments, one for water, and the other for food. The ends of the plank must be sawed off square and true, and a piece of plank nailed at each end, sufficiently tight to hold water. Such a trough is much more likely to leak at the ends than at the bottom, and great care should be taken to saw them off square, and nail them on tight. When both planks are the same width, the plank that is to be against the side of the pen, and farthest from the pigs should, in nailing, be placed on the other. This will make that side of the trough two inches higher than the one next the pigs, and they will 1T2 HAEBIS ON THE PIG. be less likely to waste the food. The end pieces should project about four inches beyond the edge of the trough, as shown in fig. 47. This allows it to stand so firmly that the pigs will not be likely to upset it. Before being used, the troughs and the swill tub should be thoroughly saturated with petroleum. This will not only preserve the wood, but do much to prevent it from warping, and the pigs will not be so likely to gnaw holes in the troughs. % The American Agriculturist gives the following plans of pig troughs which allow the food to be distributed along the trough from the outside: " The pens (fig. 48), being made of horizontal boards, Fig. 48. A CONVENIENT PIG THOUGH. nailed to posts about 6 feet apart, the troughs are accu- rately fitted between two posts, so as to project a little outside the boarding, and the board above the trough is nailed on a little above it ; so that, when the edge is chamfered off a little, any thing may be easily poured into it throughout its whole length. This arrangement admits of putting partitions, nailed to the pen above the trough, and to the floor, dividing the trough into narrow SWILL BARRELS, PIG TROUGHS, ETC. 173 sections, so that each pig shall get only his share. The only objection to this form of trough is, that it must be cleaned out from inside the pen. " A modification of this arrangement may be made, the trough coming flush with the outside boarding, and the board above it being simply taken off and nailed on the inside of the posts, and stayed by a piece nailed perpen- dicularly, so as to stiffen and prevent its springing. " In figure 49 we show an old plan which, after all, is one of the very best contrivances for hog troughs. The Fig. 49. SWINGING DOOR PIG TROUGH. trough is set projecting somewhat outside the pen, and placed as in the other pen, filling all the space between two posts. Over the trough is hung a swinging door or lid, some 3 feet wide, and as long as the trough. A wooden bolt is placed upon this lid, so that when it is swung back and bolteci, the hogs are shut out completely from the trough ; and when it is swung out or forward and bolted, they have access to it again. This style of trough is very easily cleaned out. The lid may have iron rods, beat into a Y-shape, and having flattened ends, 174 HARRIS ON THE PIG. turned in opposite directions, screwed upon it, and so placed that they will entirely separate the hogs when feeding. This contrivance is shown in fig. 50. Some ar- rangement of this kind will he found as great a eonven- i. 50. SWING DOOU WITH FENDERS. ience as it is an economy. The patented hog troughs are usually expensive, and no "better, if so good. For our own use, we greatly prefer these simple fixtures, which may be easily made, renewed, or repaired, as occasion may require, with the common tools which every farmer Fig. 51. CAST-IRON PIG TROUGH. should have and know how to use. Cast-iron pig troughs, of different patterns, are sold at the agricultural imple- ment stores. One of them is shown in fig. 51 ; the weight of the one figured is one hundred and ten pounds. MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 175 CHAPTER XVIIL MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. The object of keeping pigs differs in different places and circumstances. The dairy farmer keeps pigs princi- pally for the purpose of turning his whey and skimmed milk to good account. The grain-growing farmers, in the older settled parts of the country, keep pigs to consume the slops of the house, and to pick up scattered grain around the barns and on the stubbles, and to consume, and turn into pork, small potatoes, and many other arti- cles that would otherwise be wasted. At the West, where corn is cheap, and the expense of sending it to market very great, pigs are kept for the purpose of " packing fourteen bushels of corn into a three-bushel barrel." In the vicinity of the Atlantic cities, pigs are kept, or might be kept, for the purpose of manufacturing out of pur- chased food, nice, fresh pork, and rich, valuable manure. And, indeed, in all sections where pigs are kept, the value of the manure should be taken into consideration. PIGS ON DAIRY FARMS. There is no other food on which young pigs thrive so well as on skimmed milk and Indian meal. Pigs are also very fond of whey, and do well on it provided they have a liberal allowance of pea-meal and Indian meal fed with it. To keep pigs on whey alone is a great waste of food and time. On skimmed milk, and the run of a clover pasture, n, well-bred, young pig, will grow rapidly ; but even in this case a little corn-meal could be fed with very decided economy and advantage. The oil and starch of the corn restore to the skimmed milk the fat-forming material which has been removed in the butter, and, in effect, convert it into new milk again. But it is very de- 176 HARRIS ON THE PIG. sirable that the meal should be cooked by pouring upon it boiling water, and stirring it carefully until it is made into " pudding." In the dairy there is usually much hot water thrown away, which might be used for this purpose, without cost, and with little labor. Since the introduction of cheese factories, dairy farmers cannot keep as many pigs through the summer as former- ly, but early in the spring, before the factories commence operations, the milk is used at home ; and it is well to have some litters of young pigs, which can be sold to good advantage soon after weaning. The sows can be summered on grass and on the slops of the house, and an- other litter would be obtained in the fall. When cows are well wintered, and fed on more or less grain or oil- cake, then fall pigs can be kept through the winter in good condition at very slight expense, and they will be valuable to sell to the factories or other feeders the next summer. Usually, this system will pay better than at- tempting to fatten them at home. PIGS ON GRAIN FARMS. On farms where much grain is grown, and only a few cows are kept, it is usually not profitable to keep a large stock of pigs. The common mistake made, however, is not in keeping too many, but in not feeding them liberal- ly. As a rule, the pigs are kept on short allowance until they are shut up to fatten, after the corn is ripe, although there can be no doubt that a bushel of corn, fed to pigs while on clover during the summer, will produce double or treble as much pork as a bushel of new corn fed in cool weather, in the autumn, when the pigs have nothing but corn. A few fall pigs can be kept in the yards dur- ing the winter to good advantage, especially if the cattle are fed grain. But it is a great mistake to stint young pigs through the winter, although it must be confessed MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 177 that it is a very common one. The sows, and any spring pigs that may be wintered over, will pick up the lion's share of the scattered grain and other food in the yards ; and while it is often inconvenient to separate the young pigs from the older ones, yet it is not a difficult matter to make a hole in one of the sides of the pens that will ad- mit the young pigs through, and exclude the large ones, and in this way the young pigs can be fed more and bet- ter food This is a very important point. The young pigs should be kept growing rapidly through the winter and spring months. They should be in a condition that most farmers would pronounce " too fat." Young, well- bred pigs, so wintered, can be summered in a clover pas- ture at comparatively little cost, and it is astonishing how fast they will grow. We have kept a lot of grade Essex fall pigs during the summer on a rich clover pasture near the barn-yard, and the slop from the house, without any grain, that were sold at an extra price on the first of Oc- tober, to "top-off" a car load of fat pigs sent to the New York market. And the whole secret of the matter, if se- cret it is, was in feeding the young pigs liberally through the winter. Few things would pay a grain growing farmer better than to raise peas for his pigs. No matter how " buggy" the peas may be, the bugs or beetles remain in the peas until about the first of November ; and when the peas are fed out before this time, the pigs will eat peas and bugs together, and there will be little loss. Nothing makes firmer or better pork and lard than peas, an 1 the manure from pea-fed pigs is exceedingly rich. A heavy crop of peas, too, is a capital crop to precede winter wheat. They will smother the weeds, and, if sown early, are off the land in good season to allow thorough working of the land before wheat sowing. If other food is scarce, a few of the peas may be cut in June, as soon as the pods are formed, and fed green to the pigs, and a daily allowance 8* 178 HARRIS ON THE PIG. may be fed until the peas are fully ripe. In fact, many farmers feed all their peas to the pigs without thrashing. But this is a wasteful plan. When the peas are ripe, pigs will do much better on them cooked, or at least soaked in water for twenty-four hours before feeding. And in addition to this advantage, pea straw, when well cured and carefully harvested, is nearly as good for sheep as clover hay, and certainly will much more than pay the expense of thrashing. A large farmer in Michigan, who has made himself and his farm rich, attributes his success principally to growing a large quantity of peas every year, and feeding them to pigs. He thrashes the peas, and cooks them, but does not grind them, as he thinks cooking is better and cheaper than grinding. The manure from his pea-fed pigs has made his farm one of the most productive in the State. FATTENING PIGS NEAR LARGE CITIES. Nurserymen, seed growers, and market gardeners near our large cities require great quantities of manure. Hith- erto they have obtained it from the horse and cow stables in the city, but the demand is greater than the supply, and the price is so high that many are looking to other sources for manure. In Rochester, the price of manure from the stables is $1.25 per load, and by the time it is well rotted, it requires three loads of fresh manure, as drawn, to make one load of rotted manure, as applied to the land. 1 his, added to the expense of drawing, brings the cost of the manure up to about $100 per acre. In Geneva, N. Y., where the nursery business is carried on very extensively, the price of manure is even higher still, or $1.50 per load at the stables. And there, as well as at Rochester, some of the nurserymen are turning their at- tention to fattening sheep in winter for the purpose of obtaining cheaper and better manure. The result, so far, MANAGEMENT OF PIGS. 179 has beon eminently satisfactory where the nurserymen have land enough to raise their own clover hay. But where land is very high, and where, consequently, it will not pay to raise clover hay, some other system must be adopted. Pig feeding would seem to offer the best prospects of producing the richest manure at the least cost. For this purpose, the first requisite is a good breed of pigs, that will mature early, and fatten at any age, so that they could be disposed of at any time when choice fresh pork was in demand, at good prices. Unfortunately, such pigs are difficult to find, and will continue very scarce until formers learn the importance of using none but thorough-bred boars, of a highly refined breed, with properly selected common sows. With young pigs, so bred, we have no doubt that the system of feeding pigs on purchased food might be profitably adopted near our large cities. Certainly, manure could be obtained in this way at far less cost, in proportion to its value, than is now generally paid for it. A study of the table on page 139, showing the value of manure from different foods, and an examination of the results of Lawes' and Gilbert's experi- ments in feeding pigs with different foods, showing what kinds produce the greatest increase, will enable any one to select feeding stuffs with judgment and economy. Three things have to be considered : the cost of the food ; its feeding value, and the value of the manure obtained from its consumption. We have given all the data nec- essary to enable any intelligent man to engage in this business with confidence and success. If there is any error, it is on the safe side, for we are satisfied, from our own experience, that well-bred pigs can be so fed as to give a greater increase from the food consumed than was obtained in Mr. Lawes' experiments, when no special at- tention was paid to the breed. In this connection some useful hints may be obtained from the following chapter. 180 HARRIS ON THE PIG. ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 131 CHAPTER XIX. ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. In some respects, the farmers of England and the fann- ers of the Middle and Eastern States are similarly situa- ted. England does not raise scarcely half as much wheat as is needed by her population, and the same is true of our Middle States; while in New England, enough wheat is not raised to support one-tenth of the population. English farmers are thrown into direct competition with the produce of all other countries, and the farmers of New England and the Middle States have to compete with the produce of the Western States. Prices depend less on the home crop than on the yield in those countries from which the principal supply is derived. A poor crop at home is not necessarily compensated by higher prices. And, therefore, it is particularly important to guard as much as possible against poor crops from unpropitious seasons. High farming is found to be the best safeguard. But high farming not only requires thoroughly drained and well tilled land, but abundance of manure. English farmers must compete with the cheap land of our West- ern States, and also with the cheap labor of Ireland and the continent. But, in spite of all this, they continue more prosperous, as a whole, than the farmers of any other country. We cannot adopt the English system of agriculture, but the principles on which it rests are as applicable here as there. What the farmers of New England and the Middle States require, is more capital, more labor, and more manure. And, in many places, manure can be ob- tained cheaper and better from feeding well-bred pigs than in any other way. This, at any rate, has been the experience of many English farmers, and the prospects 182 HAKEIS ON THE PIG. are still more favorable in the New England and other Atlantic States, because food is cheaper than it is in Eng- land, and the large cities are not as well supplied with choice fresh pork as are those of England, and conse- quently it brings, or would bring, if it could be obtained, a relatively higher price, as compared with beef, mutton, and barreled pork. In 1862, Mr. Baldwin, of Breton House, near Birming- ham, delivered a lecture before the Worcestershire Agri- cultural Society on the breeding and feeding of pigs, in which he said : " In 1845, he entered upon a farm at Kingsnorton. In 1846, he purchased two gilts and a boar, of the Tarn worth breed, and although he began breeding with only three pigs in 1846, in 1851 he sold 1,000, say $5,000, worth of store and fat pigs within one year ; and in the years 1852, 1853, 1854, and 1855, he sold about 1,000 worth each year. The idea of feeding such numbers of pigs was first conceived by him at a county meeting at Wor- cester, in 1849, after free trade had come into full opera- tion. One of the speakers produced many samples of foreign produce at amazingly low prices. Among them was a good sample of Egyptian beans, at 9s. and 9s. 6d. per bag ; Indian corn at the same price, and Dantzic wheat, also, very low. c Gentlemen,' exclaimed the speak- er, ' can you grow them at these prices ?' He (Mr. Baldwin) looked on the bright side of the question, and began to ask himself how he might turn the low price of grain to good account. It struck him that, us he had a great many store pigs, he would feed them instead of selling them as stores. He accordingly bought a large quantity of Indian corn, at from 9s. to 9s. Qd. per bag, [200 Ibs.], to begin with; and within two years and a quarter from that time, he bred, fed, and sold 2,000 worth of pigs, and cleared, after paying all expenses, 500, be- ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IX PIG FEEDING. 183 sides making a vast amount of manure, which he consid- ered far better than guano, because more durable. " The plan which he adopted in breeding was, to put the sows to the boar in November, and pick the breeders principally from the earliest pigs, when he got his stock up to about forty breeding sows. In picking the breed- ers, he used to pick them several times over, as it fre- quently happened that those which looked the best and prettiest when young, altered considerably when they got three, four, and five months old. The rule was to pick long-growing pigs, and those that were straight and thick through the shoulder and heart, and experience had convinced him that his method of choosing was a correct one. He always kept to the Tarn worth breeds, generally purchasing the boars, but breeding the sows. If he found the pigs getting too fine, he purchased a good strong boar, and if the animals exhibited tendencies the other way, he picked a boar of good, small bone, but was al- ways particular to select a boar that was thick through the shoulder and heart, and a straight-growing pig, of the same color and breed. By carefully following this plan, he got the breed so good, that it was a rare occurrence to see even a middling pig in all the herd, though he bred from 250 to 300 each year. His plan of keeping was as follows : As soon as the sows littered, they were kept on kibbled [crushed] oats, scalded, with raw Swedes or cabbage; and when the pigs got to the age of three weeks or a month, he turned the sows out from them for a short time every day, and gave the pigs a few peas or Indian corn while the sow was away. When the weather was fine and warm, the pigs went out with the mother into a grassy field for a short time. He found that young pigs, from the age of three weeks, required dirt or grit ; and, therefore, if the weather was bad, and they could not be turned out, it was necessary to put some grit into the sty. This was quite important, as he believed it was 131: HABKIG OX THE PIG. necessary for the proper digestion of their food. He had had young pigs looking very bad and drooping, but when turned out, that they might get dirt, they soon became nil right again. In fact, it was absolutely necessary, dur- ing the whole life of a pig, to allow it an opportunity of getting grit or dirt, or it would not thrive well. " At seven or eight weeks old, all the pigs he did not require for breeding he had cut, and began to wean them a fortnight afterwards. He then turned them into a grass field, with a hovel for them to run into, and allowed each pig a quart per day of peas, Egyptian beans, or Indian corn. lie gave them one pint of the corn in the morning, and the other in the evening, with regularity as to time and quantity, and found it better to give it them on the grass, in a clean place, each time, than in a trough, as it prevented quarreling, and each pig got his share. With this quart of corn per day, and what grass they got dur- ing the seven months of the year, with nothing but water to drink, the pigs would, on the average, make 5 Ibs. of pork, each, per week. After eight months, he allowed an extra half pint of corn per day. At the present price of corn (1862), the allowance would cost about Is. per week [24 cents], for each pig ; grass, 4 cents ; attention of man, 2 cents ; total cost, Is. 3d. (30 cents), leaving a profit of 24 cents per week on each pig, when pork was 12 cents per pound ; it was no\v 14 cents. " One man attended well, to from 200 to 300 pigs; he was an Irishman, for few Englishmen liked the job suf- ficiently well to take an interest in them, and carelessness on the part of the man materially decreased the profits. <; He kept the store sows, when with pig, the same as the other stores. They ran about in a field until a fort- night before pigging, when he placed them in a covered shed, so constructed as to admit as much sun as possible. Young pigs, kept in the manner described, were always nearly fat enough for porkers, and did not require more ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 185 than two or three weeks feeding on meal. It was time enough to begin to feed pigs for bacon at eight or ten months old. Good breeding sows he allowed to have two farrows, and sometimes three, but never more, and then fed them for bacon, supplying their places with young sows. " In selling store pigs, he charged a certain price per pound, and allowed the purchaser to pick the pigs from the field, which plan always gave satisfaction, and secured a return of custom. It was desirable, in breeding ani- mals, to have as little bone as possible, in proportion to flesh. He had tested a cut sow of his breed, which weighed 640 Ibs., and the whole of the bones, after the flesh had been boiled from them, weighed only 21 Ibs., so that for every pound of bones there was 32 Ibs. of meat. His pigs made 1 Ib. of flesh for every 4 Ibs. of good In- dian corn, barley or pea-meal ; as a rule, he preferred the Indian corn. He considered it always to be more profita- ble to feed good food than upon that of inferior quality. As a rule, pigs would thrive better for being turned out once a day, except in wet weather, and would also be healthier, more active, and have a cleaner appearance. One of the greatest pleasures his breeding afforded him was to see the number of laboring men who came to buy from him, and he hoped to live to see the day when every laboring man would have a good pig in his sty." Mr. Baldwin's experience is the more valuable, as he seems to keep pigs to sell to the butcher, or to those who intended to fatten them. His success is not due to selling thorough-bred pigs at high prices for breeding purposes. A Yorkshire farmer, who occupies 280 acres of land, half under plow, and half in grass, and who raises and feeds a large number of the small Yorkshire and Cum- berland breed of pigs, writes Mr. Sidney as follows: " I am a farmer, and I keep pigs for profit, and I have no stock that pays like them ; but I have found a surpris- 186 HARRIS ON THE PIG. ing difference in the feeding qualities of the different breeds, and I am not astonished at farmers saying pigs will not pay. I think the medium size pay better than the large bacon hogs. For eleven years I have kept an account of all my pigs cost, and what I sell, and at the year's end I know the truth. * * I spend $3,500 a year for purchased food, but little on any manure, except lime and salt. I make all the manure I can, and make it good. I calculate I get my pig manure free, but not my cattle manure. For the first fortnight the little pigs live upon the sow's milk. Then they will begin to eat a little dry wheat. As soon as they begin to eat freely, have a place where they can creep to feed, where the sow 'cannot get at their meat ; and feed them separately, twice a day, with milk, meal, and bran, and once a day with dry wheat. But beware of over-feeding them, or any young animals. At six weeks old, the boar pigs are usually castrated, and at eight weeks old, the litter may be weaned by taking away the sow by degrees. But if the sow is not wanted to breed again directly, and you want to forward your pigs, it is a good plan to let them be with the sow, at night only, until they are twelve weeks old, and then they ought to be in very good condition. " After twelve weeks, the treatment will depend upon what they are wanted for. If to be made the best of, feed them for the next twelve weeks on boiled meal, vege- tables, and a little bran two feeds a day keeping about six together in a sty, warm, and well bedded. Keep them on cooked food, and a little meal every day, until within six weeks of being killed, when they should have as much barley-meal and water as they can eat. It is a waste of money to give them raw meal all the time, but they should always be gaining until the slaughtering day to go back is a loss." It would seem that the plan this farmer adopts, or at least that which he considers best, varying in practice ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 187 probably with the demand for fresh pork, is to push his pigs forward as rapidly as possible, ^and sell them when six months old. And this is the system which, in the neighborhood of our large cities, we believe, will be found the most profitable in the United States. For this pur- pose we unquestionably require pigs of some of the small breeds, that will mature early. A dairy farmer, who keeps Berkshire pigs, says : " My stores, farrowed in March, are fatted off by December, making from ten to twelve score, although I have often had them much heavier. Pigs of this weight are always more salable in the London Newgate Market, at sixpence or a shilling a score more than heavier ones. I have grown a pig of the Berkshire breed over 40 score (800 Ibs). " Second litters, coming in about December, at three months old, will do for pork. The sow will then be in again in March or April. " The whey runs from my dairy into a vault near the piggery, in which I have large bins to mix the whey and meal together, allowing it to ferment for three days before using it. If I am well off for roots, I have a good quan- tity pressed, steamed, and minced with whey and barley- meal. In the winter, a few beans or lentils, ground. If convenient, give warm food. Have not more than six pigs together. Warm sties, clean, and the pigs well groomed with brush and linseed oil, which will cleanse the skin, and kill the lice with which they are often an- noyed." Another pig feeder recommends pulping roots, leaving them to ferment for thirty-six hours, and then mixing the pulp, by alternate spadefuls, with meal. This he thinks as good as cooking, and much cheaper. He does not mention the kind of roots used, but man- gel wurzel, beets, and parsnips, are best adapted to our climate and circumstances. With rich land, and good culture, a large amount of nutritious food can be obtained 188 HARRIS ON THE PIG. per acre, and feeding them out to pigs, with meal, will make very rich manure, and thus we obtain the means to raise more food, and keep on increasing the productive- ness of the land. A Yorkshire pig breeder says : " I have had a great, many York-Cumberland pigs that gained 7 Ibs. each, per week, up to ten weeks old. 10 Ibs. per week for the next seven weeks. 14 Ibs. per week until they weighed 23 stone. " I can put on 18 Ibs. a week until a certain time, and then they begin to put on less and less every day, until at last you feed at a loss. The pig should be killed when the point of profit for daily food is turned. For this reason the pig should be weighed weekly. " After trying nearly all the different kinds of cereals, and weighing my pigs once every fourteen days, I have come to the conclusion, if you want to gain weight fast, give plenty of barley-meal and milk ; if you want to make the most of the food consumed, give boiled vegeta- bles and boiled meal, and finish off with raw meal. " On the first plan, time is saved at the expense of food consumed. On the second plan, time is lost, and the food saved." If by "food " is meant meal, the statement is probably correct ; but that we ever save food, absolutely, by feed- ing slowly, is a proposition that has never been proved, and is contrary to sound theory and the general experi- ence of the best feeders. A fattening animal should cer- tainly have all the food it can digest and assimilate. To keep him on short allowance is to waste both time and food. Another correspondent of Mr. Sidney writes : u With tolerably good land, and no lack of capital, a farmer can- not do better than cultivate white crops alternately, and, with a moderate dairy, confine his stock exclusively to pigs. Let him consume his oats, sell off both wheat and ENGLISH EXPERIENCE IN PIG FEEDING. 180 barley, and buy Indian com and bran. Indian corn is about the same price as barley, but sixty, instead of fifty- two pounds to the bushel. A bushel of barley-meal is generally supposed to add 10 Ibs. to the weight of a pig. I have found, in my latest experiments, that a bushel of Indian corn produced an increased weight to a pig of 15 Ibs. " Indian corn," says Dr. Yoelcker, " is richer in fat- forming matters than almost any other description of food. The ready-made fat in corn amounts to from five and a half to six per cent. But animals should not be fed exclusively on Indian corn, because the flesh-forming matter in it is small. Bean-meal [or pea-meal] supplies the deficiency. Five pounds of Indian corn, ground or crushed, to one pound of bean-meal [or pea-meal], is a mixture which contains the proportions of flesh-forming and fattening matters nicely balanced." Another Yorkshire farmer writes : "We are now (1860) fattening pigs on wheat costing $1.20 per bushel [in gold,], which, as large bacon pigs are selling at 12 cents per pound, leaves a handsome profit for fattening, even at the present high price of stores. " But," he adds, " the farmer who is wise, will keep both these profits in his own hands. He will rear his own stores, and grind up his own grain for feeding them. If he wants pigs to pay, he does not starve them for twelve to eighteen months, leaving them to roam about the fields, consuming as much food among twenty as would feed thirty, rooting and turning over a fold-yard dung heap ; but he finds, with the corn, that it will cost him in money half its feeding value, and gets the manure into the bargain. u A well managed pig-feeding establishment, near any great town, ought to pay in times of low-priced grain. Unlike beef and mutton, every inch of a pig is in demand, and the oiFals are sold at good prices as dainty bits." 190 HARRIS ON THE PIG. We might quote much other evidence of a like charac- ter, but the above is sufficient to show that the English farmers can send to the United States for Indian corn, pay freight, commission, and expenses, and then use it at a profit in fattening pigs, which are sold at prices no higher than the same quality of pork brings in ]STe\v York, Bos- ton, or Philadelphia. Cannot we do the same thing here ? Let those who undertake it, however, remember that the demand is for choice, fine-boned, well-fatted pigs, of the best quality. Such pigs would bring from three to five cents per pound more than common hogs, and this, in itself, is a large profit. CHAPTER XX. LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF PIGS. The three grade Essex pigs (Nos. 3, 4, and 5) in Dr. Miles' experiments at the Michigan Agricultural College, previously alluded to (see page 118), were killed when 31 weeks old. Their live and dressed weights were as follows : Live. Dressed. Dressed to Live Weight. Per cent. No. 3 135J4 11214 83 4 156 132 tf 85 nearly. 5 14514 122 83= The live weight was taken before, feeding. For such small pigs, this shows a very high proportion of dressed to live weight. An Essex pig, about fifteen months old, belonging to the writer, weighed, after sticking, 445 Ibs., and dressed, as weighed the next day by the butcher, 409 Ibs. a shrinkage of only a little over 8 per cent. Allowing 10 Ibs. for the blood, the pig would have weighed, alive, 455 Ibs., and dressed nearly 90 per cent. LIVE AND DEAD WEIGHT OF PIGS. 191 We have no doubt that a highly refined pig of any of the small breeds, well fed during its whole growth, and thoroughly fattened, will shrink less than 10 per cent on its fasted live weight. Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert accurately ascertained the live and dead weight of the fifty-nine pigs on which their experiments, previously alluded to, were made. The ac- tual, average live weight, after fasting, of the whole fifty- nine pigs, was 212 3 1 4 Ibs., and the average dressed weight, 176 Ibs., 5.3 oz., or a little over 82 1 1 2 per cent. The following table shows the actual average weight of the different parts of these fifty-nine pigs, and in the right-hand column we give the per centage weights : TABLE SHOWING THE WEIGHT OP DIFFERENT PARTS OF A PIG WEIGHING, ALIVE, 212% Ibs. (AVERAGE OF 59 PIGS.) Actual weight. Stomach and contents 2 Ibs., 10.4 oz Caulfat 1 " 2.3" Small intestines and contents 4 " 8.4" Large " " " 8 " 5.7" Intestinal fat 2 " 5.6" Heart and Aorta 9.6" Lungs and Windpipe 1 9.1 " Blood 7 ' 10.1 " Liver 3 l 4.5 Gall-bladder and contents ' 2.1 Pancreas (" sweetbread ") ' G.6 Milt, or Spleen ' 4.7 Bladder " 2.5 Penis " 7.1 Tongue 1 " 0.2 Toes " 2.9 Miscellaneous trimmings " 8.8 Total offal parts 35 " 4.6 Carcass... 176 " 5.3 Loss by evaporation, etc 1 " 2.1 Live weight after fasting 212 12 Per cent. 1.28 .54 2.20 4.04 1.06 0.29 0.76 3.63 1.57 0.06 0.19 0.14 0.08 0.21 0.48 0.08 0.26 16.87 82.57 0.56 100.00 For the sake of comparison, we may say that the average, of 249 sheep, killed at Rothamstead, by Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert, was, fasted live weight, 153 Ibs., 10.2 oz. ; Carcass, 91 Ibs., I2 l \ t oz. ; Per centage of carcass to 192 HARRIS ON THE PIG. live weight, 59 3 1 4 . The sheep were Cotswolds, Leicesters, Hampshire and Sussex Downs. The mean fasted live weight of 16 heifers and steers, killed and slaughtered at Rothamstead, was 1,141 Ibs. ; Carcass, 680 3 1 4 Ibs. ; Per centage of carcass to live weight, 59.31. In other words A moderately fat heifer or steer will dress 59}^ per cent. A moderately fat mutton sheep will dress 59% " " A moderately fat pig will dress 82^ " " The lightest of Mr. Lawes' lialf-fattened and fattened pigs dressed a little less than 74 per cent, and the heavi- est over 87 3 | 4 per cent. CHAPTER XXI. BREEDING AND REARING PIGS. The point of first importance in breeding pigs is the selection of the boar. In raising thorough-bred pigs, of course we must have a boar of the same breed as the sow. This remark may seem superfluous, but we have met with ordinarily intelligent men who thought that a boar, de- scended from a thorough-bred Cheshire sow, got by a thorough-bred Chester White boar, was thorough-bred. And we have known a farmer who put a Chester White sow to an Essex boar, speak of all the white pigs in the litter as Chester Whites, and all the black ones as Essex. Thorough-breds must be descended from thorough-breds, and both parents must be of the same breed. But in raising pigs for the butcher, we are not confined to any particular breed. Our selection of the boar must be made in reference to whether the pigs are to be fatted and sold at a few months old for fresh pork, or whether BREEDING AND BEARING PIGS. 193 they are to be kept until they have nearly attained their growth before being fattened. Reference must also be had as to whether we wish large hogs, or smaller and finer ones at a less age. Much, too, will depend upon the sow we wish to breed from. Defective as the majority of our pigs are, there are, nevertheless, few sections where we cannot find some strong, vigorous sows, of good size, suitable for crossing with the improved breeds. This is especially true where the Chester County pigs have been introduced. "We could not ask for better sows to start with than a grade Chester County sow. It is an easy matter to find strong, vigor- ous sows, of good size, in any neighborhood where the Chester County or similar large breeds have been intro- duced. If a farmer wishes to keep hogs until they are from fourteen to eighteen months old, letting them run in the barn-yard the first winter, and in a clover pasture and stubbles the next summer, and to be fattened in the fall, he cannot go wrong in selecting a large, vigorous, some- what coarse sow, showing more or less Chester County blood. Then put her to either an Essex, Berkshire, Suffolk, or Small or Medium Yorkshire boar. We think it mat- ters comparatively little which of these breeds is used, provided, always, that they are good specimens of the breed, and are thorough-bred. Better pay five dollars for the use of a thorough-bred than accept the service of a grade or common boar for nothing. If the sow has had pigs, say the middle of March, they may be weaned in six weeks ; and if the so\v has been properly fed, she will take the boar in a few days after the pigs are weaned. We should then get one litter of say grade Essex about the first of September. The sow, during the summer, should, if possible, have the run of a clover pasture ; and, if she is not in good, thriving condition, with this, and the wash or milk from the house, 9 104 HARRIS ON THE PIG. throw her two or three ears of corn a day. She should not be too fat, but there is not one farmer in a thousand who ever falls into this error. Let her have plenty of exercise, and if she is fully half fat by the time she comes in, all the better. If she is a good mother, nearly all her accumulated fat will find its way to the little ones in the milk before they are six weeks old. For two or three weeks before she is expected to far- row, let the sow be put in a pen by herself at night, so that she may become accustomed to it. She may be al- lowed to run out during the day, but should always be fed separately in the pen, and in this way she will soon come to regard the pen as her own, and will go in as soon as the door is open. Let no harsh word be spoken, or a kick or a blow, on any provocation, be resorted to. The pen should have a rail around the side, about six inches from the floor, and eight or ten inches from the sides of the pen, so that if she makes her bed near the sides of the pen, as she almost invariably will, the rail will afford a space for the little ones to slip under, and thus prevent their being crushed against the sides of the pen. As, at this season, the weather is warm, she will need but little straw. The better plan is to put two or three times as much straw as is needed into the pen a week or ten days before she is expected to pig. By lying on it she will make it soft, and this is very desirable. If any of it becomes wet or dirty, remove it from time to time when the sow is out. As the time approaches, she will select a particular spot, and " make a bed." When she is eating, or out of the pen, examine the bed, and see that the sides are not too hard, or compacted together too closely, and that they are not more than four or five inches high ; if so, remove a little of the straw. It is better to have too little than too much. After this, the sow should be left to herself. With gentle thorough- breds, that are accustomed to being petted, we keep a BREEDING AND EEAEING PIGS. 195 close watch during such an interesting event, rendering assistance if necessary; but, as a rule, and especially with common pigs, it is far better to trust to nature, and let things take their course. At this season of the year, especially if the sow has had the run of a pasture, and is in a thrifty condition, there will seldom be any trouble. The little pigs will come strong, and commence to suck in a minute or two after they are born. On no account disturb the sow until all is over. This may be two hours, and sometimes longer. Do not be in any hurry to feed her. But when she gets up, let her have all the milk or slop that she will drink. It is better to watch her, and keep pouring it into the trough as long as she will drink it up clean. Let her have all she can drink, but leave none in the trough. We are aware that these directions are not in accordance with the general rules on this subject. There are those who think that the sow should be kept on short allowance, so that she may be wide-awake, and quick to hear the scream of any of the little ones she may be lying on. This is all very well, but the chief danger occurs from the sow getting up and lying down again ; and if she has a good meal, and eats it all up clean, she will be more likely to lie still during the night than if she is hungry. After she has eaten, and when she goes back to her bed, you will be there to hear if she lies on any of the pigs, and can go to the rescue. When she has once lain down, there is little danger until she gets up again. If all goes well for the first two nights, there will rarely be any loss or trouble afterwards. Give the sow all the milk or slops she will drink, but little or no grain for the first week or ten days. If the little pigs scour, change the food of the sow. There is nothing bet- ter for her than skimmed milk, not too sour, and the next best thing is two quarts of fine middlings, scalded with two or three quarts of boiling water, and the pail afterwards filled up with water sufficient to cool it to the temperature 19G HARRIS ON THE PIG. of new milk. And here we may say that some men do not seem to know how to scald bran or meal properly. We have seen them put the meal in the pail and pour on the water, and then fill up with cold water at once, and without pre- vious stirring. The proper way is to put say two quarts of the bran or meal into the pail, pour on the boiling water, and stir it up until every particle is wet or moistened ; and the longer it remains before the cold water is added, the better. The object is to soften and cook it, and make it more easily digestible. When properly prepared, it should look like fresh milk. Do not say that the pigs will not pay for all this trouble. It is a great mistake. In the first place, it is very little trouble, and in the second, the future growth of the pigs depends very much on their being well cared for while young. When the pigs are two weeks old, a little shallow trough should be made for them. Nothing is better for this purpose than three or four feet of a tin eaves trough, turned up at the ends. Nail it to the floor, so that the pigs will not upset it ; and, if possible, put it where the sow cannot get at it. Then put in half a pint or so of sweet milk. Let them drink and waste what they will of it, but always clean it out before fresh food is added. Try to teach them early to eat their meals promptly, and then lie down to sleep. Give them a small handful of oats, or, better still, three or four tablespoonfuls of oat-meal, in- creasing the quantity daily, but never giving more than they will eat up clean. If fed too much at one time, and too little at others, it will produce scours, and retard the growth of the pigs. At three weeks old, a litter of eight or ten pigs will eat a quart of good oats four times a day. They seem particularly fond of cracking the oats and eat- ing out the kernels. After the first week or ten days the sow should have richer food say two quarts of fine middlings, and a quart of oat or corn-meal, three times a day. Let her have all BREEDING AND REARING TIGS. 197 she will eat, and in a week or ten days later, give richer food. Boiled barley is excellent, hut it is better to vary the food, so as to induce the sow to eat more. We often throw our sows an ear or two of corn after they have eaten their regular meal. The more food the sow can be induced to eat, the richer will be the milk, and the more rapidly will the little pigs grow. When about six weeks old, the pigs should be altered. Do not be tempted to reserve one of them for a boar. No matter how handsome and well formed he may be, it is absolute folly to use him for breeding purposes. Select out one or two of the best sows, but alter all the boars. The sow pigs will grow and fatten more rapidly if spayed, but it is not often, in this country, that we can find men who are able to perform the operation with safety. Where there are such, all the sow pigs not intended for breeders should be spayed a week or ten days before weaning. There is nothing better to apply to the wound than pe- troleum not kerosene but the crude oil. The time of weaning will depend on the time when it is desired to have the next litter of pigs. If the sow is in good condition, she will take the boar in a week or two after the pigs are weaned. And if the sow and pigs are well fed, the pigs may be allowed to remain with the sow until ten weeks or three months old, if there is time enough for the next litter, and the sow is strong enough to stand the drain on her constitution. If she is not strong, wean the pigs when six weeks or two months old. It is better not to remove all the pigs at once ; or, if this is done, let them return to the sow for a few minutes at the expiration of twelve hours, and again at the expira- tion of twenty-four hours. We prefer, however, to let one or two of the weaker pigs remain with the sow for a week or so after the others are removed. At the time of weaning, the pigs should have extra at- tention. Feed them five times a day the first thing in 193 HARRIS ON THE PIG. the morning, and the last at niglit. If they have all they can eat, they will not pine for the mother. Nothing is so good for them as milk. A little flax-seed tea, oat-meal gruel, or corn-meal gruel, mixed with the milk, or given separately, will be good, and acceptable. As the weather, by this time, is getting cold, it will be well to give warm food. But guard against giving it too hot. It should not be warmer than new milk. There is, perhaps, nothing better for the pigs than corn pudding and milk. Put two quarts of corn-meal into a pail, and pour on two or three quarts of boiling water, and stir it until all the meal is wet, then fill up the pail with milk. But be very careful that the scalded meal is all mixed with the milk. It often happens that there will be lumps of meal hot enough to scald, although the milk surrounding it is only warm. Such lumps should be broken up and mixed with the milk before feeding to the little pigs. We need hardly add that all pigs should be allowed a constant supply of fresh water. There are few things of more importance in the management of pigs. Let the pen be warm, clean, and well ventilated, but with no cracks for the wind to blow through on to the pigs. And, above all, let the pen and bedding be dry. There should always be litter enough for the pigs to bury themselves in. Warmth, to a certain extent, is equiva- lent to food, and, what is of more importance than the saving of the food, it saves digestion. Let the pigs have all the exercise they wish, and then do not be afraid that warm, dry, clean, and comfortable quarters, with abund- ance of wholesome food, will make them tender. We are aware that this is a common idea, but it is an erroneous one. A cold wind or storm, that will send a half-starved and neglected pig squealing around the barn-yard, with hair on end, head down, and back up, will have no effect on pigs treated as we have recommended. And there is BREEDING AND BEARING PIGS. 190 nothing more important than to have young pigs in a healthy,vigorous, almost fat condition, before winter sets in. The pigs are now three months old, and should weigh 75 Ibs. to 80 Ibs. each. We have had grade Essex and Berkshires (which are not as large as grade Essex and Chester Whites) that weighed 88 Ibs, when three months and four days old, And it should be remembered that, during two months of the time, the pigs get most of their food from the sow ; and during the next month, they eat far less food than older pigs. During the winter, the pigs may be allowed the run of the barn-yard, to pick up what they can find. If the cat- tle are fed grain or oil-cake, a certain number of pigs will keep in good condition on the droppings of the cattle, and on food which would otherwise be wasted. Let the young pigs, however, have a separate pen from the old ones, and see to it that they have enough food to keep them in good condition. By throwing them an ear or two of corn in the pen, they will soon learn to be ready at the appoint- ed time to enter the pen for the night, without trouble. On no account let them go to bed hungry. Let their stomachs be well filled say at five o'clock in the evening and they will sleep quietly until eight o'clock the next morning. In fact, a well-bred and well-fed pig will sleep three-fourths of his time, during the winter. If not dis- turbed, and tempted with fattening food, he will eat little and gain little. And sometimes, like other hibernating animals, he will live on his own fat. As spring approaches, the young pigs will need more food, and fortunate is that farmer who has a liberal supply of parsnips, sugar-beets, or mangel wurzel for them. These roots, pulped or rasped in a cider-mill, mixed with a little corn-meal, are a cheap and excellent food for pigs in the spring. But, whatever the feed, let the pigs have all they need to keep them in a good, thriving con- dition. 200 HAKKIS ON THE PIG. As soon as the clover is fairly growing, the pigs should have the run of the clover pasture. They will get three- fourths of their food in the pasture, and we need hardly say that, where clover grows as abundantly as it does with us, it is the cheapest food that can be fed to a pig. With clover, and the slops from the house and dairy, the pigs will keep in a thriving condition, but it is a waste of time and food to depend on this alone, with pigs intended for the butcher. If fed from a pint to a quart of corn, or corn-meal, a day, they will eat just as much clover, and will grow nearly as fast again. After harvest, they will pick up considerable food on the grain stubbles ; but if as fat as they should be by this time, stubble gleaning can be more profitably left to the breeding stock and spring pigs. By the first of November, such pigs as we have de- scribed, fed as here recommended, should be in prime order for the butcher, and can be sold at any time when the price is satisfactory. They should average 400 Ibs., dressed weight. The pork is of the highest quality, and the lard keeps firm and hard during the hottest weather in summer, and makes excellent pastry. BEARING AND MANAGEMENT OF SPRING PIGS. Spring pigs, intended to be fattened and sold when about nine months old, should come early in the spring, and should have the best of care and feed. A warm, dry pen, is absolutely essential. Thousands of pigs are lost every spring for want of a little forethought in making the pen ready for the sow to litter in. In a properly con- structed pen there is little to be done, except to clean it out a week or ten days before the time the sow is expect- ed to pig, and provide a liberal allowance of dry straw. It is not well to have too much straw in the pen at the BREEDING AND REARING PIGS. 201 time of pigging; but, as already explained, straw which has been in the pen for a week or so is softer and better than fresh straw. We would place straw in the sleeping apartment to the deptli of afoot, and then remove the wet or soiled portions daily until, by the time the sow pigged, there would not be more than is needed to keep the mother and little ones warm. Two or three inches of soft straw on the bottom of the pen, under the sow, will be trod firm, and act as a non-conductor of heat, and will not increase the danger of the sow lying on the pigs. The danger arises from having too much loose straw in the pen, and from having the sides of the bed too high and firm. It often happens that the pen in which the sow is placed is ill-adapted for the purpose. In this case, some tem- porary expedient for keeping out the cold winds must be resorted to. If nothing better can be done, every hole and crevice can at least be stopped with straw. The principal danger is during the first few hours after the pigs are born. If they can be kept warm and safe for two or three days, there is little danger of losing them. But for health and thrift, it is very desirable that they never be exposed to cold storms ; and what is of even still greater importance, the pen must always be dry. We would again endeavor to impress on our readers the importance of attending to these matters in advance. Few things are more vexatious than to lose a nice litter of pigs for want of half an hour's time in making the pen dry, warm, and comfortable. If we lose a calf, we have still the milk of the cow, but if we lose a litter of pigs, there is no compensation. It is a dead loss of what the pigs would have been worth when a month old. We have said that for fall pigs, to be kept fourteen or fifteen months before killing, there are no better pigs than those obtained from a Chester White sow, put to a thorough-bred Essex, Berkshire, or Small Yorkshire (Suf- 9* 202 HARRIS ON THE PIG. folk) boar. But for spring pigs we need a little more re- finement. They should be three-quarters Essex, Berkshire, or some other fine breed that is to say, a sow from the first cross of Essex and Chester White should be put to an Essex or Berkshire boar. This would give a highly refined, small-boned pig, that would mature early, and fatten rapidly. During the summer, however, they will require better food than the older and stronger pigs. They should have the run of a clover pasture, but should be favored in the distribution of the milk, and should have, in addition, sufficient grain of some kind to keep them fat enough for fresh pork at all times. It often happens that the most profitable way of dis- posing of such spring pigs as here described, is to sell them when three, four, five, or six months old for fresh pork. We have sometimes thought that butchers do not make sufficient difference in the price of such pigs as compared with common pigs. In fact, butchers have said to us : " All that you say is true. These pigs make splendid pork, but our customers will pay no more for it than for common pork, with half as much again bone in it." The truth of the matter seems to be this : There is not enough of such pork sent to market to establish the grade. Few people know that there is as much difference between the pork from a four-months-old, well-bred, and well-fed pig, as compared with an ^ight-months-old, ill- bred, and ill-fed pig, as there is between a sirloin and a round steak. In Boston, a sirloin steak is now (March, 1870) quoted at 36 cents and 38 cents per pound, and a round steak at 20 cents and 25 cents ; chuck rib at 12 cents and 15 cents, and soup pieces at 5 cents and 8 cents per pound. Here is certainly difference enough to stimu- late us to improve the form of our animals. Let farmers furnish good fresh pork, and there will be found those wlio are willing to pay a liberal price for it. At any rate, if the pigs are kept in high condition, they will be ready at all MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. 03 times for the butcher; and if the price is suitable, they can be disposed of, and if not, they can be kept until nine or ten months old, and sold for fat pork. Spring pigs should never be kept on short allowance. It is almost impossible to keep them too fat. To keep them in a half- starved condition until the corn crop is ripe, and then shut them up to fatten, is a very expensive way of making pork. We have known a lot of spring pigs kept in this way, by a farmer who seemed to fear that, if he fed a lit- tle corn during the summer, his pigs would not " grow," that were shut up to fatten in October, and fed soft corn at first, and afterwards sound corn in the ear, all they would eat, that did not, when killed in December, average 100 Ibs. each, dressed weight. A well-bred pig of the same age, well-fed from the day he was born, (and before,) would have dressed 300 Ibs. CHAPTER XXII. MANAGEMENT OF THOROUGH-BRED PIGS. The first object in the management of thorough-bred pigs is to secure perfect health. If any animal manifests the slightest tendency to disease of any kind, it must be rigorously rejected. Moreover, if in a litter of pigs there are any defective animals, we would fatten the sow and dispose of her. It is not safe to breed from her. And if the same defect manifests itself in the litters of other sows, bred to the same boar, it is pretty conclusive evi- dence that the boar is not perfectly sound, and he should be at once rejected. No matter how apparently healthy the parents may be, if there is any tendency to disease, or defects in form in the offspring, the probabilities are, that 204 HARRIS OX THE PIG. there is some latent disease in the parents ; and even though we breed from none of their offspring but those apparently sound, yet we are never sure that the disease will not manifest itself in the next generation. Next to health, the digestive and assimilating power of a thorough-bred pig is of the greatest importance. Without good digestion, rapid growth is impossible. The pig must have a stomach capable of extracting the nutri- ment from a large amount of food, and the process of as- similation must proceed with equal rapidity. These qualities are, in a good degree, under our control. In a thoroughly established breed, " like begets like," not only in form and color, but also in those qualities which deter- mine rapid growth, early maturity, and a disposition to fatten easily. Check the growth of a young boar and sow by keeping them in cold, wet pens, on short allow- ance, and, though they themselves may afterwards appar- ently recover from feuch treatment, the evil effects will be seen in their offspring. They may be perfect in form, but they will not possess the maximum capacity of growth and fattening qualities. In the management of thorough- bred pigs, this idea must never be absent from the breed- er's mind. So far as is consistent with health, the young pigs must be daily kept in such a way as to secure a rapid growth. All thoughts of " hardening" them by exposure to cold storms must be abandoned. All attempts at starv- ing them, in hopes of making them more healthy and vigorous, must be given up first, because it will not ac- complish the object, and secondly, because if it would, we should lose one of the first objects we have in getting an improved breed of pigs the capacity of converting a large amount of food into flesh and fat. It has been supposed that the success of a breeder de- pends almost entirely on his judgment in selecting a male adapted to correct any deficiencies in the form or quali- ties of the females. But while this is sometimes very im- MANAGEMENT OF TIIOnOUGH-BRED PIGS. 205 portant, yet the real skill of the breeder of thorough-breoint that should not be overlooked in esti- mating the advantages of liberal feeding. Take two lit- ters of ten pigs, each born, say, the first of September. - Let both litters have the run of a barn-yard, with the slops from the house, dairy, etc. Let one litter have nothing but what they can pick up. Let the other have what they can pick up, and be supplied with a feed of grain, in addition, that shall send them to bed every night with a full stomach. By the first of May, the one litter should weigh 200 Ibs. each ; the other would be better than the average if they weigh 100 Ibs. each. Then let both litters have the run of a pasture, with the slops from the house, etc. Let the one have nothing else, and the other be al- lowed a little grain every day enough to fill their stom- achs every night, and make them sleep comfortably. By the first of October, the one litter will weigh say 350 Ibs., the other 150 Ibs. each. Then shut them both up to fatten. Let both litters have all the corn they can eat. Give one cooked corn-meal, and the other corn in the ear. In a month, the one should weigh 400 Ibs. each, the other 175 Ibs. each. Last year the one litter would have sold, say for 10 cents per lb., live weight, the other for 7'| 9 cents, and we have the following results: 10 pigs, 400 Ibs. each, at 10 cents $400.00 10 pigs, 175 Ibs. each, at 754 cents 131.25 To pay for extra feed $268.75 We may estimate the extra feed as equal to an average of half a pint of corn per day, each, from the first of Oc- tober (when the pigs are a month old) to the first of December, say half a bushel of corn for each pig. From the first of December to the first of May, say one pint per day, or less than 2'| 2 bushels for each pig. From May until October, allow one quart per day, or, say 5 bushels to each pig. This would be 8 bushels of corn to each pig. And we have no sort of doubt that, in the circum- stances assumed, this 8 bushels of extra corn on each pig, 10* 228 HARRIS ON THE PIG. or 80 bushels in all, would make the difference shown by the figures just given. To cook grain for pigs merely for the sake of u making it go further," will seldom pay on ordinary farms. This is particularly the case where grain is^ comparatively cheap, and fuel dear. It is profitable only when adopted for the purpose of enabling the pigs to eat and digest a greater quantity of food, and bring them rapidly forward for market. And it is still an open question whether we cannot adopt some cheaper method of increasing the digestibility of grain than grinding or cooking it. Where grain can be ground cheaply on the farm, we would grind or crush it for all kinds of stock. But when it has to be sent some distance to a mill, it is worth while to see if we can- not prepare it at .home. In Mr. Lawes' experiments on sheep, eight Hampshire Down sheep were put in two pens, four in each pen, and allowed all the mangel wurzel they would eat. Pen 1 was allowed 1 Ib. of barley for each sheep, per day, the barley being coarsely ground. Pen 2 was allowed the same quantity of barley, also coarsely ground, but before being fed, it was soaked in cold water for 24 or 36 hours. The experiment lasted ten weeks. The following are the results : POOD CONSUMED BY EACH SHEEP PER WEEK. Increase of each sheep per week. Barley. Mangels. Pen 1 Barley-meal, Pen 2- " " fed dry " soaked 7 Ibs. 1171/1 "' 2 Ibs., y 2 oz. 2 " &YZ " Soaking the barley enabled the sheep to eat more food, and grow 25 per cent faster than those having dry barley. Had the sheep been allowed more of the soaked barley, the result would probably have been still more in favor of the practice. One of the sheep in pen 2 gained 4 Ibs. per week. He probably got more than his just proportion COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 239 of barley, and the other three were obliged to make up the deficiency in eating more mangels. And so the total gain, in proportion to total food consumed, is not as great as it otherwise would have been. The amount, of actual dry matter in the food, required to produce 1 Ib. of in- crease, is nearly identical in both pens 8 1 | a Ibs. With pigs, when they are allowed all the grain they will eat, we have no doubt that soaking the grain would show still better results. In this country, where we feed so few roots, the experience of farmers indicates that they have a greater nutritive value than the mere amount of nutriment they contain would indicate. This is attribu- table, to a certain extent, to the fact that the food in the roots is intimately mixed with a large amount of water. Now, by soaking grain, it absorbs a considerable amount of water. Barley will absorb nearly half its weight of cold water. When cooked until it bursts open, it doubt- less absorbs a still greater quantity. In the absence of roots, therefore, we may obtain food somewhat resembling them by soaking or cooking grain. With the requisite number of tubs, it is an easy matter to have a constant supply of soaked grain for pigs or other stock. In fact, it would not be a difficult matter to soak the grain until it had absorbed all the water it would take up, and then keep it in a mass, from twelve to sixteen inches deep, until it begins to sprout, whereby a portion of the starch is converted into sugar: As the grain grows, it must be spread out in a thinner layer. But it is probably better to feed it out soon after it commences to sprout, as the process of germination is attended with more or less loss of carbon. Where whole grain is steamed, there is a great saving of time and fuel by soaking the grain for 24 or 36 hours, before letting on the steam. We are inclined to think that it can be cooked in this way to fully as much advan- tage as when it is ground into meal. Grain, whether 230 , HARRIS ON THE PIG. whole, or ground into meal, cannot be steamed without water, and if it could be, it is doubtful if it would be as good for the animals. The absorption of the water, and having it intimately mixed with the meal, is one of the advantages of cooking. Boussingault well says : " The absolute necessity of a sufficient degree of moistness in the food, in order to secure its due and easy digestion, greatly countenances the practice which is beginning to be introduced in some places of steeping hay for some time in water before giving it to cattle." We think there can be no question that soaking or cooking food renders it much more easily digestible, and if so, the advantages of the practice, where liberal feeding is adopted, cannot be doubted. We may add that whole grain, thoroughly soaked or boiled, swells to about double its bulk, and consequently, in feeding, we should allow, at least, twice the quantity that the pigs eat when dry. To attain the best results, we should watch the pigs eating, and when they have eaten up all clean, give a little more, and encourage them to eat as much as possible. There is an amusing story in the American Agriculturist that illustrates the impor- tance of inducing pigs to eat as much as possible. " A good story was lately told us of several neighbors who, year after year, vied with one another in trying to produce the fattest hog, each taking a pig from the same litter, or in some way starting fair, and square with pigs of the same age and size, and doing his best to make it as fat as possible before Christmas. One of the farmers invariably beat the others out and out so thoroughly, that his good luck could never be accounted for as accidental. The secret he kept to himself, but being watched by some one determined to find it out, the discovery was made that jealousy is a grand appetizer for hogs. First the pet monster was allowed to fill himself to his heart's content, and when his appetite was satiated, a half-starved shoat COOKING FOOD FOR PIGS. 231 was let in to the pen by a side door. The fat one would at once begin to fight it off, and meanwhile, to gorge him- self, simply to prevent the poor, squealing victim of un- satisfied cravings getting any food. This was a daily Fig. 53. JEALOUSY AN AID IN FATTENING. programme, and the result was as stated. The fact is worth bearing in mind for, in preparing hogs for exhibi- tion, or for some reason, we are often desirous of expedit- ing the fattening process." 232 HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER XXV. SUMMARY. It may be well, in conclusion, to state a few facts that may have been given in previous chapters, but which it may be convenient to place here in a concise form for reference. The leading breeds of English pigs are Berkshire, Essex, and Yorkshire. The Essex are entirely black, the Berkshire are also dark colored pigs, but not so black as the Essex, and have also white spots on the head and feet. There are large and small Berkshires. The Yorkshires are white, but occasionally dark spots show themselves on the skin, and these are not considered decisive evidence that the pigs are not thorough-bred. There are small, medium, and large, or mammoth, Yorkshires. The Essex will, at maturity, dress from 400 to 450 Ibs. They are the largest of the small breeds. Berkshires often exceed this weight, but when such is the case, they would be classed as Large Berkshires. The Prince Albert Suffolks are small Yorkshires. The leading breeds, originating in the United States, are the Cheshires, or Jefferson County, the Chester Whites, or Chester County, and the Magie, or Butler County pigs. The China-Polands, or China, and Big Polands, are said to be the same breed as the Magie, or Butler County. The Illinois Swine Breeders' Association, at its meeting in 1870, resolved to call them the "Magie" breed. - They are a large, coarse breed, with black and white, and occasionally sandy, spots. Like the Chester Whites, they will doubtless afford splendid sows for crossing with Essex, Berkshire, or other refined thorough- SUMMARY. 233 bred boars. The Jefferson County are a very handsome white breed, essentially Yorkshires. Pigs should always have access to fresh water. No matter how " sloppy " the food is, or how much dish-water is furnished, they should be furnished with pure water. We are satisfied that pigs often suffer for want of it. Salt, sulphur, charcoal, ashes, bone-dust, or superphos- phate, should occasionally be placed where the pigs can eat what they wish of them. If thoroughly boiled, pigs will eat beans, though they are not fond of them. Peas they eat witli avidity, and when as cheap as corn, should be fed in preference, as they afford much the richest manure. Half peas and half corn is probably better than either alone. Peas make very firm pork. Oil-cake, when fed in large quantities, injures the flavor and quality of the pork, but we have fed small quantities of it, with decided advantage to the health and rapid growth of the pigs, without any apparent injury to the lard or pork. It is quite useful for breeding sows. It keeps the bowels loose, and increases the quantity and quality of the milk. Bran, except in small quantities, is not a valuable food for fattening pigs. It is too bulky. But when rich, con- centrated food is given, such as corn, barley, peas, or oil- cake, pigs should be allowed all the bran they will eat, placed in a separate trough. In this way it becomes a very useful and almost indispensable article to the pig feeder. It is also very useful for breeding sows. The best roots to raise for pigs are parsnips and mangel wurzel. The period of gestation in a sow is almost invariably sixteen weeks. In three or four days after pigging, a sow in good condition will generally take the boar. But, as a rule, it is not well to allow it. If she passes this period, she will not take the boar until after the pigs are weaned. 234 HARRIS ON THE PIG. If she fails the first time, she will " come round again " in from two to three weeks. For mild cases of diarrhoea, nothing is better than fresh, skimmed milk thickened with wheat flour. Pigs should be castrated a week or so before they are weaned. Nothing in the management of pigs is more important than to provide a trough for the sucking pigs, separate from the sow, and to commence feeding them when two or three weeks old. Many of the diseases of pigs are contagious, and the instant a pig is observed to be sick, it should be removed to a separate pen. And it would be well to regard this single case of sickness as an indication that something is wrong in the general management of the pigs. Clean out the pens, scald the troughs, scraj>e out all decaying matter from under and around them, sprinkle chloride of lime about the pen, or, what is probably better, carbolic acid. Dry earth is a cheap and excellent disinfectant. Use it liberally at all times. Whitewash the walls of the pens. Wash all the inside and outside wood-work, troughs, plank floors, etc., with crude petroleum. It is the cheapest and best antiseptic yet discovered. To destroy lice, wash the pig all over with crude pe- troleum, and the next day give him a thorough washing with warm soft water and soap, with the free use of a scrubbing brush. In the absence of anything better, we use petroleum for all diseases of the skin in pigs, flesh wounds, etc. For a mild blister, in cases of cold, or threatened inflam- mation of the lungs, foment the body, under the forelegs, for an hour or so with cloths wrung out of hot water, and rub on a little saleratus or soda occasionally during the operation, to soften the skin, then apply petroleum. This will then act as a mild irritant, and heal at the same time. SUMMARY. 235 Mange, or itch, is caused by a minute insect, which is probably hatched from, eggs adhering to the skin. There is no way of curing it, or of preventing its spread, except by killing the insects and their eggs not only on the pigs themselves, but also on the sides of the pens, posts, or anything that the diseased pig rubs against. To de- stroy them on the wood-work, nothing is probably so good as petroleum, and though we have not tried it, we have little doubt that it would also cure the pigs, espe- cially if applied before the disease has made much head- way. The disease usually manifests itself on the thin skin under the armpits and thighs, and inside the forelegs. At first, small red blotches or pimples appear, and these gradually spread as the insects multiply and burrow under the skin. It is well to give sulphur and other cooling medicine in the food, but the real aim must be to kill the insects by the prompt and continued use of carbolic acid, petroleum, or a strong decoction of tobacco. Solutions of arsenic and corrosive sublimate are used in severe cases, but are dangerous articles to place in the hands of inexperienced persons. " Unguentum," or mercurial oint- ment, is efficacious, but is not easily applied. Measles should be regarded as an evidence of bad treat- ment. In-and-in breeding, dirty pens, impure food, and especially allowing them to eat the droppings of other animals, are probably some of the causes of this disease. Where fattening pigs are fed on whole corn, and the store pigs or breeding sows are allowed to eat their drop- pings, which they frequently do, it should surprise no one if these pigs, or, still more likely, their offspring, are at- tacked with measles. From the investigations of Dr. Thudicum and others, it is now clearly proved that mea- sles in pigs is caused by small entozoa, or internal para- sites, which are embryo forms of the common tapeworm. Measly pork is a fruitful source of tapeworms, and is unfit 216 HARRIS ON THE PIG. for human food. We cannot too earnestly caution our readers against breeding from pigs that have ever been affected with measles, or allowing their breeding sows to eat the droppings of other animals, and especially of their own. Raw flesh meat, too, should never be fed to pigs. It contains the embryo tapeworms, and will be quite likely to produce measles either in the pigs eating it or in their offspring. Dogs are notoriously subject to tapeworms (probably from eating raw flesh), and where the dog tax is not enforced, we may expect measly pork. The seat of measles is the cellular matter immediately under the skin. On the skin itself, in pigs affected with this disease, will be found a number of small watery pus- tules, of a reddish color, and it is attended with cough, fever, pustules under the tongue, discharge from the nose, running from the eyes, weakness of the hind legs, and other indications of general debility. Unless neglected, the disease seldom proves fatal. Sulphur, saltpeter, Epsom salts, or other cooling medicines should be given, with a liberal supply of wholesome, nutritious, and easily di- gested food. Rheumatism is not an uncommon disease, especially in thorough-bred pigs, when kept in damp sties, or furnished with rich food one week and poor food the next, or kept in a warm, ill-ventilated sty, and then exposed to storms, and otherwise badly treated. The remedy is Rochelle salts, good treatment, and liberal feeding. Give the salt for two or three days, say one ounce a day for a 100-lb. pig, and less, or more, according to size, and then omit them for a few days. Protrusion of the rectum, especially with young pigs suffering from a severe attack of diarrhoea, is not uncom- mon. Wash the gut with warm water, rub on a little laudanum, and then gently press the part back into its place, pushing up the finger for a short distance. A little sucking pig may have five drops of laudanum. SUMMARY. 237 Pigs should be provided with scratching posts, having auger-holes for pegs at different heights, to accommodate pigs of different sizes. Stephens, in his " Book of the Farm," gives the follow- ing description of what may be considered the perfection of form in a fat pig : " The back should be nearly straight, and though arched a little from head to tail, that is no fault. The back should be uniformly broad, and rounded across along the whole body. The touch all along the back should be firm, but springy, the thinnest skin spring- ing most. The shoulders, sides, and hams, should be deep perpendicularly, and in a straight line from shoulder to ham. The closing behind should be filled up ; the legs short and bone small ; the neck short, thick, and deep ; the cheeks round, and filled out ; the face straight, nose fine, eyes bright, ears pricked, and the head small in pro- portion to the body. A curled tail is indicative of a strong back. All these characteristics," he adds, " may be seen in the figure of the brood sow (fig. 52, page 180), though, of course, the sow is not in the fattened state." 233 HARRIS ON THE PIG. CHAPTER XXVL APPENDIX. J. Mackelcan, Esq., one of the editors of the Canada Farmer, and an intelligent and careful observer, favors us with the following notes in regard to his management of pigs. " My plan of keeping store bogs over winter was to give them a good warm sty, with abundance of room and well littered with straw. They were fed on a mess made of boiled Swede turnips, mixed with pea chaff and finely cut clover hay; the turnips, after being boiled soft, were placed in a barrel, and the chaff and cut hay mashed into them. In ad- dition, they got all the refuse of the kitchen ; what milk that could be spared from the dairy being given to the late dropped fall pigs, which had a separate sty to themselves. As soon as the clover was well up in spring, they had the run of a clover field, on which they seemed to thrive, so that, when put up to fatten, at 12 to 16 months old they were about 300 Ibs. weight each. Being in good condition, the process of fatting did not take more than three or four weeks ; they were al- lowed all they could eat of peas that had been soaked in water until they were soft and had begun to ferment. Generally speaking, hogs are fat- ted here by simply giving them hard, whole peas as much as they can eat for about a month, sometimes in the field where they grew, the hogs being put up in a corner and fed from the stack ; but it is a wasteful process. The best farmers prefer to either grind the peas and then mix with a little water, enough to make into dough, or, if there is no mill near enough to grind them, to soak the whole peas in water until soft, and then feed to the hogs. The Berkshires (the breed I kept) seem to have an aptitude for eating and thriving on clover; my plan with the young spring pigs was to take them from the sow at eight weeks old, shut them up for a few days, and feed on sour milk or buttermilk in which a little shorts or meal had been stirred. As soon as the clover was pretty well grown, say about the beginning of May, put them in a small pad- dock by themselves. The paddock must be well seeded with a succulent growth of young clover, and can be made of rails or boards in a corner of a clover field, but must be close enough near the bottom to keep the pigs from getting out. To prevent rooting, they had better be ringed. The young pigs will live and thrive on the clover all summer as long as there is plenty of it. In addition, they should have all the spare milk or whey from the dairy, with some meal occasionally, or, if there is no APPENDIX. 239 milk, allow each half a pound of meal per day in water. They must have enough to drink, a little salt once in a while, a shed with a tight roof to shelter them from rain storms or hot suus, and a few shovelfuls of dry ashes in which to wallow and keep off lice. This last may be omitted of only given once in a while. For young pigs, meal should always be cooked or scalded, as raw meal is apt to give them the scours. They should also have free access to charcoal. It is not good for them to eat ashes, nor will they, if they have charcoal ; but an ash heap to wallow in will keep them free from lice and fleas. I should also add that my store hogs readily eat fresh cut, green clover, so that, if they have but a small paddock and eat it all down, they can be fed cut clover thrown over the fence to them." F. W. Stone, Esq., Moreton Lodge, Guelph, Ontario, writes : " I consider the improved Berkshire the most useful breed for far- mers. With pigs, as with every other kind of improved stock, farmers should use nothing but pure-bred male animals. Many farmers send their sows to a pure-bred boar, and are so well pleased with the young pigs, that they select one of them for a boar, and in this way the im- provement is soon lost. * * There are many unprincipled men who sell grades for pure breeds, and those who purchase them are disappoint- ed in trying to improve their stock. The breeders of pure-bred stock Buffer more from the false representations of such persons than in any other way. Parties, when commencing to breed, or wishing to improve their common stock, should purchase only from reliable breeders, and not from jobbers or traders, who sell anything they can make money by. The young breeder should select the most perfect animals he can find. It is better, in commencing, to invest money in quality rather than in numbers. u I believe it is better for young sows not to have pigs until they are 14 or 16 months old, though, if the pigs have been well fed, and proper- ly cared for since they were' farrowed, good litters may often be obtained at 12 months. A sow, not well fed, is generally pulled down too much to gain the size she otherwise would, by having her first litter before she is 12 mouths old. "In Canada, pigs are generally fed with pea-meal, or peas and oats, chopped and mixed with potatoes or boiled turnips. It is my opinion that regularity in feeding is an exceedingly important point. Those, who throw down, at one time, double the amount of food the pigs can eat, and then let the proper time go by without feeding anything, find that their pork costs them double what it costs a careful and regular feeder who takes pleasure in watching his pigs eat." James Howard, M. P., of Bedford, England, a very successful breeder of Large or Medium Yorkshires, writes : " Mr. Fisher, of Carhead, Yorkshire, has published a capi- 240 HARKIS ON THE PIG. tal lecture he delivered on the management of pigs, which I will send you. I enclose also a letter from Mr. Sidney. " The White Leicesters have disappeared. They had little or no hair. The large Yorks (not the Mammoth) are the most profitable as thjey grow so fast, and are turned into money quickly. " There are no such animals as pure Suffolks. They are the Fisher Hobbs Essex variety. "If you want sows to breed well, do not keep them too fat, nor yet in a weakly condition. Let them have a field to run about in. We used to fat a great many ' porkers ' with pulped roots, straw, chaff, and Indian corn, but we have now such a large demand for breeding pigs, that we have none loft for fatting. With respect to feeding, the food should be given warm, not hot." From this last remark I conclude that the pulped roots, chaff, and Indian meal were cooked. The following is an extract from Mr. Sidney's letter to Mr. Howard : " I do not think our pigs have improved during the last ten years [since Mr. Sidney's book was written]. On the contrary, our Shows are likely to cultivate fat at the expense of constitution. I think Mr. Harris mistakes my advice. [I thought he condemned the use of an Essex or Berkshire boar with a white sow.] A cross of black and white answers well for feeding, as most first crosses do. I observe that black pigs have made their way in Yorkshire." The following extracts are from Mr. John Fisher's lec- ture on the breeding and management of pigs, alluded to by Mr. Howard. Mr. Fisher is the manager of Carhead Farm, near Crosshills, Yorkshire, and an experienced and successful breeder. We should remark that Carhead is a grass farm, and all the food for the pigs is purchased. Mr. F. says: " I am a decided advocate for early breeding and early feeding, and consider October or November the best time for putting sows to the boar for the general crop. They will then bring their litter in March, and get them weaned, and take the boar again early in May, so that their second litter may get strong enough to stand the winter ; and if the young sows, bred in March, have been liberally fed, and allowed plenty of exercise during the summer, they will be quite ready to take the boar in November, and bring their first litter at twelve months old. And we consider this the best way either to commence or increase a stock of breeding pigs, and should not endorse the claim to early maturity in any breed of pigs, if they were not unfit to rear a litter of young at twelve APPENDIX. 241 months old. If young sows are allowed to run until they are twelve or fifteen months old before they are put to breeding, they are very apt to miss their way altogether ; and we find that the most successful breed- ers are those which are put to, when young, and are kept regularly breeding; consequently we do not disappoint them, but allow them to bring two litters a year. After their first litter we keep them sparingly, except when suckling. When they have weaned their spring litter, and have taken the boar again, they are turned into a grass field, in which there is a large shed, with rails across the doorway to prevent cattle en- tering. In this shed they sleep at night, or retire in rainy weather. If the grass is not very plentiful, we give about a pint each of Indian corn per day, scattering it on the grass, and they can drink water from a stone trough which is fed by a spring, and placed near the ground that they may reach it conveniently. But they mostly gain so much flesh from being well fed while suckling, that they require little more than grass ; and some which have had nothing else, have done as well as we could wish them. " When the sows are brought into the breeding house, they are at once put on the same kind of food as will be continued to them while they are suckling. They are turned out for a few minutes twice a day, before feeding, which keeps the bowels in proper order, and the house dry and sweet, for it is very important that the bowels are open at this time, for, if constipated, the milk will not come freely, and the young seldom do well ; besides which, it interferes with the free passage of the urine, causing great uneasiness, and, if not removed, it would lead to serious consequences, for which purpose we give frequent injections of warm water, and walk the patient carefully out, for a few minutes at a time, until we see that the obstruction has passed. Sometimes we mix a little common soap in the warm water, and have never experienced much difficulty when these means have been used. "We give a moderate bed of short straw three or four days before they are expected to farrow, that it may become soft by the time they are due, which, as the time approaches, they will collect on a heap, and place themselves upon it in such a manner that by raising the body it assists them in their efforts during parturition, and this, as well as most other matters at this time, we leave entirely to themselves, believing that they can mostly manage their own business best without our inter- ference. And except with very fat sows, or during very cold weather, we do not remain with them while farrowing, but give an occasional eye to them to see that there is no unusual delay. If the presentations are proper, they will often pass three or four in as many minutes, but when the hind feet are presented foremost, they get on slowly, and sometimes half the litter will come in this way, but assistance in such cases will mostly do more harm than good, for in drawing the birth by the hind legs, the viscera is forced into the chest, and the life is thereby endangered to no purpose, for if ever they get so far on their way as to be within the reach of ordinary aid, they will be passed safer without it. 11 242 HAEEIS ON THE PIG. " The pigs usually begin to eat along with the mother when about three weeks old, but may be learnt much younger if a little warm milk be given to them two or three times a day, while the sow is removed from them for a few minutes. About the time they begin to eat, they frequently suffer from diarrhoea, which, if it continue for any length of time, will weaken them very much. The disorder will sometimes be caused by allowing the mother to eat grass or other green food when turned out, or even by a change from one kind of meat to another, for which reason we avoid as far as we can any change of food during the time they are suckling, and continue the same to the young after they are weaned. And as it is very difficult as well as dangerous to administer medicine to them by force, we do not attempt to relieve them by that means, neither can they be induced to take it if mixed with their food, for they will not eat at such times, but depend entirely on the teat, for which reasons we diet the mother carefully, and allow as much small coal as she will eat, throwing a shovelful upon the bed, that the young ones may eat a little if they like ; we also strew the floor with sawdust to prevent bad smells, keeping them warm, and giving as much fresh air as possible. If the purging continues, we change them to a fresh sty, taking care that it is dry and warm, and well aired. If young pigs can be allowed a run out with the mother for half an hour in the morning and evening, they will grow all the faster for it ; but the middle of the day, when the sun is hot, should be avoided, for if their backs get much scorched it will retard their growth for a while. "All such as are not required for breeding purposes, should be cas- trated at from four to five weeks old, that they may recover before they are weaned. There are two ways of doing most things, and the best way is generally the easier, and always to be preferred, and in catching young pigs for castration, or any other purpose, great care should be used, as they are easily lamed, and having covered the window and closed the door to exclude the light, the operator should allow them to settle quietly in a corner, and taking the right hind leg with his right hand, then with his left hand he should lay firmly hold of the same leg, above the hough joint, and quickly passing his right hand forward, and under the chest, lay firmly hold of the left fore leg, and raise the pig with his right hand, using as little force as possible on the hind legs, and never hold them up by the heels, as the intestines are liable to get twisted if held in that position. " We usually wean at from seven to ten weeks old, and separate the boars from the sows soon after. We seldom keep more than five or six together in the same sty, and as they grow larger, we reduce the num- ber, in proportion to the size of the sty. "The feeder commences in the morning about seven o'clock, begin- ning at one end, and regulating the food according to circumstances, and as he goes on, he rouses every pig up, and sees that all come to take their breakfast ; should any refuse he reports the case ; and having fin- ished feeding he takes his barrow, fork, shovel, and besom, and proceeds APPENDIX. 243 in the same order to clean the sties ; for, on being roused up, after lay- ing still all night, they empty themselves while eating, and this becomes habitual and keeps their beds clean and dry, which is a matter of great importance to us, as we have all our straw to buy at a dear rate, and have to economise it accordingly, for which reason most of our sties are provided with wooden sleeping benches similar to that given in the de- scription of the breeding house. So proceeding to No. 1, he turns the occupants out, shakes up the bed, sweeps all clean, and taking up with the shovel what had to be removed, he places it in the barrow, returns them to their sty again, and passing on to No. 2, treating them in the same way, and so on to the end. By this means the sties are kept clean during the greater part of the day ; while out, they have free access to a heap of small coal, which is kept in a corner of the yard entirely for their use, of which they seldom fail to avail themselves, whenever they have an opportunity ; there is also a trough with water, of which they sometimes drink a little. " To enable pigs to thrive properly, they must be kept in a state of robust health, for which purpose, proper shelter and a certain amount of exercise, is quite as necessary as good feeding, and all dark, damp, crampy sties should be avoided. There is no place in which young growing stores do better than a good straw-yard during the winter months. "Pigs will occasionally catch cold, especially when in low condition; but, if taken in time, and placed in a warm sty by themselves, with a little extra nursing, such as warm milk and water, with a little bran or pollard, not forgetting the warm water injections if the bowels get out of order, they will mostly be right again in a few days. If the case be a bad one, and accompanied by much fever, and the patient will lie still, we cover up with a wet rag, leaving only the nose out, pouring cold wa- ter on to saturate it thoroughly, and then cover up with two or three sacks to keep the steam in, and have found this bath give very great re- lief. Pigs have a very great objection to any kind of restraint, as well as a strong dislike to physic, and if held for the purpose of administer- ing it, they struggle and scream so much, that they do themselves more harm by it, than the medicine is likely to do them good ; besides, if not done in a careful manner, there is great danger in forcing any liquid into their mouths, for if introduced while they are screaming, they are almost certain to be choked by it, so that the operator must wait until they have done screaming, which will mostly be when they are out of breath and cannot go on any longer, for which reason we have not used medicine for several years past. They have also a very decided objec- tion to strangers being admitted into their society, even if one of their fellows leave them for a few days, on their return they are beset and worried in a most unfriendly manner ; and if the intruder cannot find means of retreat, they will often get cut and gored a good deal; where the teeth penetrate beyond the skin, swellings will arise, which if they become very large, they may be carefully opened with a lance, or sharp 244 HABKIS ON THE PIG. pointed knife, on the lower side, directing the point upwards, that the matter may escape, when they will soon heal without further trouble. " Fat heavy pigs are easily lamed in the hind-quarters or hind legs, and should be very carefully driven over slippery or uneven ground. When so lamed, the butcher is the best remedy and the sooner the bet- ter, as they lose flesh fast, when they come to lie and cannot rise easily. They are also subject to rheumatic attacks, especially in the hind legs, which may easily be mistaken for accidental lameness ; sometimes they will suddenly become lame in one leg, and then the lameness will as suddenly change to the other, or perhaps leave them altogether. I con- sulted Professor Simonds, of the Royal Veterinary College, on this dis- ease, and he recommended a strong stimulating liniment, or liquid blister to be applied to the hough joint, and well rubbed in, and I have used it with very beneficial results ; also, if confined for any length of time where the wet litter is allowed to accumulate under them, their hoofs grow to a great length, and the feet become unsound and full of Clefts, when the hoofs should be shortened, for which purpose we use a pair of strong, wire-clipping pinchers, taking care not to injure the sensi- tive part of the foot, and trim with a shepherd's knife ; and for diseased feet we have found nothing so good as a bran poultice, with two or three spoonfuls of fresh brewer's yeast mixed with it, and put in a strong bag or boot, into which the foot is introduced, and secured with a string when the animal is laid down. It may fye kept wet by pouring water on it two or three times a day, and changed daily." T. L. Harison, Esq., Morley, St. Lawrence Co., 1ST. Y., writes : " I do not think I can give you any ideas of value as to the breeds and breeding of pigs, for my experience has been with Suffolks only, and the breeding them has been with me a matter of great simplicity, and in which I have found no difficulties to contend with. I have found the Suffolks hardy, prolific, good nurses, and good feeders. Those who have had barren sows have, I think, allowed them to get too fat before breeding. This is the only risk that I know of, and it is to be guarded against. My plan was to keep over such young sows as I selected for breeders generally from fall litters, hut seldom from spring litters. These were usually kept in a yard or in a small grass field, so that they were on the ground and had plenty of exercise, and when served about December 1st would be from 14 to 16 months old and in fair (extra, per- haps) store condition. After they were with pig, they would of course during the winter get fat, but in my breeding that never did any harm. My only trouble was in the loss of young pigs, in consequence of the milk of their mothers being too rich. This makes it necessary to be careful how you feed the sows while suckling, and I found that bran with the refuse of the house made a better food than grain at such times. " I do not know about plans of pig pens. I have never seen any that I thought had much merit. In fact, I would never use pens, except for APPENDIX. 245 fattening hogs, for the boars in use, and occasionally for breeding sows before farrowing ; but, except in the first case, there should be small yards attached. The best place for pigs is a yard with a well-made shed attached,the shed having doors that can be closed in very severe weather." Hon. John M. Milliken, of Maplewood, Hamilton, Ohio, in addition to the facts already quoted in regard to the Butler County or Magie pigs, writes as follows : " I wish to add the following statement furnished me by one of our breeders, whose truthfulness is unquestioned. He bred a sow which came on the 10th of June, 1866. On the 18th of April, 1867, she had 11 pigs, which weighed, gross, in October following, 2,735 Ibs. " He fattened the sow the winter following, and her net weight was 535 Ibs. The sow pigs he left for breeders, and sold 5 barrows, aged 8 months and 20 days, which av- eraged 282 Ibs. net. The history of this sow and her 11 pigs proves that they possessed early fattening properties, large size, and fecundity, three very desirable qualities." 246 HARRIS ON THE PIG. INDEX Allen's, B. A., importation of Berk- shire 99 Appendix 237 Bakewell's, Robert, breed of pigs. . 18 Barley, Composition of 133 '* Value in feeding 131 Bean meal, Value In feeding 126 Beans as food for pigs 233 44 Composition of 133 Bedfordsmre breed 93 Berkshire breed 50, 74 " A. B. Allen's importation. 99 ** and Tarn worth cross..... 83 ' Crossesof 82 " Improved 76 " in the U. S 98 Black and Red pigs 86 Black breeds 73 Blister for pigs.. 284 Boar, Selection of 192 1 ' Treatment of thorough-bred . 206 Bouasinganlt's experiments in feed- ing 118 Bran, Composition of. 133 " for pigs 239 " Value in feeding 126 Breeding and management of pigs 192, 239 Breeding, Objects in 15 " Principles of 16 Breeding-pens 200 Breeds of pigs 14 Breeds. Definition of large, small, and medium 25 Breeds, Large vs. small 22 " Leading English 232 " Leading in the U. S 232 " Modern English 56 " intheU. S 98 " Sidney on large and small.. 32 Buckinghamshire breed 97 Bushey breed 97 Butler Co., Ohio, pigs 113 Cattle, Gain from feeding 13 " Weight, Live and dead 192 Castration, Time for 233 Chase's, A. L., Essex pigs 84 " Cheshire " breed 57, 94, 111 Chester Co. White breed 105 " " " " Hog-breed- ers' Manual on.110 " " " " Paschal Morrison 106 Chinese breed 51 Codfish, Composition of 133 " Value in feeding 133 Coleshill breed 96 Colds in young pigs 217 Compost, Pig making. 142 Constipation 210 Cooking food for pigs 222 Craonnaire Boar 45 Crosses of thorough-breds 35 Culley on Cheshire pigs 57 Cumberland small breed 63 Davis', Hewitt, experience in pig feeding 30 Desirable qualities in a pig 20 Devons 33, 87 Diarrhoea in young pigs 217 Diseases of pigs 234 Disinfectants 234 Dorsets 32, 88 Dry earth for pigs 234 " Emperor." 53 English breeds, Improvement of. . . 47 English experiences in pig feeding.181 Essex, Fisher Hobbs' improve- ments in 53, 82 Essex, Improved... 80 " " Crossesof. 82 " " Historyof. 52 " Imported 100 44 Lord Western's '82 44 Old 52 Experiments in pig feeding. .. .118, 122 Fancy breeds 95 Fattening pigs near large cities 178 Feeding, A dairy farmer on 187 44 A Yorkshire breeder on.. 188 4 A Yorkshire farmer on. . .186 " Dr. M. Miles' experiments 118 ** English experience in 181 * Experiments in 118 INDEX. 247 Feeding Grain 225 " Lawes and Gilbert's ex- periments in 122 " Mineral substances neces- sary In 130 " Mr. Baldwin on 182 " Use of sugar in 135 Feet, Unsound 244 Fisher Hobbs' improvements in Essex 53 Fisher, John, Lecture on breeding and management 239 Food, Cooking 222 Form of a fat pig 236 " of agoodpig 17 French pigs 45 "General." 68 German pigs 45 Gestation, Period of 233 " Gloucester." 67 Good pigs need good care 37 Grade pigs, Value of. 100 Greyhound hog 44 Hampshire pig 49, 91 Herefordshire breed 50, 94 Howard, James, M. P., on pigs 239 Improvement of the English breeds of pigs 47 In-and-in breeding 35 Indian meal, Composition of 133 " " Value in feeding 126 Intestines, Proportion to weight of body 11 Itch 234 Jealousy an aid to fattening 230 Jefferson County breed Ill Large vs. small breeds and crosses. 22 Lawes and Gilbert's experiments in pig feeding 122 Lecture by John Fisher 239 Lentil meal, Value in feeding .126 Lentils, Composition of 133 "Liberator." 67 Lice, To destroy 234 Lincolnshire breed 57, 92 Liquid manure 143 Live and dead weight of pigs 191 Lord Western's Essex 52 Mackelcan, J., on management 237 Magie (Ohio) breed 113, 245 Management of pigs 175, 237 " of thorough-bred pigs.203 Man^e 234 Mangles', George, experience in feeding 25 Mangles', George, piggery 163 Manure, Table of value of 139 Manure, The pig as a manufacturer of 141 " Value of liquid .143 " Value to each 100 Ibs. of pork 141 " Value of pig 137 Measles 235 Michigan Agricultural College, Pig- gery, etc 147 Middlesex breed 95 Miles' Dr. M. experiments in feedingllS Milliken, Hon. J. M., on Magie pigs 113, 245 Mineral food for pigs 130 "Miss Emily." 70 Modern breeds of English pigs 56 Morris', Paschal, piggery 154 Neapolitan breed 52 Norfolk breed.... 93 Nottinghamshire breed 95 Ogden Farm piggery 160 Oil-cake for pigs 233 Old Irish pig 44 OldYorkshire breed 57 Original Old English pig 43 Origin and improvement of our do- mestic pigs 41 Oxfordshire, Improved 85 Ox, Stomachof 9 Peas for pigs 233 " Raising, for pigs 177 Pen-breeding 200 Petroleum on pigs 234 Pig, Desirable Qualities in 20 Form of a good 17 Quietness in 21 Stomachof 9 Pig feeding 11 " Hewitt Davis on 30 " Why they gain more rapidly than oxen or sheep. ... 12 Pigs on dairy farms 175 " on grain farms 176 " Origin and improvement of. . 41 " Peasfor 177 ** Profit of raising thorough- bred 220 " require gentle treatment 42 ' ' Breeding and rearing. 193 248 HARRIS ON THE PIG. Pigs, Breeds of. 14 " Cooking food for 222 *' Fattening near large cities. . .178 " Lame 244 " Management of. 175 " Management of thorough- bred , ...203 u Young, Care of 196, 242 " " Catching 242 " " Colds in 217 ** " Diarrhoea in 217, 243 " " Feeding 212 " " Management of. 217 " * Taming 219 " " Time to wean... 197, 242 " " Treatment of chilled. 212 Piggery, The author's 148 " George Mangles' 163 " Michigan Agricultural Col- lege 147 " Mr. Roseburgh's 158 " Ogden Farm 160 " Paschal Morris' 154 " Tattenhall (Eng.) 166 Piggeries and pig pens 144 Pig pens 144 " Location of. 144 Pig troughs... 169 * " Cast-iron 174 " " Convenient 172 * hewn out of a log 170 " " Plank 171 " " Swinging door 173 Pork, Food required to produce 100 Ibs 11 Prince Albert's pigs 96 Profit of raising thorough-bred pigs ..222 Protrusion of rectum 236 Pulping roots 228 Rectum, Protrusion of 236 Rheumatism 236,244 Rosebnrgh's, Mr., piggery 158 Sheep, Lawes' experiments in feed- ing 22 " Stomach of 9 " Live and dead weight of. ... .192 Shi'opshire breed 94 Sidney on large and small breeds.. 32 Soaking grain for pigs .228 Sow at farrowing time 194, 241 " Breeding, Management of. 241 " Feeding a suckling 214 Sow lying on pigs 211 " Selection of 193 " taking the boar 233 " Treatment of thorough-bred.. 209 Spring pigs, Rearing and manage- ment of 200 Stickney's, Isaac and Josiah, impor- tation of Suffolk 100 Stomach, Importance of a good 20 of ox, Weight of 9 " of pig, Weight of. 9 44 Proportion to weight of body 11 44 of sheep, Weight of 9 Stone, F. W., on pigs 238 Suffolk and other white breeds 72 Suffolk breed 92 44 grades 103 44 introduced into Boston... 100 Sugar as food for pigs 135 Summary 232 Sus Indica 41 Sus scrofa 41 Swellings, Treatment of 243 Swill barrels 169 Swill barrel, Portable 170 Swill tub 170 Tamworth breed 86, 87 Tarn worth and Berkshire cross .... 33 Tapeworm 235 Tattenhall piggery 166 Thorough-bred pig, Value of... .. .35 Value of a thorough-bred pig 35 44 of pig manure 137 Warwickshire breed 86 Weight of pigs, Live and dead. . . .191 44 of different parts of a pig. .191 Weaning young pigs 197 Welsh pigs 94 White Leicesters 59, 72 Wild boar 41 Wild hogs 41 Windsor breed 96 41 Windsor Castle" 99 Woburn breed 33, 94 Yelt . 66 York-Cumberland breed 65 Yorkshire grades .103 44 introduced into the U. S.100 " large breed 69 44 middle or medium breed. 69 " smallbreed 63 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Diagram of, Testing the Form of a Good Pig Page 18 Wild Boars 42 WRd Boar 43 Original Old English Pig 43 Old Irish Pig 44 French Prize Boar Craonnaire White f . . . 46 Chinese Sow Imported 48 Berkshire Pig (Loudon) 49 Hampshire Pig " 49 Herefordshire Pig " 50 SuffolkPig " 51 Berkshire Sow 51 Yorkshire Large Breed, " Sir Roger de Coverly." 58 Yorkshire Large Breed, " Parian Duchess." 60 Yorkshire Large Breed, " Golden Days." 62 Cumberland- York Boar Small Breed 64 York-Cumberland Pig Small Breed 66 Yorkshire Middle Breed-" Miss Emily." 68 White Leicester Boar and Sow Small Breed 76 Berkshire, Improved Smithfleld Club Fat Prize Sow 75 Berkshire, Improved, Middle Breed, Boar 77 Essex, Improved" Emperor." 79 Essex, Lord Western's 87 Essex Boar, L. A. Chase's 83 Essex Sows " " 83, 84 Chester County White Pig 105 Jefferson County Pig Ill Piggery, Michigan Agricultural College .147 Piggery, Ground Plan of Michigan Agricultural College 148 Piggery, Plan of the Author's 151 Piggery, Paschal Morris' 154 Piggery, Ground Plan of Paschal Morris' 155 Piggery, Mr. Rosebnrgh's 157 Piggery, Ground Plan of Mr. Roseburgh's 159 Piggery, Partition in " ...160 Piggery, Ground Plan of Ogden Farm 161 Piggery, Cross Section of Ogden Farm 163 249 250 HARRIS ON THE PIG. Piggery, Elevation of Ogden Farm 162 Shed for Fattening Pigs, Mr. Mangles' 163 Shed, Ground Plan of " " 163 Shed, Isometrical viewof " " 165 Piggery, Covered Food House at Tattenhall 166 Piggery, Ground Plan of Covered Food House at Tattenhall , 167 Portable Swill Barrel 170 Pig Trough Hewn Out of a Log 170 Pig Trough, Plank 171 Pig Trough, Convenient 172 Pig Trough, Swinging Door 173 Pig Trough, Swing Door to 174 Pig Trough, Cast-iron 174 Brood Sow Property of the Duke of BuccJeuch 180 Jealousy as an Aid to Fattening..- ; 281 AMERICAN CATTLE: Their History, Breeding, and Management. By LEWIS P. ALLEN, Late President New-York State Agricultural Society, Editor "American Short-Hern Herd Book," Author " Rural Architecture," etc., etc. Notices by the Press. WK consider this the most valuable work that has recently been issued from the American press. It embraces all branches of the important subject, and fills a vacancy in our agricultural literature for which work the author, by his many years' experience and observation, was eminently fitted. ... It ought to be in the hands of every owner of cattle, and the country, as well as individuals, would, soon be much richer for its teachings. Journal of Agri- culture, (St. Louis.) The large experience of the author in improving the character of Ameri- can herds adds to the weight of his observations, and has enabled him to pro- duce a work which will at once make good its claims as a standard authority on the subject. An excellent feature of this volume is its orderly, methodical arrangement, condensing a great variety of information into a comparatively small compass, and enabling the reader to find the point on which he is seek- ing light, without wasting his time in turning over the leaves. N. Y. Tribune. This will rank among the standard works of the country, and will be con- sidered indispensable by every breeder of live-stock. Practical Farmer, (PhUa.) We think it is the most complete work upon neat stock that we have seen, embodying as it does a vast amount of research and careful study and observation. Wisconsin Farmer. His history of cattle in general, and of the individual breeds in particular which occupies the first one hundred and eighty pages of the volume, is writ- ten with much of the grace and charm of an Allison or a Macaulay. His de- scription of the leading breeds is illustrated by cuts of a bull, a cow, and a fat ox, of each race. The next one hundred pages are devoted to the sub- ject of Breeding. This is followed by chapters on Beef Cattle, Working Oxen, Milch Cows, Cattle Food, Diseases, etc. The arrangement, illustrations, an- alytical index, etc., of the work are in the best style of modern book-mak- ing. New-England Farmer. The work is one that has been long needed, as it takes the place of the foreign books of like nature to which our farmers have been obliged to refer, and furnishes in a compact and well-arranged volume all they desire upon this important subject. Maine Farmer. Whatever works the stock-farmer may already have, he can not afford to do without this. Ohio Farmer. It is one of the best treatises within our knowledge, and contains infor- mation sound and sensible on every page. Tlie People, (Concord, N. H.) The object of the work, as stated by the author in his preface, " is not only to give a historical acccount of the Bovine race, to suggest to our farmers and cattle-breeders the best methods of their production and management, but to exalt and ennoble its pursuit to the dignity to which it is entitled in the vari- ous departments of American agriculture." From the little examination we have been able to give it, we can not recommend it too highly. Canada Farmer. Considering that there are some ten million milch cows in the United States, and nearly a thousand million of dollars invested in cattle, the magni tude of this interest demands that the best skilled talent be devoted to the improvement of the various breeds and the investigation of the best method of so caring for the animals as to gain the greatest profit from them. This volume will give the farmer just the instruction which he wants. N. T. Inde- pendent. Price, post-paid, $2.50. ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New- York. NEW AMERICAN FARM BOOK. ORIGINALLY BY AUTHOR OF "DISEASES OP. DOMESTIC ANIMALS," AND FORMERLY SDITOB or THE "AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST." REVISED AND ENLARGED BY LEWIS F. A.LLE3V, AUTHOB OF "AMERICAN CATTLE," EDITOR Or THE "AMERICAN SHORT-HORN BOOK," ETC. INTRODUCTION. Tillage Husbandry Grazing Feeding Breeding Planting, etc. CHAPTER I. Soils Classification- Description Management Pro- perties. CHAPTER II. Inorganic Manures- Mineral Stone Earth Phos- phatic. CHAPTER III. Organic Manures Their Composition Animal Ve- getable. CHAPTER IV. Irrigation and Drain- ing. CHAPTER V. Mechanical Divisions of Soils Spading Plowing Im- plements. CHAPTER VI. The Grasses Clovers Meadows Pastures Compara- tive Values of Grasses Implements for their Cultivation. CHAPTER VII. Grain, and its Culti- vation Varieties Growth Har- vesting. CHAPTER VIII. Leguminous Plants The Pea Bean English Field Bean Tare or Vetch Cultivation Harvesting. CHAPTER IX. Roots and Esculents- Varieties Growth Cultivation Securing the Crops Uses Nutri- tive Equivalents of Different Kinds of Forage. CHAPTER X. Fruits Apples Cider Vinegar Pears Quinces Plums Peaches Apricots Nectarines Smaller Fruits Planting Cultiva- tion Gathering Preserving. CHAPTER XI. Miscellaneous Objects of Cultivation, aside from the Or- dinary Farm Crops Broom-corn Flax Cotton Hemp Sugar Cane Sorghum Maple Sugar Tobacco ' Indigo Madder Wood Sumach- Teasel Mustard Hops Castor Bean. CHAPTER XII. Aids and Objects of Agriculture Rotation of Crops, and their Effects Weeds Restora- tion of Worn-out Soils Fertilizing Barren Lands Utility of Birds- Fences Hedges Farm Roads- Shade Trees Wood Lands Time of Cutting Timber Tools Agri- cultural Education of the Farmer. CHAPTER XIII. Farm Buildings- House Barn Sheds Cisterns Various other Outbuildings Steam- ing Apparatus. CHAPTER XIV. Domestic Animals Breeding Anatomy Respiration Consumption of Food. CHAPTER XV. Neat or Horned Cattle Devons Herefords Ayreshires Galloways Short - horns Alder- neys or Jerseys Dutch or Holstein Management from Birth to Milk- ing, Labor, or Slaughter. CHAPTER XVI. The Dairy- Milk- Butter Cheese Different Kinds- Manner of Working. CHAPTER XVII. Sheep Merino Saxon South Down The Long- wooled Breeds Cotswold Lincoln Breeding Management Shep- herd Dogs. CHAPTER XVIII. The Horse De- scrip tion of Different Breeds Their Various Uses Breeding Manage- ment. CHAPTER XIX. The Ass Mule Comparative Labor of Working Animals. CHAPTER XX. Swine Different Breeds Breeding Rearing Fat- tening Curing Pork and Hams. CHAPTER XXI. Poultry Hens, or Barn-door Fowls Turkey Pea- cock Guinea Hen Goose Duck Honey Bees. CHAPTER XXII. Diseases of Ani- malsWhat Authority Shall We Adopt ? Sheep Swine Treat- ment and Breeding of Horses. CHAPTER XXIII. Conclusion Gene- ral Remarks The Farmer who Lives by his Occupation The Ama- teur Farmer Sundry Useful Tables. SENT POST-PAID, PRICE $2.50. ORANGE JUDD & CO., 245 Broadway, New-York, THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 5O CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.OO ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. OCT 281940 tf WC 7 194@ A NOV 23 1946 LD 21-100m-7,'40 (6936s) YB 16182