Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1871-08-17
Too Much Corn to Hogs.

There is hardly . single farmer with
whose system OF farming am fAnilisr,
but feed too much corn 20 his stock hogs.
Farmers, generally complain, because they
rarely, II ever, get price enough for their
hogs at killing time, from the buyers, and
say it cost 30 UucA 70 fatten them, that
hog raising Is Improbable I agree with
that class Of farmers exactly on this point.
for no man can anord 70 feed corn to a
hog from weaving time until II Is ready for
the butcher, and sell Il At current prices.
Nc matter what those prices are-in
other words, hog fed on corn all It's life
from weanling until fattened. eats It's
head of" twice over, and can never be
sold for slaughtering purposes, at profit.
! have often been amused at farmers ideas
on this subject. They say: 81 had the
corn-plenty of it-raised IL myself; bred
and reared the pigs; therefore, can al
ford to keep corn In his pen all the time,
and sell him at fair profit. The folly of
such reasoning, Is too transparently alb
surd and ridiculous TO deserve serious con-
sideration. 1t certainly requires no argu-
ment to refute its fallacy. II Is simply
foolish, idle talk. Were It not better to
sell the corn, and pigs too. before the one
destroys the other, and thus save the whole
rather than permit the hog to eat really
more corn than the price he would he sold
for at delivering time would buy; 1t
seems TO me that this would b. the better
and more sensible practice.
Well" you ask. &" how can the matter
be rcmediedI" Easy enough, to be sure,
and few thrifty farmers follow the plan
out exactly. FEED mors grdss' These
three words contain and explain the entire
theory OF that practice by which any one
can make hog raising-barring the cholera
as profitable IS the raising OF any other
KIND of stock. IL not more so, on account
of their ready sale In any market, every
year. When say, feed more graSA, ! do
not mean TO advise you TO turn your sows
and pigs. shoats aud stock hogs upon q
short crop of any kind OF grass. or upon
an old field In which the noxious weeds
and briais luxuriafe. or iron which the
cream OF the best and richest heritage has
been cropped By your bunch OF mules.
cattle, or horses, aud then expect your
hogs to flourish. grow. and fatten for the
market, without feeding corn a, all. BY
no means; for hogs kept on such pasture
must have corn, aud that in ample Quanti-
ties every day, II you would realize any
thing from their growth. The man who
has the ground that will bring corn. also,
general thing, has ground that will
produce clover or rye-pcrhaps both
which IL far better. The plan adopted by
the best hog raiser l ever knew, and the
most universally successful In all respects.
adopted and implicitly carried out the fol-
lowing rules
lie was small farmer. but his rule will
apply equally well 10 large farmers. He
generally sold about Any head at slaugh-
trriug time, besides keeping about hfteen
to twenty for his own use and 10 sell 10
laborers when cured. His plan was to
alyxayS have ahnuf shfr-v dtrn s,,
clover and rye. and when the clover was in
fall growth. he turned In his smaller hogs.
and when IL was in bloom al OF them
were put in. where they remained until the
rye was ripe enough for them. then he
turned all OF them on that. to eat II down.
In this way. both the clover and rye re-
seeded themselves for years In succession
Before the clover came, there was alw avs
good blue grass pasture for them. ON
which no other stock was ever permitted
To roam. These hogs, at the proper time,
were always given the glcanings of the
wheat and oai field. and they never had an
ear OF corn after the middle OF April, until
the first or the tenth OF October. Salt
was always kept In their range 10 which
they had access at all times. By this sim
pie and cheap plan. be always had healthy.
thrifty swine. and he was enabled to put
them on the market in the best possible
condition, and, having fatted them on a
small quantity OF corn, he, Of course re-
allied handsome profits. This course OF
treatment being cooling 10 the bowels and
vital organs. kept them freed almost en-
urcly from kidney worm, blind staggcrs.
cholera etc. Water OF the purcst Kind.
either from ponds or running streams.
they had constant access to.
II our farmers, who feed corn almost
continually, and who complain OF the un-
prontableness Of hog raising. will adopt
the plan herein set forth. they will have
far better success and less grounds OF COM
plant.
Fdrls.<rs Hotae Journal.