The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1874-11-19
for the farmer.
FaTTENING SWINE.

A good feeder manages never to cloy his pigs
with one kind Of food, hut always stimulates
their app elite with different courscs-potatoes at
hne time, apples at another, always winding mp
the fate ming process with dry corn the ear to
produce solid pork. Liquid pudding may an
sWer we'll for growth and the early stages of fat
tening, but to top of with, dry corn is the
food.
The question is often asked whether it pays tn
cook food for hogs. Some kinds of food slIonld
cook and some we should not. Roots and grains
are better steamed, digesting readily and
losing nothing by the cooking. Apples are best
uncOOked, as they lose much of their aroma and
stimulating influence by being heated. Cooking
enables us to serve mp great variety OF dishes
and we should, therefore, always have a cahinroh
set in the pig pen and if properly set tue amount
of fuel required is small. The canldron, however
need not be used for the last few days OF the pig
life, nor should We in these days give him any
water.
One of the important things in feeding hogs,
and indeed all animals, is to feed regularly.
They have no clocks and are not SUPPOSED 10 oo-
serve the sun aud stars very closely, SIN b"Gs
are not ignorant of the fight of time, and they
reckon very accurately to the hours for
meals. If accustomed to be fed at six O'Clock in
the morning. twelve at noon, and SIX at night,
they want their food pretty promptly at these
hours, and will grunt and grumbe if they don't
have il. This grumbling must be avoided for II
wears off more flesh from men and hogs than Is
commonly supposed. We have been amused on
going into hog pens, WneD the nOgs are leu reg
nIarly, to notice how little attention they pay to
visitors at any time except meal hours. They
sleep right ON, and it sometimes requires some
hard pOkes to arouse them, and when aroused
they are as apt to make for the door the
trough On the other hand, hogs fed regularly
are on the qHi rire to see if somebody has not
brought them something COED to eat. Hogs are
creatures of habit, and they may be accustomed
TO two or three, or half dozen meals day.
We should prefer three to half dozen. Feeding
them every time we pass the hog pen, is the
custom of some, is WEAKNESS TO the flesh of
both man and beast. A fat hog is lazy animal,
and quiet rest is essential to his thrift.
Another suggestion is, keep the fattening pigs
warm. Although they abound with heat making
materials, still they are natives of warm eli
mate, and are sensitive to the cold as well as
heat. This is especially true of the finer varieties
that have originated from Asia, and have CON-
paratively little hair al no bristles. warm
bed is economical for it saves adipose substance
which would otherwise be expended in keeping
up animal heat Every farmer knows he can
fatten hogs faster in September and October
than ill November and December, if his pens are
not we'll protected against the cold, but if they
are warm the fattening process goes ON as well
in January as in June. Again we say, II We
must have pork, let us have that made accor-
ding to the laws in such cases made and provided.
-Nep York Times.