Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1878-04-27
SOUTHERN HOME AND FARM.
Plain Talk About she Hog.

The following is from an address de-
livered by DIR. Ezra Stetson, of Nepon'
sett, ILL.,, at the recent Agricultural in
stitute, at Champaign, ILL.,:
The great question OF the value OF corn
as food for swine has never been and can
not be actually demonstrated. When
we sell our corn on the market we count
the dollars and cents, but when we feed
it to hogs, it al only be approximately
estimated. How many pounds OF pork
will a bushel of corn make ? is what no
man yet has found out. All experiments
in feeding have only proven what certain
hogs, under certain conditions, have
made to the bushel of corn, Now,
whether this grain has been five or
| twenty pounds to the bushel, establishes
this and no mOre-that in certain con-
ditions so many pounds of pork have
been made from a bushel of corn.
There are so many things to be taken
into account as age. breeding, the
season of the year, mortality, wear and
tear OF the dam, etc, that anything like
a general average is almost entirely out
of the question. If anything is well
established in feeding, it is that the
young Of swine as well as OF all other
animals will make very much better gain
from the food consumed than elder ami
mails. have myself sold more than one
carload Of pigs, at about ten months Old,
whose average gain had been about one
pound per day-say three hundred
pounds at ten months, No one can
believe that another three hundred
pounds could have been added to these
pigs in anything like the same time or
tor the quantity OF food consumed. l
do not claim any ~eXtravagant gain ,c-
these pigs, and can readily believe Tbs:
Others have done better especially ne
man from Mankato,, | have ted corn
to hogs that abundsntly satisfied NE
and have also fed them when I did no.
get pay for throwing the corn on the
feeding floor. When 10 buy and when
to sell, when to give and when 10 with
hold. is beyond the ken Of mortSl nan.
viii it pay TO srind snd cook food Tor
our hogs? have experimental 4 little
on this subject, and all are welcome TO
my deductions, but l neither ask nor
expect that the world shall be turned
down at my doing so, | think it
will pay to make swill Cruel or soup for
sows giving milk lust as it vii. for the
dai-ymsn 10 feed his cows on soft green
food TO encourage the flow Of milS, 10
make such food tor sows. | know OF no
better way than to grind or cook, either
with steam or over an open fire.
l think it will also pay to prepare the
drink for pigs in the same manner,
especially where large numbers are raised
and better drink can not be obtained.
All know that natures element-milk
can not be equalled, even in the labor
atory Of the chemist, and when milk can
rot be obtainsdin,sutticient quantity, We
should do the next best thing, make
their drink palatable, IS neal blood-heat
as possible--sny way TO get large guam
titles of drink into their stomachs. |
have used two parts of corn and one part
Of oats, ground together, and added to
this an equal bulk OF wheat middlings.
This has proven satisfactory to the taste
OF the pig, and | never saw anything but
good effects from its Use. 1t is q well.
established law in the physiology of diges.
ton that it is not the quantity but the
quality of the food digested. II it is the
last feather that breaks the camel's
back, so 1t is the extra grain Of corn that
pays. 1t takes a certain amount Of food
70 supply the natural waste OF the sys.
TEN, and all above this quantity is stored
up in the form of fat and muscles.
Corn soaked in cold water for from
tw~enty>four to forty>eight hours is rem.
dered very much more digestible in the
stomach Of the pig than when not SO
treated. Always keep in mind that the
greater quantity eaten and digestad i,
the true secret Of success in fattening
animals.
A few words as to the Importance oil
fluids in the system, to aid assimilation
All animals, from man down, that are il
a state Of health, consume a large guam
tity of fluids, and take on Ae.h in The
same proportion. 1t is not the nourish
ment contained in the lager beer of oul
Teutonic friends that gives them thei
barrel.shaped abdomens. The SAINT
quantity of water pure and uncombinec
with the same amount of nutriment con
sumed would produce the same result
Show me a fat man, woman or child, O
any other animal, andi net proven grea
drinkers, they are the exceptions ant
not the rule,
The chemist will tell us that it take
so many pounds Of green grass to b
equal in nourish ment to a given guam
tity of dry nay,
Buteveryone knows that grass is NOR
" hankered after" and more readil
assimilated and takenup blythe digestiv
+ organs, more especially in animals tina
, do not chew the cud. There are jus
| three things that give the hog its CON
mercial Importance, First, their fes
can be preserved for use and kept for a
indefinite time, as the flesh of no otht
a domestic animal can be. Secondly, the
4 extraordinary fecundity-- six, twelvt
a eighteen, t~wenty~iour or even more pie
at a single litter. A SOW would hardl
: die OF old age before she might becom
the common ancestor of more hogs tina
e are now to be counted in the Unite
States. am getting up a swine her
e book. Please take notice, and cover
8 yourselves accordingly.
e The third and most important chara,
t%eristic of the hog is that he is a no,
ever ready to assimilate any article
food that comes in his reach. In plai
English, the hog has a stomach made fC
3 digestion, and furthermore, that stomac
a never gets out OF order. All that an
hog wants is plenty to eat, and h
e neighbors must lookou for themselye
c Who ever heard of a hog having dyspeI
e STA, the stOmach~ache or the thousan
r and one ills than his less favored nam
sake endures? Yea, verify, any hog wit
a full stomach is at peace with himse
e and all the rest of the world.
z Order ana Energy In Farming.
y No man stands in greater need of bot
order and energy than the farmer, WbeI