Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-09-04

should give them variety of clean.
wholesome food, pure water, good
natural or artificial shade TO protect
them from the heat, aud place TO
root in the soil.
Not less than onc.thrd, and per.
hap. more, of the whole grain tcd 10
swine, is saved by grinding and cook.
ing or sOuring. lct care must be
observed that the souriug bc not
carried so far rs to iujurc the food by
putrclaction.
Pigs should always have access 10
fresh water. No matter how 'sloppy"
the food is, or how much di~h.water
is furnished, they should bc furnish
cd with pure water. We are salts.
fed that pigs often suffer for want
of it.
Cleanliness in the pens will pre-
vent disease, and keep vcrmin away.
To keep places of this kind clean is
much less trouble and labor than TO
make them clean when they have
been neglected. Plenty Of whitewash
inside will cleanse and swccten.
When pigs are put up TO iattcn and
fed on dry corn, it is the practice TO
give them but little water; but they
require some. 1t would not be pos
siblc for pig "to live for weeks
without water or other drink when
feeding on dry corn, although when
fed on new ''sofl corn, very small
quantity of water will be sufficient,
and possibly, if the corn-is very soft
and unripe, water might not be indis-
pcnsable.
Flesh and fat arc now made at half
the cost of feeding in November.
Much food may now be gathered up,
which costs little, and would other
wise be wasted. Boil the screenings
from the threshing machine with
small potatoes for the hogs, and feed
sound old corn, or, what is better,
corn meal. Pork made with soft
corn is not cheaply made. Keep the
soft corn and nubbins for the store
pigs.
In experimenting with a pig, Mr.
Lawes found that 500 pounds Of bar.
ley meal, given rs freely as It could
be eaten, increased his weight from
100 to 900 pounds in seventeen
weeks. Had longer time been TAX
en- in the consumption of the food,
it is conclusive that a good portion
of it would have been expended in
the maintenance of the animals cx.
istcnce, and not nearly the amount
Of fat been produced.
We cannot too often call attention
to the great mistake which many far
mers make in not feeding any grain
to their pigs during the summer and
autumn, while at pasture. IL is not
uncommon to furnish the pigs moth
ing but grass and the slops from the
house until the time the corn crop
is ready TO husk. They are then shut
up in pen, and thrown whole corn
on the ear. The pigs have been ac-
customed to a bulky food, from which
they can extract little more than suf.
iicient nutriment to keep them alive,
when, suddenly, they are shut up, and
allowed nothing but food containing,
In a given bulk, three or four times
as much nutriment. What wonder
If a portion Of 1t is voidcd In an I'm.
digested state? If the pig fills his
stomach, what else can he do with itl
Ills powers of digestion and assimi-
lation are not three times as great to-
day az they we're yesterday, when he
had nothing but grass, or other sue
culent food, when shut up to fatten !
The corn fed to pig while at
grass increases his powers Of diges-
ton and assimilation, and as he APP
proaches maturity, he viii be able to