Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-11-06
Winter Food for Swine.

winter ROOD 1Or swine.
Now, while we would not be I'm Ter
stood as saying that pumpkins, any more
than mangelwurtzels or other root crops,
are equal to corn as winter food for hogs,
yet we do say tn t when fed to growing
hogs, along with corn, either Of such
crops is better than all corn for the
complete development of the AMI nal.
They are the next best sub titute for
grass-the best we get can in winter-and
should be more extensively raised. Not
that when fe alo e at any season OF the
year they can be made to take the place
Of corn, for they'contain too little of the
fat and flesh forming constituents to
make a complete ration of the animal !;
but as winter food for growing hogs
they are q and adjuncts to grain iced of
any kind, as well as o most excellent
corrective of the bowels The stomach
of a pig under six months old has not
the digest We capacity to assimilate har-
monious development of form. AS well
might we expect yearlin. calves, win.
tered on straw, TO develop into proper
form. They may live ON it and grow
plenty of paunth, and that is all, but
there is not nutriment enough in such
food to keep up the animal heat, without
which there can be no complete de elop.
ment of form. Like pigs confined to
grass or vegetable diet there 10 bulk
enough and to spare in food, but it is
not composed of such constituents as
will meet the demands of nature in the
full development of the carcass.
On the other hand, pigs as well as
calves fed on grass alone have their di-
gestive organs so di.arranged by the
over production of fat as to prevent the
full development of the system We say
such food is too heating. and SO it is
when fed alone; but that is no reason
why we should jump at conclusions and
denounce it while running wild over
pumpkins, mange.wurt els, or anything
else. They both have their place in ju-
dicious feeding, and in the winter time,
when there is no grass to be had, stock
require along with their corn food some
thing more succulent and easy to digest.
To illustrate: A ton of corn in the cal
contains but 228 pounds of water and
56S pounds of heterogeneous, albuminous,
and fatty matter, while ton of pump.
kins contains as much as 800 pounds
of the former and only twenty-eight
pounds the three latter A ton of oats
contains only 260 pounds of water and
610 pounds of heterogeneous, albuminous,
and fatty matter, while ton of mangel.
wurtzels contains 1,770 pounds of the
former and only thirty-two pounds of
the three latter. 1t is evident, then, that
we cannot profitably feed pumpkins OIL
mangel-wurtzels alone, but their chief
value is as complement to grain food.
In other words, we cannot make fat al d
muscle as cheaply with pumpkins and
mangels as with corn and oats. But as
corn is too heating and constituting q
food when fed by itself, and pumpkins
and mangles too washy, science and com
mon sense both tell MS to feed enough OF
each if we would have complete ration.
1t is from such course of feeding that
the best results come, whether for health
or profitable growth. Pumpkins may be
planted in the corn-feld as late as the
first of June, and the yellow or COW
pumpkin is the best for hogs. Baltimore
american.