Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-02
ROUND-UPS.
,.,nortaut Points in Hog Feeding to
'I Thoss Who Engage in the Business.
cote Heartily IndOrses the Idea of a
'tH' ynr.su of statistics and Information
General Stock Items.

=, most profitable industries in Texas,
HnI e. view of that fact the following
articIe on hog-breeding, by j. o. Ter
.n taken from the Farm and Ranch,
~ If interest to those who contem-
W. We engaging N the business;
pihs sTSa state seems to be nearing an
onic revolution. Old ideas are
ecUul laid away. King cotton, like
pslns monarchs, is finding it quite diff
ONE 20 hold his throne. Unless the
GU. ;s completely mistaken in "the
VIZ - tina times, - we are now enter
Slsns ,oon an era IN which diversified and
ins -p stock farming is TO be unusually
,.iorsd Texas is in my judgment
Ssstjued to be the greatest of pork pro-
49,, states. know of no other coun-
Nv in which hogs grow SO fast, or In
~ en- much weight can be obtained
rom given amount of food, and GER
,ainIv there is no other state in which
the hog enjoys such immunity from dis
ease. - az ,o
.renry wears I have had money invested
IN swine in Texas, and during that time
Ibave never seen but one outbreak Of
abnlera and that could be directly
trocsd TO an importation from another
s,ate and was easily and promptly con-
troIIed after its development here.
Rnt these are generalities. How to
tssd hogs so as to insure them good
health and rapid growth is the important
ouestion. proceed to answer. In the
srst place, pure air and water are num-
bered among the essentials. 1 don t
+rsan Nv this that mud or dirt is particu-
iarlv Objectionable, but mean that the
voter should not be stagnaut orrendered
mpure by any decaying or decomposing
element. Dead animals of every kind
sbould be removed, and even decaYing
vspetation is not necessary to the pros
np'ity of the pig. His food must be some
what varied. He is fond Of corn, and
Il, extensive use in swine feeding is much
less Objectionable in the South than it is
in moro Northern states. There It is hard
and finty; here it is soft and more easy
NJ digestion. But do not feed corn alone.
Wheat bran, mixed with water and fed
before souring makes first-class change,
and the hog that has corn in the morning
and bran in the evening ought to be con-
tented il he has free access TO grass in its
season. do not mean to contend, as
MANY OF our writer's are now doing, that
grass is as much to a hog as 1t is to
horse OF 8 COW. Such statements are
worse than nousensicGl. A hog cannot
thrive on grass alone. l care not how
luxuriant it is, or how favorable the sea-
son, the pig cannot fatten upon it, simply
because ''he ISN'T built that way.
cannot say that he will not do fairly well
Oh the cIovers. That may be an issue after
we succeed in inducing clover to thrive
here, but il is not question of discussion
at present. 1t is l believe generally ad-
mitted that the cIovers, as well as blue
grass or timothy. have not yet been sue
cessfully grown IN Texas.
Now, do not wish 70 provoke dis
cussiOn when 1 say that our ordinary
Bermuda grass seems 10 me TO be OF
great value to the practical swine
breeder. ! admit that it is hard to de-
stroy and yet know that it can be de-
stroyed and that IL is reasonably easy to
conine within certain limits. 1t seems
to me TO be the grass that furnishes the
best grazing to hogs and a very small
patch Of il will give health and growth
70 great many pigs. One acre of it
thickly set and well manured Will fur
nish abundant grass TO twenty hogs, and
an ear Of corn and a pound of wheat
bran per head each day, in addition
thereto, will keep them thrifty and
growing through the spring and summer
seasons, aud put them in Ane condition
to 90 on full feed early in the fall. /
notice that some of our agricultural edi-
TORS, carried away by the enthusiasm of
the hour, are now saying that hogs
should be converted into pork when from
four TO six months old. l always aim TO
keep up with the procession, " but
four months old pork is a little too fast
Tor me. According to my notion the
porker should be eight to twelve months
old, and should weigh, when dressed,
from two hundred and forty to four hum
dred pounds. after receiving the treat
ment and feed suggested in this letter.
Exceptional weights may of course ex-
coed these, but am merely trying TO give
q far average and to show what can
be done by giving proper attention to q
hrst-olass pig. AS we are now at the sea-
son OF the year when Bermuda grass can
be successfully set will close this article
be showing how, in my Judgment, it
should be planted. 1t is really rather
alhcult TO plant 1t so as to insure a fair
turf the first year. But if the ground is
well broken and narrowed, and the grass
Is set in pieces cut from good turf four
leet apart each way, it generally covers
theinterYening space during the following
season, unless it proves 10 be au unusu-
ally ory one. The pieces set should be at |
least an inch thick and four inches in di- |
ameteT, and they should be planted deep |
aud almost covered with earth. 1 am |
aware that If is frequently said that Ber- |
muda grass Will grow anywhere and on |
any Kind of ground, and that it will |
take root wherever dropped, but my ex-
perenee has been otherwise, and l know |
OF several places where it has been care
iessly set and not trace of it can now
Ue found. But plant it properly, and af-- /
Ter II once takes root it will stand almost |
Auy kind of treatment, and respond
promptly to sn application of manure,
. anu 1t Is about the only kind of grass
ina tnas Will give any satisfactory return on
high-priced land. 3"