Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1891-07-22

large profits at first expected cannot be
realized. The business is not more
profitable than other branches of farm
ing.
There has been so much said about
hog cholera and so many reports of
Wholesale losses in the west, and so
many incOmprehensible terms used in
have been led to regard it as plague
like small pox that can neither be pre-
vented nor cured without the adoption
of means which are not at their COM
nand. Therefore they take their
chances and live in ignorance of its ma
ture and fear of its approach. There
are many causes of fatal epidemics
among swine and many forms of dis
ease that are called cholera, but whether
that name is broad enough to cover the
whole or the various forms should have
special names, we will not attempt to
decide. But we are of the opinion that
if one of the rules of health that are
admitted 10 be absolutely necessary in
the care of other stock were applied to
the care of swine, there would be less
disease among them than among any
other animal.
Swine are expected to live and thrive
on what nothing else will eat. When
any article of food becomes sour or
rotten it goes into the swill-tub. De-
cayed vegetables, mouldy corn, putrid
meat, and many other things that
should be buried at once, find their
way into the pig trough. Then when
disease breaks out it is mysterious
dispensation of Providence. Another
feature of the case is that pigs are
often kept in the mud or on frozen
filth with no dry spot to lie down on,
and often on tho excrement of other
animals, where pure air is out of the
question. A striking instance of this
came under our observation several
years ago. We were looking at the
stock at the Soldiers home at Topus,
Me-, and in a cellar under the horse
stable we found about 40 Berkshire
pigs. The place was supposed to be
lighted by a row of small windows So
near the sill of the building that the
sun never shone on the bottom, and |
the dust and cObwebs had made them |
almost as useless IA a board. The |
bottom of the pens were all covered |
with mud, and thin mud, an inch deep, |
that had dripped from the sides and
legs of the pigs was the nearest to a
dry spot they had on tire platform
where the nest should have been.
There were at that time over 600 |
men in the institution, and these pics
were fed with the waste from the
tables; good, clean food. The owner
expressed some surprise that the pIas
did not do better, but as we soon found
that he was one of those who think
pigs enjoy filth, we said but little. A
few years later we called there again,
and while looking about the buildings,
we asked the farm superintendent
where the pigs were. He said they
could not keep pigs there. They had
lost $4,000 by disease among swine
since the institution started and had to
give it up. There was come mystery
about 1t. We asked what was done
with the waste from the kitchen and
tables, and he said a man near Augusta
bought it by the barrel for his pigs.
We soon visite, the man who bought
the swill to see how his pigs looked
The man in charge of the barns pointed
to door opening into basement
under the barn and said we would find
them in there. On opening this door
there was nothing to be seen but bed
of clean straw. Starting to go across
to look in another place we stepped on
a pig and he gave a grunt and crawled
out, and in half a minute about 80 rose
up out of the straw, like the followers
of Roderic Dhu. They We're dry,
clean, fat and cOntented and would
weigh about 200 pounds each. These
pigs were fed on the same food as
those which had died by wholesale till
the loss was s. 900, and the food being
exactly the same we must look else
where for the cause of the difference
In success. And we think it was in
hit pile of straw and the dry, we'll
lighted room.
Alter a thorough investigation ms TO
the cause of rust in wheat and other
grains, the Guelph (Ont.l Agricultur-
al College has arrived at the following
conclusions: l. Seasons are the chief
cause of rust; sudden changes of tenn
perature and rain, accompanied by
close, still weather, are favorable to !
its increase. 2. Low-lying, rich soils
are most subject to attack. s. An ex-
cessive use of manures rich in nitrogen
encourages the disease. 4. Late-sown
grain is most subject to attacks. 5. |
Thinly sown crops seem most liable to