Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1893-11-23
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
HOGS AND THEIR RELATION
TO MORTGAGES.
Give This Important Animal Better
Care-IIow water Gets Into Tile
Keeping Potatoes soparate-Poultry
PIclSings nnd HuuieholI Help.


the Mississippi valley what, in the
past, sheep we're to the farmers in
the hills of Pennsylvania, West
Virginia and Eastern Ohio-the
great mortgage liquidator. BY feed
ing their enormous corn crops to
swine they escape the heavy expense
necessary to transfer their corn to
the market, and at the same time
realized more per bushel for 1t when
marketed as pork than would have
been possible if sold as corn, writes
T. ID. Beck in Colman's Rural World
Hogs have not only enriched the
farmers but they have been chiefly
instrumental in building up Chicago
Cincinnati Kansas City, St Louis
and many more of our prosperous
Western cities With such favor
able showing think they are justly
entitled to more consideration and
better care than is usually bestowed
upon them by the general faNmer. If,
with all the neglect and gloss mis-
management that has becp their
unfortunate lot in the past, aud they
have accomplished so much what
would have been the result had they
been given proper treatmentP In
the first place too many poor,
scrubby, ill-bred hogs have bed and
still are kept for breeders.
Every male pig not strictly pure
bred, and many that are, should be
omasculated before they are two
months old; it is the only perfect
guarantee that we have that they
will not double their own disgrace by
becoming the slres of pigs OF like
inferiority to themselves. A few
(not so few, either,) spayed sows will
have the same effect A sharp knife
properly handled is the chief agent
in the improvement of all classes of
domestic animals. 1t matters not
whether your breeding sows are pure
bred, cross-bred, high-grade, low
| grade, or scrubs, they should never
be mated with boar that is not
thoroughbred. We often see high
grade boar that to all appearances is
equal to the pure-bred one, but put
him to the test and his low origin
will crop out in his pigs as surely
as might follows day" No i'm
provement ever was or ever will be
effected by breeding from any but
pure bred males, and he who persists
in breeding to those miserable speci-
mems we too often see, that plainly
show their mongrel origin, are sim
ply committing self-robbery. A pure
bred male can now be secured at n
nominal price; there are thousands
raised every year that, while they
are not good enough for the purposes
of the professional breeder, are, or
would be if bred to the common herds
Of the general farmer, Of incalculable
value in the improvement in their
herds OF which they are capable.
Swine breed at an early age, and
may be bred twice each year, and by
using pure-bred males and selecting
the best SOW pigs and mating them
TO other pure-bred males in an in
,redibly short time the poorest herd
Of scrubs may be SO improved that
Tor all practical purposes are nearly,
II not altogether. the equal Of the
best thoroughbreds. Considering
the increased value of the product of
the herd, all this Improvement is
Effected without cost.
Once, and many yet adhere to the
customs of their youth, we were
taught that the brood SOW be poor,
a mere skeleton, at the time OF far
rowing, or she would neither farrow
large litters nor rear good pigs We,
some of us, know better than that
now and endeavor to keep all the
brood sows healthy and thrifty
very poor SOW is neither. The SOW
should not be fully fattened; that
would DO almost as bad as the old
plan, but she should be fully hall
lat Never fear, If she produces {
large family, with the most liberia
'eeding she'll be poor enough by the
time she weans her pigs.
TASTES change" and the markets
change with them. We were once
iustitiable in trying to market ou
hogs at as great weight as possible
Then if any large, overgrown hogs
were to be had the medium sized pil
was shown small consideration, bu
now he's son top and the forme
iavorite is far down In the scale o
iavoritism. In these days OF small
profits doubt very much If we ca
afford to feed our pigs until they ar
much more than six months old, an
il properly cared for and fed ever
day Of their short lives if they NJ
> we'll bred they can be made to wong
i, 200 pounds, even more at that age
There are many, very many reason
Tor getting rid of them as soon g
possible
-, w., o,.s IT., ,ruo