The Columbus journal., 1893-11-22
FARN AND HOUSEHOLD.
uoos AND THEIR RELArioN
TO MoRToACEs.
Give fAls Inportant Aninsl Better
Csre-How Water Gets lato file
Kesplng Potatoes eeParate-Pouitry
RSeklnes and Houssholi Help.


The Mortsage Liter.
Swine have been, and still are. to
the farmers Of the great corn belt of
the Mississippi valley what. in tho
past, sheep were to the farmers in
the hills of Pennsylvania. West
Virginia and Eastern Ohio-the
great mortgage Hquidator. 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 havo
been possible II sold as corn. writes
r. D. Beck in Colman's Rural World.
Hogs have not only enriched the
farmers but they have been chiefly
instrumental in building up Chicago.
Cincinnati, Kansa, City. ST. Louis
and maAy more of our prosperous
Western cities. With such q favor.
able showing think they are justly
entitled to mere consideration and
better care than is usually bestowed
upon them by the general farmer. II.
with all the neglect and gross mis-
management that has been their
unfortunate lot in the past, and they
have accomplished so much. what
would have been the result had they
been given proper treatment? In
the first place too many poor.
scrubby. ill-bred hogs have been and
still are kept for breeders.
Every male pig not strictly pure
bred. and many that are. should be
emasculated 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 sires of pigs of like
tnferiOrity 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 a boar that is not
thoroughbred. We often see a high.
grade boar that to all appearances is
equal to the pure bred one. but put
him to tho test and his low origin
will crop out in his pigs US 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 spcci-
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 q
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
credibly short time the poorest herd
of scrubs may be SO improved that
for all practical purposes are nearly,
il 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,
q 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-a
very poor SOW is neither. The SOW
should not be fully fsttened: that
would be almost As bad as the old
plan. but she should be fully half
fat. Never fear, if she produces q
large family, with the most liberal
feeding she'll be poor enough by the
time she weans her pigs.
Tastes change" and the markets
change with them. We were once
justifiable in trying to market our
hogs at as great weight as possible.
Then if any large. overgrown hogs
we're to be had the medium sized pig
was shown small consideration, but
now he's ION top" and the former
favorite is far down IN the scale of
fxvoritism. In these days of small
profits doubt very much if We can
afford to feed our pigs until they are
much more than six months old, and
If properly cared for and fed every
day Of their short lives il they are
we'll bred they can be made to weigh
250 pounds, even more at that age.
There are many, very many reasons
for getting rid of them rs soon as
possible.
How Water Gets Into Tile.
Professor j. NJ Bloss of the On
tsrio state college gives in a recent
lecture on tile draining, some true
and some false theories. He claims
that water does not come through
the tops of tile, but from the bottom
where the ends come together. This
is generally true. though in
. severe rain storm, when the
soil is drenched with water.
some of it is washed through The