The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1897-05-01
FARMER AND PLANTER
SWINE GROWING.
Conditions In the North and In the South
Differ.

Conditions In the North and In the South
Differ.
IA paper read before Mississippi Stock Breed
ers' Association, by e. p. Coleman.l
Without any preliminary introduce
ton, shall proceed at once to the
theme of this saper: / assert that we
can not raise <swine in competition
against the north, on lines laid down
by the hog growers of the north. This
discussion is from the standpoint that |
the final end of the hog Is the pork
house, SO its references are not directly |
applicable to the breeder, who performs
function distinct from that of the
pork grower The person who attempts
to follow in toto the idea of the north
ern swine grower and apply it to the
conditions that exist in our section Will
find that his pork would be like Horace
Greeley's potatoes, cost more than IL
could be sold for In the north
the hog is necessary auxiliary
to the corn grower. 1t converts
so many pounds of corn into so
many pounds of pork-that is almost
the entire function performed. 1t is
used for no other purpose and expected
to accomplish no other. Do we want
to feed corn to our hogs? Certainly
not. viii bushel of 40 cent Missis-
sippi corn make any more pork than
bushel of II cent Iowa corn? 1t is
true the young pigs sometimes get
milk and sometimes clover to push
them along to early maturity. But
how different are our environments,
and repeat it, the hog performs an
entirely different mission in the great
corn-growing northwest and the south
erner who attempts to follow him will
fail.
Well, why fail? This brings us to
the gist of the whole matter. Have we
not conditions, however different,
quite as strong in opportunity If we
only avail ourselves of them? There is
no country that furnishes more con-
tinuous and varied assortment of foods
its cheapness only excelled by its abun
dance. And greater than all of these the
hog can be his own feeder. BY intelli
rent rotation nine months out o
twelve our swine can CLEAN their OWE
food. This saves more than half thu
expense. This is our archimedean lev
err, and we have the fulcrum. too. Ca1
we not feed Irish potatoes in spring
Their food value is one-half that o
corn. Will swine eat them uncooked
Yes, especially if balanced with small
ration of corn. Wheat is ripe in May
and while we can not produce as mucl
as the plains of Kansas and Minnesota
we get the winter pasture for youn
pigs and raise over half as much grain
with a nominal cost to harvest, an
with hogs, our land is IN more pro
Duct ye condition for corn or COW peas
Oats can follow two weeks later unde
like conditions. have fed eanteloupe
largely in July, making from 5000
5000 per acre. Their food value is vi
known to me, but they contain lare
per cent of saccharine matter.
In August we strike our staple he
food, COW peas and corn supplements
by sorghum and sweet potatoes fl
dessert. Remember the text, let ii
hog gather everything. As to pasture
YOU can have them all the year roun
l mean green food, not few ''san
! papered" corn stalks and dry sedl
grass; bat real, live, green pasture
Now You will ask, how are we goii
1 to do all this? Prepare for hogs or
: the business alone, that is what is t
matter now. Many go into improv
g swine raising in a two-acre lot of mu
= and the balance have no lot at all, b
4 go it on the old style root pig or di
t principle. Let us borrow the improv
{ stock from the north, but nothing ell:
4 Let us work our own destiny and {
velop and utilize the Incompatible
vantages we possess for one
lieve this fair land of ours is the fla
est and most blessed the sun shines {
>. and if we only use what kind Pro
dence has given us we can meet co
= petition from any source. = Ru
. World.