The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1898-05-14

until they are five or six months old,
because no matter for what purpose
they are intended, the first work in the
preparation for that purpose In 10
build up the frame, to develop the
bone and muscle, say Texas Stock
and Farm Journal. Whenever the
weather permits the sows and pigs
should have free and wide range over
all the farm not devoted to cultivation,
and pasturage should be looked upon
as essential to their development. II
the ~pasturage is good the amount of
roofing they will do will not be a DAM
age to h range or the farm, for they
Will destroy many insect pests and the
exercise will be a benefit to the ami
mails. A patch of peas should be
grown on every farm for the young
pigs as well as for other purposes, and
he pigs should run in them an hour or
SO every day. The peas have much the
same nutritive qualities as milk and
are cheaper. When the pigs have them
In sufficient quantity their frames have
a rapid development and they can be
brought on to the corn feeding later
with less risk of injury than If they
had passed through the summer on
grass or alfalfa alone. But wherever
In Texas the alfalfa can be grown, and
In many portions of the state 1t will
thrive well, it ought to form a most
important part in building up the
frames of the young animals. After
they have become five or six months
old those that are to be kept as breed
ers should be separated from the ami
mails that are to be fed for the market.
Inc methods of handling the former
should not be materially changed, and
such changes as are made in feeding
the ~fattening animals should be made
gradually and cautiously, watching
them until they have been brought to
full feed. At no time is 1t we'll to con-
fine them solely to corn. Some green
stun should be given them, and some
variety of food, with plenty Of char
coal and salt, abundance of pure water,
and they should have clean, we'll shell
tered quarters. Corn, of course, will
be the principal food in finishing, but
it should never be given so freely and
exclusively al to cause the hogs to be-
come in the least tired of it. And at
eight or nine months of age they should
be ready for the market.
Market Steers Early.-Mr. w. H.
Thompson, Jr., president Of the Ma
tional Live Stock Exchange, in an ad-
dress to that body, says: Prepare and
market your beef steer either as q
yearling or two-year-old; in no case
keep them beyond three years. 1t is
during these years that the sap Is in
the beef. and If fat the animal Is IN
the best condition for the market he
will ever be or you car ever make him.
There is no surplus of bone or fat that
natures after the third year that adds
to his marketable value, and then again
after hat time a greater quantity and
heavier feed is required. The heavy
cuts of beef that were once in demand
are fast losing their prestige, as now
the general inquiry and demand OF the
consume is for prime young light
weights of beef. Evidences Of this
may frequently be seen in the market
quotations of cattle sales. wherein
prime yearlings are sold at the same
price per pound as prime f~our-year-oid
matured and finished cattle which have
cost the producer a goodly sum per an
imal more to make"
Cheap Feeds for Hogs.-Writers In
the agricultural papers are suggesting
several feeds for hogs that are said to
be better and cheaper than corn. A
practical hogman of Kansas writes that
he can raise 500 to 800 bushels Of arti-
chokes per acre and that he has turned
his large herd of hogs on them in Mo-
vember, and from that time cut his
corn ration to one-third, and that his
hogs did we'll. Another says he can
grow thirty loads Of pie-melons per
acre, and thinks they are cheaper and
better for stock hogs than corn. Still
another has kept nineteen head of hogs
on one and three-quarter acres of sor-
ghum and cut a good crop of fodder
from the same ground in the fall. But
wherever alfalfa can be grown 1t will,
perhaps, be found the most satisfac-
tory. 1t furnishes all the elements for
developing the growing animals and
puts them in splendidly prepared con
dition for being brought to fattening
feed.-Ex.
Gardens in Alaska.-Nearly every
village has a number of gardens in
which, in spite of very Indifferent cul-
tivation between planting and harvest,
potatoes, turnips, r~uta-bagas, cabbages,
cauliiowers, peas, carrots, radishes,
lettuce, onions, etc. are grown. Some
form of bedding the soil is practiced
nearly everywhere but the greatest evil
Is the tendency of crowding through
planting too closely. Close planting
seems nearly always the rule, and 1t
results in such a complete shading OF
the ground hat the suns rays rarely
or never strike the soil. Poor drainage
is often an accompaniment of close
planting, and, with the rank growth
of weeds it is no wonder that meager
results are obtained.
Depth of Planting Potatoes.-In
Canada a series of tests on planting
potatoes seemed to indicate that the
best depth was five inches. We do not,
however, know on what kind of a soil
this kind of result vas obtained. In
the same trials various kinds of pota-
to seed were used, as whole and cut,
and the seeds or sets were placed at
various distances apart, from one to