The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1901-08-01
lean ". lard HOGS.

A4rA4 = ANAA AAOKte
While the attention of s~tockbreeders
Is being justly attracted to the won
derful possibilities offered for the sue
cessful production OF sheep for mutton
and wool upon the fertile, virgin soils
OF the cheap, cut and burnt-over lands
skirting the lines of the Wisconsin
Central railroad in Northern Wiscon-
sin it should be borne In mind that
the same region offers essentially prac-
teal inducements to the swine raiser.
The corn belt, with its magnificent
yields of golden ~grain-corn that by
reason OF its treasures of starch and
oil furnishes the best possible mate
rial for the production of animal fat
has given rise to a breed of swine
noted the world over as the lard hog"
This, surely, Is q fitting name for the
Poland China, which, with the trot-
ting horse, lays claim to American
origination and has brought credit and
cash galore to its producers. But
even corn, like other kings, has It's
failings and the lard hog is not the cri-
terion of conformation, constitution, or
quality. Corn is an incomplete food
superlatively rich in fat formers but
correspondingly poor In bone and mus
Gle making materials-hence animals
produced generation after generation
upon cor as a well nigh exclusive
diet become similarly incomplete. Like
corn they abound in fat; like corn they
lack the corresponding constituents OF
protein-they are deficient In vim,
vigor, bone and muscle. To these hogs
cholera has proved a scourge. Their
debilitated constitutions and sluggish
blood have offered the germ of the dis
ease its most suitable habitat and pro-
liferating place; thus the annual raw
ages of the fell disease have sadly off,
set the profits of marketing corn In the
shape of the lard hog. In Canada the
lard hog has not been extensively
bred; nor could 1t originate in that
colder, higher land where corn is not
the cheapest, most prolific grain.
Where legumes luxuriate there the ba-
con hog thrives best. His frame is
strong in bone; his muscle well devel-
oped; his constitution rugged and har-
dy; his blood pure and his whole sys-
tenn healthy, hence cholera and kind
red diseases rarely find in him a
breeding place. Nowhere do legumes
flourish better than in Northern Wis
consin. Glover springs up wherever
sown, drowning unsightly stumps in
pillows of succulent green forage. One
seeding is enough, for clover here
neither winter kills nor throws out
with frost. Crimson, red, white and
alsike clover, cowpeas and beans
these are the legumes, while supple
mentary heterogeneous food is near at
in the cheap wheat screenings to
be had from the great -four mills of
and used with profit for hog
feeding.
When to high altitude, pure water,
atmosphere and abund-
ance of oats and other pro-
teln-rich feeding material cheap
ly produced and procured is add
the fact that swine disease has
never invaded this region, it surely be-
comes apparent that here is to be
found Natures s~anitarium for the pro-
of healthy swine. Here in the
of the Farmers Review could
be bred and reared to a fattening age
hogs Of perfect constitution and vital
Ity, to be killed for well-mixed bacon
Or fattened on cheap corn farther
south, with no loss from cholera or
other disease.