The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-02-01

sly, lOI IL Lie DOltOu ID iOW dho
damp pigs will never thrive. The
bottom of the pig house is of con-
crete, which is the very best material
for the purpose, and back from this
is long dry run, open at the top to
the winds and sunshine and sweet
smiles of nature.
1 fed my pigs on grain middlings,
but only gave them as much as they
could eat at one time. That is, /
never allowed any food to remain in
the trough after they had finished
meal, SO that they should come back
to it later. 1 fed them twice day,
at 6 A. NJ. and 6 P. NJ. in the Summer,
and at 7 A. M. and 6 P. NJ. in the
Winter, and was as regular as clock
work.
1 was accustomed to hasten away
from teas and receptions, and if peo-
pie protested said, "but / have my
pigs to feed," and then strangers
would stare, and those who knew me
would look wise and say something
nice about a ''brave little woman, F."
which always makes me mad, because
I'm not brave, Pm just sensible.
cut clover, grass and cabbage and
fed them to my pigs during the day,
and in the Autumn l used to go into
the woods, gathering acorns in all the
beauty of the fair, sweet weather
with the glory of the color all about
and the purple haze in the air to make
me poetic. These acorns, gathered
in such an ectasy of loving, I
fed to my pigs, throwing them about
the open pen so that they could seek
them out and have something pleas
ant to do:'
l gave them pure water once day
and let clean trough of it stand high,
where they could get it at any time
they wanted it.
HOW TO MAKE PIGS HAPPY.
The chief thing to be attended to,
apart from the sort of food given, is
to make the pig happy when fatten-
ing. A contented pig, when satisfied
with his position and food, will grow
fat as if by magic; whereas, a pig
that is discontented and worries will
not take on fat. For instance, seeing
other pigs at liberty will disconcert a
penned pig. If he is not fed at reg
ular hours and is given too much food
he will become fretful and worried.
Keep up a clock-like regularity.
Keep the pig clean and contented and
he will fatten amazingly and be in
fine fit for the market.
suppose some farmer will sneer
at ME and think I am romancing
about my pigs when 1 tell such gold
en- tales, and say nothing of sickness
and misfortunes. Every farmer knows
that pig keeping is not all beer and
skittles.
l only had one case of the much
dreaded cramp or rheumatism, and ]
attended to this at once and cured it
Immediately. Cramp in most cases
comes from feeding pig too much
and allowing him no exercise. When
my pig had cramp, or more truthful
ly rheumatism, kept him short of
food and let him out in the yard,
making him work for what he got.
Exercise is a sure cure for pig crarnp,
if given at once. But if the disease
gets tight hold of the pig and his
legs become contracted and drawn up,
the case is hopeless, and he should be
killed and buried.
None of my pigs ever got "sty-
taxed because they never had a dir
ty, filthy sty. Most farmers say the
only thing to do is to give pig the
filthiest possible place to live in. I
have ridden far and near through
New England country towns, visiting
farmers to look at pigs and study how
other people keep them, and l am
surprised that people can eat pork at
all or that any piggeries escape dis
ease. Only on rare occasions did 1
come across clean sty and we'll kept
pigs, and even then none was ever as
clean as mine. And say it without
conceit, just as one says black is black
and white is white.
If attempted to give advice, which
1 couldn't help doing sometimes, the
farmers would smile at me pityingly
and tell me they had no use for new
tangled notions. And suppose they
wanted to add for cranky women who
kept pigs.
PIGS TO BE PROUD OF.
1 never get cheated in buying pig
now, for I know a perfectly healthy
pig so we'll that / can't be hood
winked.
Oh, how many times they have
tried to cheat me, just a mere woman !
A perfectly healthy pig will have
bright eyes, wide open. His tail is
we'll twisted, and he will stretch and
rub himself against things, and his
hide will be clean and fresh looking.
No one can sell me bad pig now, l
can assure you, for I know every as
pect of the animal.
l suppose because / have said that
1 still go to receptions and dinners
and keep up my friends of fashion that
people will think 1 find my market
among them and that l prosper be-
cause of the charitable patronage of
my plying friends.
Not bit of it. My friends have
never had taste of my pork unless it
was a gift, and that is the way 1
make presents nowadays. One of my
spareribs is deemed far more choice
than piece of sterling Gorham ware.
My market is as independent of my
friends and relatives as I myself.
When I got ready to sell the products
of my piggery / sent printed state
ments to list of wealthy people,
without using my name, stating that
1 had for sale SO many clean, well-fed
pigs, the pork of which was like the