Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1904-11-05
Artichokes
for Swine

In answer to q reader who desires
some information relative to the value
Of artichokes for swine we have to say
that there is not apparently a great
abundance of literature upon the sub
ject. Our own observation is. how
ever, that much less is said now in IA
vor of artichoke growing for swine
than we used to hear fifteen years
ago. Many gave this succulent food
a trial in the feeding of swine and
vertisements and articles emanating
from men who had tubers to sell. The
tubers grew all right and the hogs
loved to root them out and eat them,
but the trouble was that when the
farmer wanted to root them out per-
manently he could not do so. The
Jerusalem artichoke refused to be
choked off just as other importations
from the land of the Holy City tend to
become fixtures where they take root.
1t became a weed, for so is rose OF
the greatest beauty if it grows where
1t is not wanted-in a corn field for
instance. 1t sprang up from severed
tubers and in short was very difficult
to get rid of when once introduced.
the same value as potatoes Tor swine
feeding. 1t is not stated, however,
whether the comparison is between
the cooked or raw tubers. If we re-
member Alright the same authority has
shown that four pounds of boiled po-
tatoes fed against one pound of grain,
both in conjunction with skinned
milk, gave practically the same gain
in live weight. From this we take it
that raw artichokes are supposed to
be equal in feeding value to cooked
potatoes for swine in which case four
pounds of raw artichokes would be
equal to one pound of grain if fed in
conjunction with skinned milk or
whey This may be so but it has
produce much if any gain when fed
alone and the same thing is true OF
rape. Prof. Plumb of Indiana reports
that four sows placed in a small field
of artiChokes that had not been dis
turbed made total gain in weight OF
| twentyseven pounds between October
20 and November 8. They rooted out
| ton fifty-seven and one-half pounds
each of corn meal and shorts. This
| is not very good showing but some
very hattering claims have been made
| by others. Coburn quotes A. G. Will
Jams, a prominent and successful Po-
| land China breeder in Iowa many
years ago, as writing: "The keep of
my hogs in warm weather is blue
grass, clover and Brazilian artichokes.
Forty head of hogs and their pigs
may be kept without other feed on an
acre of artichokes from the time frost
is out of the ground until the first of
June, and from September or October
until the ground is again frozen" At
the Oregon Experiment station six
Berkshire pigs weighing from 113 to
215 pounds each were fed artichokes
and grain from October % to Deem
Der IL. They gained 244 pounds in
weight, or an average gain of 0.S1
pounds per day. The pigs ate 756
pounds of grain during this period,
which is 81 pounds of grain for each
pound Of gain in live weight. In other
experiments it was found that it re-
quired five pounds of mixed grain to
produce a pound of gain, hence on
this basis the artichokes consumed
would represent two pounds of grain
in producing each pound of grain in
live weight The pigs consumed the
artichokes on one-eighth of an acre
! Sweitzer, of the Missouri station, re-
ports a trial by Porter in which arti-
chokes and wheat meal were fed pigs.
1t required 325 pounds of wheat meal
and $40 pounds of artichokes to pro-
| duce 100 pounds of increase. In none
of the reports on feeding artichokes
were results secured in gain Of live
weight that have not repeatedly been
attained by feeding no larger amount
of grain than is identicated in these
trials but without artichokes. AS arti-
! chokes are apt to prove a nuisance
when given a place on the farm and as
they do not apparently give any great
returns in feeding we see no reason
why farmers should not prefer rape,
clover and green rye, each of which
is a. good forage crop and never a
trouble to eradicate. If any reader Of
the paper can from his personal ex-
perience show evidence to the con-
trary of the latter conclusion he is "in
order" and has the foor."-A. S. AL
exander in Farmers Review.