Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1910-11-15
Hog Farming.
MOST PRoFIrABLE BUSINESS AND HAS
MANY ADVANTAGES.

The hog is a great feeder, as would bt
expected in an animal which produces
the fat that he does, and the hog likes t.
wallow in the mud (clean mud prefer
ably) II has, therefore, come about
perhaps not unnaturally and yet with
the aid of mans mismanagement and
poor care of the animals, that the mere
name of the hog has come to be most
opprobrious term. And yet, except FOL
his voracious appetite, which Can DO and
is made blessing to mankind, the hog
Is pretty respectable animal. II thai
was not so, il is not likely that his flesh
would be considered, as it is in many
ways, a great delicacy.
Hog breeding and raising seems to
many people a more or less dissgreeaole
business, but that is undoubtedly due In
part to the impression that great many
people have that the hog is a dirty ami
NAL. The hog is not naturally a filthy
animal, but he has been made so, in
dividually, by great many of the peo-
pie who keep hogs. The hen is not con-
sidered dirty animal because she likes
dust bath and sometimes almost buries
herself in the fine dirt of the roadside.
No more is the hog dirty animal be-
cause he likes to wallow in the earth or
in mud and water. III given the oppor-
tuuity, the hog will keep himself as
clean as any other animal.
With this as starter, there are many
reasons why hog farming is desirable
business. There are many reasons why
it is desirable az generous department,
of the business OF the general farmer,
the man who is carrying on diversified
form of farming in this section of the
country. In the first place, it is very
profitable. The readers of the Maine
Farmer oubtedly noticed the ref
erences in the report of the Franklin
County Fair To a well known farmer who
keeps two brood SOws, and who sold
during the year eighteen pigs for five
dollars each, a total of ninety dollars.
When one realizes that six pigs at a
litter twice a year is low average,
while ten and eleven are not uncommon,
and that all which are not sold at the
five dollar stage can be readily convert
ed into pork at greater profit than al
most any other thing that can be raised
ON the farm, especially in these days OF
high prices, the atTractiveness of hog
farming is by no means strange thing.
One should not get the idea from re-
marks of this kind, however, that all
that is necessary for one to do is to buy
a couple of hogs and turn them loose in
a field or dump them into an old-fashion-
ed sty which has been and still Is used
for a manure receptacle, and under such
conditions expect the dollars of profit to
actually force themselves into ones
pocket. 1t is more than likely that un-
der even such adverse conditions the
hogs would be likely To yield profit,
but the danger of their contracting dis-
ease would be increased, they could not
attain to the most desirable condition
for market, and there would be many
more chances that the embryo hog raiser
would meet with disappointment and go
out of the business. The mistake that
great many people make when they
read about the great profits in raising
hogs OF some other farm products, is IN
jumping at the conclusion that it is all
done without the taking of any par
ticular care or the expenditure of any
time, thought or money in the outset, or
sny time during the process. The secret
oi great profit, whether 1t is in raising
hogs or straw berries, is in careful breed,
ing, feeding, cultivating, cleanliness and
proper harvesting.
IL makes no particular difference what
breed of hogs man chooses II he
chooses some which are adapted TO his
conditions and which he likes and then
cares for them. Every man thinks bis
particular breed is the best, or should
think SO, for they are all good and all
have their points of superiority in the
minds of some OF us.
A short time ago We visited large
piggery in New Hampshire, and there
We were impressed more than ever with
the idea that the hog is naturally more
or less cleanly animal, more cleanly in
some respects than many other farm
animals. The hogs in this piggery have
two sections to their pens and then
sleeping sections are always clean. Al
another time we visited the piggery OF q
town farm in Connecticut and were still
more favorably impressed with the
cleanly habits of the hog. The pens
were so clean and the hogs and little
pigs were SO evidently cleanly them
selves that we found no difficulty at al
in believing the wife of the superintend'
ent of the farm (who was pig enthu'
siast herselD when she told us that a
little while before our arrival she had
actually climbed over into the pen to ad-
minister a dose of medicine TO one of the
little suckers which was sick.
We are not yet ready to accept that
declaration of the manufacturers OF lard
substitutes that hogs are filthy animals
and that their flesh is, therefore unfit
for consumption as food. II the in,
dividual hog is dirty, it is the fault oi
his owner and the conditions under
which he is kept.-Maine Farmer.