The Mena weekly star., 1910-03-10
Hog Law and Meat Prices.
To the Editor of The Star.

"S III" JJiity UT people Tn this county. l have noticed for long time that all the Southern states or parts of states that have a hog law have high priced meat. Il IS about two cents higher in Tex. as, Oklahoma and other hog law countries than it is in Arkansas. l have been in Polk county g years and l do not remember of ever buying pound of hog meat during this time. have meat to sell every year and 1 have made a great deal of money since came to Polk county by raising hogs. My experience IS ihai hog raising in the woods in the spring and summer are healthier than hogs tbat are kept up, be- cause they root and get different kinds ol herbs that are good physic and help to keep them in healthy condition. I do not keep any razor-backs at all. My hogs are all full blooded Poland Chioa and they are absolutely the best range hog l ever had ia my lie l feed them a little every morning the whole year ihroug n that IS my stock hogs-and they keep iu good shape all the time. Of course put my killing hogs up and feed them all the corn they can eat uutll they get fat. It would cost me a great deal more to raise my meat if had to keep my hcgs up and that would cause me to have to sell 1t hig her. always keep good fencing around my fields so my hogs never get in until turn them in after crops are gathered to cat the wasted corn and peas. If l had farm and the tillable land on it was not worth fencing l would not try to cultivate it at all. l would turn 1t into a stock Harm at once. 1 think there are some people iu this county that want to cultivate their lands and not have to go to the expense of repairing their fences or building new ones, and so they want the hog law.
 Some people say that they have not got th. timber to make the rails to repair their fences. That is no excuse for hog law-they can buy wire and wire their land in. Land that is not worth wir. ing IS not worth having in field or cultivating. We have a great deal of land in Polk county that is so diversified by ridges, hills and low mountains that 1t never can be cultivated. So you think that God made a mistake when he caused those hills and mountains to be thrown up by subterranean heat? 1 do not think that God ever ma 1e mistake in anything, so 1 think that he made this di- versified land for the benefit of the human family. How can we get the benefit of it unless we let our stock run on it? The range in Polk countyis worth thousands of dollars every year to the peo pie who live in it.
 Some people say that a hog will grow faster and fatter in pen or lot than he will on the out side or in the woods on the same amount of feed, That is a sad mistake. I have tried it several times. We have had couple of hogs in lot for about a yearand they are nice, young. thrifty hogs and we have fed them about 10 or F ears of corn a day and big candy bucket full of slop. So now we have put up hogs to tat ten and they will average as large as the two we have had up all the year, all the identical same stock. We have feed the stock hogs that we have put up to fat ten about one ear of corn apiece once a day.
 1 I think it is a good idea for a mau to practice what he breaches. It is the disposition of people to ltry to better their condition all through life. Now if l thought my hogs would dc better iu lot than in the woods on the same mount of feed would put them up and so would the other fellow.
 The hogs do not destroy near as much of the crop in this settle meut as the cattle, but it is a Il on account of bad fences. 4 COW oi hog has to learn to be breechy Ibefore it can be breechy, and bad fencing is alwaysthe cause. Now suppose we had the hog law. We would still have to keep good fences around our farms to keep the cattle and other stock out. Some say that three wires will turn the cattle. That is a sad mistake. I know of farms that are fenced with seven or eight
 wires aud the cattle go through | lat