Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-20

pounds of barley, so it is up to you
to learn how much is best for them.
| If you overfeed the mothers 1t viii
scour the little ones and you will have
bad results from it.
Now as the little ones begin to cat
you must increase their feed in proper
ton; watch them close and do not
oVerfeed at any time, being sure to
give them full feed at night and
slight feed in the morning. Now, If
you try this with good judgment it Will
/ produce results.
have been asked to make this
statement public, but l am poor
hand at making plain what | want to
say; but 1 do hope you will be per-
mitted to call on me at some time and
see these things for yourself and have
me explain the details to your per-
| sonally.
You have heard my story of raising
the pigs, but so far l have not told
you a word Of how much money there
| is in it. Well, l can answer that easily.
In 1907 1 sold 81. 500 worth of fat
| hogs off of 800 acres of land and had
1000 head of hogs left
In 1908 I sold $12,S0O of fat hogs and
had 1900 head left.
This year, 1909, 1 shipped twenty-five
carloads of hogs, and from this you
/ Gdn ItdullN ste IL AlltI Z ID any AiicAASS
| in the business.
You ask, what does it cost each
year to run this business?' In re-
ply I will say that my yearly expense
| Is about $4,000, but even though l am
paying this out l am increasing in gain
all along-in money as we'll as expert
ence.
Again you will want to know what l
mean when l say Keep the hogs
Clean" Well, 1 mean keep your sows
| and pigs clean until they are two
months old at least, for there is where
the most trouble lies in raising hogs III
the Imperial valley.
We do not have hog cholera here and
you will want to know the reason Why.
J 1t is because the atmosphere is so
| light and dry. the weather warm at all
times, no rain to speak of and plenty
of salt in the earth for stock of all
kinds. In fact we do not have to salt
stock of any kind in this valley. You
| will wonder how we raise anything i'll
salty land. 1t is not too salty, only IN
portions, and If the land is. properly
watered this salt washes off, and the
| people of Imperial valley have loca-
| tion that comes as near being hog
| cholera proof as any place l know or.
l do not want you to get the idea
| that there is no money in anything
| but hogs in this valley. There is money
| in all lines of business in this valley
| if properly handled. I find it money
| maker in every way. We can grow
| anything we want and do not have TO
| stop at one crop a year. We can grow
two grain crops each year and can
! grow seven good crops of alfalfa and
! then have good pasture on the same
ground for the balance of the year.
Nowhere else can you do this. If
you know where ] would like you to
write me, for I am looking for just
such a snap. But l failed to find them
until 1 arrived in Imperial valley on
| March s. 1905. Then l found the snap
had long been looking for, and L am
certainly going to stick to it.
Since coming here / have bought sew
eral large tracts of land and am still
buying as fast as the hogs raise the
| money for me to buy with. [ expect
to make 500 per acre clear on all the
land I have on my hands before the
end of two years. If l still raise hogs
and the market price does not go be-
low ~ cents per pound.
Now, do not get the idea that I wish
every one to tell me all this. for if they
did and I put it into practice 1 would
surely come out on the wrong side of
the ledger No, Just look things over
and ask all the questions I see fit to
ask; that is the way TO find out what
| the other fellow knows about his
| business.
You can readily see for yourself that
I am thoroughly interested in my
| business of hog raising.
I am sure there will be many of the
| fancy hog breeders who, in looking
| over these statements, will say that /
| do not know what | am talking about,
but am not worried about that. I am
not in the fancy hog raising business.
l am here for what money there is in
| it for me, and 1 could not come up to
| the details of the fancy breeder.
I am Just a stock man trying out the
| different plans Of raising pork as cheap
as l can and selling it for the highest
| market price.
Now, as said before, am not try
ing to raise fancy hogs, bur | always
| keep good grade of stock. / find the
Poland China straight is not the best
for man who wants to raise and mar
| ket large amount of fat hogs each
year. 1t is a fact that the sows do not
raise their little ones as we'll as does
! a sow that is half Poland. China and
half Berkshire. | find this cross the
best for the valley in a great many
! ways. The sows are better rustlers
| and take better care of the little ones;
also they have about the right number
of little ones to do well. 1t is a well
| known fact that seven good, strong
| pigs are worth more than ten or twelve
weakly ones, so ! find this cross the
| best.
Regarding the boars, 10 not find
much difference between the Poland
| and the Duroc, so | have both kinds
in practice on my place.
one thing that ] want to speak of
that is very profitable for hog raising
! in this valley II is best to keep a
very close watch on your sows, and
when they do not have the right num-
ber of pigs at the second litter it is
| best not to keep them; perhaps you do
not know what is the right number; it
| is from five to eight l find that a SOW
| Is at her best at the third litter of
| pigs. After that they begin to have
all the way from ten to fifteen pigs,
and when there are so many of them
they will not have good strong pigs,
| so | make it rule not to keep a SOW
longer than three years.
| You will probably wonder how
keep up brood sows one-half Poland