The Mena weekly star., 1910-02-03
Hog Raising in Pasture.
1e Editor of The Star:

to the hog law aud hog pasture. Brother Farmer, 1 am not ia favor of a general stock law, but if 1t isleyer put to vote l will vote for hog law. Why? Simply because a hog running outside never dld me much good. l haven't got but a small farm of 4l acres, but hog law or no hog law, l am going to keep my hogs in pasture. But 1 rather have the law. We'll. some will say you want to force others 10 keep their hogs up. l do, for their benefit, as we'll as for mine. If l was a renter, as l have been, I would vote for a hog law, for I rented two years, and the corn that the other fellows hogs destroyed for me, and the time 1 lost in running them, would have bought my meat, and had to keep my hogs up and feed them. look at both sides of the ques- tion. The land holder ought to 1 fix the fence, but does he? He could make a small pasture, but will he? So there is the question. We can neither force the land owner to do either. Of course this is not the circumstance in every case, but as I see it, there are a good many such cases, so fwhy not have hog law if we have to keep our hogs up anyway? There will be some that will make pasture and they will be like those that make good fence, they will get the best renters and the other fellow $ hogs are not b b)theriug you by destroying your crop or giving hog cholera to your hogs, so keep pure bred hogs and have good, sweet meat. n | If I had land to rent I would prefer to make small pasture for my tenants hogs, than try to build fence tight enough to keep those razor-back hogs out, for they will never out-grow a hole. Ihave tried some of this since I purchased farm. Last year my neiehbor had the woods full of those razor-backs that could go through crack no thicker than your hand, so they rooted up my corn three times, and this fall he didn't have a year-old hog big enough 10 fatteu after giving me all that trouble. That is why 1 say hog outside is no good only as a nuisance, and another thing l want to call your attention to, if you haven't thought of it, is that he is not only nuisance, but he destroys the GOV range by roofing up the grass.
 Now some will say, how are you going to keep pasture for him, then, if he roots up the grass? Well. if you keep good hogs, you can afford to put rings tn their noses and grow forage crops for them, or pasture them on fields, after the crops have been taken off, which you will be glad to have rooted up and fertil- ized by them.
 My father was a hog raiser, killing from 2,000to 1000 pounds of pork a year, and made them, from B to IS months old, weigh 331 pounds and at P months as high as 447 pounds. It wouldn't take many of them to do an ordi- nary family. Three of the first size named would be 993 pounds. Say 1t would take five to make l,000 pounds of dressed meat, that would do the average family. Two acres in good pasture, with cross fence so you can change from one to the other, and two bush els of corn a month for the bunch will keep them in good growing shape for nine or ten months, and about five bushels of peas to fatten them. That is only 45 bushels of corn.
 Now 1 will try to tell you what is best as far as my experience goes. l would SOW rye in one lot and wheat in the other, or rye in both. This is for renter when the land holder won't supply grass and clover. I am clearing six acres that am going to SOW iu grass and clover next fall, and then have some rye pasture fer change, and after he rye, SOW to cowpeas.
 Hoping this will interest and benefit some one,
 Kelsie F. Smsllwood,
 Opal, Ark.
 r. s fergos 10 say that the scraps from the table that il takes to feed the dogs used to run the rag orbacks out ot your crops, will. go long way toward keeping the hogs.