(2.) That the muscles of the body fail to develop to their normal size, especially some of the most important ones, as those along the back.
(3.) That an abnormally small amount of hair and a thin skin result.
(4.) That while the brain, heart and lungs do not seem to chv.. in weight, the spleen, liver and kidneys are unusually small.
(5.) The amount of blood in the body is greatly re duced from the normal.
(6.) The strength of the bones may be reduced one half.
It would seem that we may conclude that a system of feeding which robs the hog of half his blood and half the natural strength of his and produces other violent changes, is a most unnatural one, and must, if persisted in, end in giving us a race of animals which will be unsatisfactory to all concerned. From the par •nts thus weakened must come descendants that will fall easy victims to disease and disaster. Knowing the facts as here set forth, can we any longer wonder that our hogs are weak in con stitution and easily break down when attacked by disease? Nor is this all ; the meat from such animals can hardly be of flavor and composition satisfactory to the consumer. If even a part of What has been set forth is correct, is it not high time we turned our energies toward better meth ods? To do this calls for higher thought, better tare, but I fully believe no extra outlay of money; rather, I believe, we can feed hogs more profit ably by rational methods than by the unscien tific and shiftless ways now only too common. First of all, we must see to it that breeding sows are fed a proper ration in which protein compounds form a liberal share. The young pigs must likewise have a goodly allowance of protein, while the mature hogs, when fattening, can be fed a large proportion of carbhydrates, especially if we wish to make a large proportion of lard. The food articles at our command which are rich in protein are skimmilk, butter milk, shorts, bran, peas, green clover and the like. No farmer can afford to manage his farm with a minimum of these muscle-making foods; they should be supplied abundantly and at a reasonable cost if we will only study to do so.
Shall we raise less corn, then? ' Nat at all. The corn crop is the best of all we raise, and let the word be "more," rather than "less." We need it all, but we must not forget that protein is some what lacking in the corn. We may compare our corn to the brick which go into a building, and the protein foods to the mortar which cements the brick together. He who would' lay up brick without mortar builds foolishly, and his house will tumble. Should he find out his take, such a man should not from that date neg lect the brick and turn his whole attention to the mortar. Plenty of good strong mortar and an abundanCe of brick are what he needs. We do not want less corn, but we want more clover, more shorts, more bran, more peas, more skim milk and such foods to bring the highest re sults. Without attempting to give any exact rules for guidance, the following statements may not be out of place: During gestation, breeding sows should have only a small allowance of corn, the feed being mainly that which will go to give her young good sound bodies. Such feed would be shorts (middlings or shipstuff), bran, skimmilk, buttermilk and clover. When suckling her young, of course milk is one of the best articles at our command. When weaned, the pigs may get, say two parts of milk by weight, one part of shorts and one part of corn meal. A run on good clover would go far to make a good frame. When nearing maturity the ration can be changed more and more to the carbonaceous, and for the last two months, when fattening, the feed can be largely corn, if one desires fat pqrk, but if lean, juicy meat is desired, the muscle-making foods must be con tinued.
[Nova BY THE EDITOR. Where protein is mentioned, food rich in muscle constituents are understood, as skim milk, shorts, dried blood, beans, peas, etc. .Wheu carb hydrates are spoken of, foods rich in fat producing ebments, as Indian corn and other starchy and oily- • foods are to be understood.]