Page:The Hog.djvu/197

195 known to increase at the rate of 3 lbs. (live weight) per day, and often at the rate of 2 or 1 lbs. Here is some remuneration certainly for extra expense, even if the finishing off be entirely on meal and skim-milk.

"There is only one legitimate way of giving barley and that is in the form of meal made into porridge with lukewarm milk, whey, or water, to which potato-meal may be added or not, as is deemed desirable. To give the grain in a raw state, or even bruised, or infused in water till it begins to swell and germinate, is, we consider, very disadvantageous; it is, in fact, attended by two evils—in the first place, the greedy animal does not sufficiently grind down the food for the complete extraction of all its nutriment; and, secondly, semi-champed grain is liable to produce indigestion, loss of appetite, and fever. The same effects are produced by mixing the meal with boiling fluid, which converts it into a sort of dough or paste, very unfit for being taken into the stomach.

"Some recommend that the meal be mixed with cold water in large cisterns, the proportion being five bushels of meal to a hundred gallons of water. This mixture must be stirred several times a-day, for a fortnight or three weeks, until an imperfect fermentation takes place, and it becomes acescent. In this state its fattening powers are said to be greatly increased; but the ordinary way is to mix the meal with lukewarm water, or whey, or butter-milk (pea-meal or potato-flour being added or not), and give it in the form of a thick soup to the animals. Next to barley-meal, oat-meal may be ranked in order, and in some counties it is largely given. It may be made into a sort of thick gruel with wash or whey, &c., or it may be mixed with water, set to leaven, and given in an acescent state.

"Maize takes a high rank among the grains used for feeding hogs. It is little, if at all, inferior to barley, and the animals are very fond of it. It may be ground into meal, or given in its natural state, after being soaked for some time in water, either alene, or in a wash, or in gruel. In many parts of Europe, and in America especially, where many varieties of maize or Indian corn are extensively cultivated, the flesh of hogs, and also poultry, fed upon Indian corn, has a peculiarly fine flavor.

"Occasionally rice has been used for fattening hogs. One great objection to this article would be its expense, and we should not think it equal to barley-meal, although it abounds in nutriment. The proper way to prepare it is to put the rice into boiling water (two ordinary pailsful to about forty gallons of water), and let the whole stand for several hours till it is cold. The rice will then be found to have swelled amazingly, and to be compacted into a mass so firm as to admit of being taken out by means of a shovel. In this state it may be given to the hogs, either with whey, milk, &c., or by itself; a certain portion of potatoes mashed after steaming