be kept in as good condition as is possible and yet retain a large store of vigor, as I believe an animal can and does, to a certain extent, transmit to his offspring his condition (feeding quality) at time of copulation.

And why not? How were the fine breeds brought to their present state of excellence? Simply by selection and feeding through many generations. Then why will not deterioration begin as soon as these conditions are neglected?

Of course the kind of feed on which an animal is kept has much to do with the stamina of the animal. I should feed very sparingly of corn to any breeding animal. Let the grain ration be a mixture of bran, ground oats, oil meal, and, in cold weather, a small portion of cracked corn; if you have hogs to follow, shelled corn will do as well. With clover hay, corn ensilage, and, in summer, grass for rough' feed, you will be sure of a breeder and good, thrifty offspring. Now how shall we care for and feed the elegant little calf when he has arrived? This is a question upon which cattle men differ greatly, some maintaining that a good calf can be grown on skim milk. Well, I believe he can, but will he be? I think, from observation, about one in ten of the calves fed in this manner will grow into steers that will top the market.

Is this the style of feeding that will return the most profit to the feeder? I believe not. I believe for the majority of farmers there is a better and more profitable way to grow this business calf, and that is to let him get his rations in the way nature prescribed until six months of age. Keep the calves by themselves and bring the cows to them twice a day. If you do not want to use all the milk from a cow for one calf make her feed two. Any good cow will raise two calves in a proper manner if the calves are taught to eat grain by the time they are three or four weeks old, which they will do if given encouragement.

Begin with a very small feed, increasing gradually until the animals are getting all they will clean up of the same kind of grain recommended for the bull. When the calves are weaned they will hardly notice the loss of the milk, and they should weigh about five hundred pounds at six months and should gain from seventy-five to one hundred pounds per month until one year old. I believe there is money in this style of animal. In fact, I know there is, because a calf grown in the manner described is worth, at six months of age, from twenty to twenty-five dollars, and there have been hundreds, yes thousands, of calves sold in the Southwest this fall and last at twenty-five dollars that had never tasted grain.

Would it not pay the farmers of Ohio as well to grow their own calves, as to bring them two thousand miles to feed, as a number have done the past fall? But these calves were dropped by well bred cows as well as sired by pure bred bulls. This brings us to another point which is very important, that is, growing and selecting cows from which to obtain these fine beef cattle. The very best on the farm should be used and the heifer calves saved for future breeding. In this way we can obtain a first-class herd in a few years at very little expense. If you get over-stocked with heifers, don't be worried, as I have seen just fairly good grade yearlings of one of the beef breeds sold the past summer for from thirty-five to fifty dollars, not a very slow business.

I have said nothing about exercise for the breeding stock as there is a great difference in animals and breeds; some breeds are more vigorous than others and require less exercise. It should be ample at all times to insure good health and vigor, and each breeder must be his own judge as to the amount necessary. The hornless breeds can be fed in large, roomy, well lighted and ventilated stables, and allowed to run loose like a flock of sheep. They seem to get about as much exercise as they require.

In closing let me say:

Breed the very best cattle you can.

Take care of them the best you know how, or can learn.

Do not be afraid of getting them too fat; if you think they are too fleshy, try taking it off with the curry comb and brush.

Always speak kindly to your cattle.

Feed at regular hours.

Grow your own feed as far as possible. Your farm will grow richer, your pocket-book fatter, and you will never regret your connection with the noble beef animal.

ADVANTAGES OF EARLY MATURITY IN FARM ANIMALS.

By JOHN A. FORNEY, Plainfield, O.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at Plainfield, Coshocton County, November 30 and
December 1, 1898.]

We live in a fast age. We rise and say good morning to our friends and neighbors for miles around, limited only by the length of wire connected with our telephones. We sit down to dinner today in our own family circle and before the next sunrise we are in New York or Chicago, as our business demands. Such things were not possible a few years ago.

But while the genius of man has been storing the lightning for his own use and harnessing the steam to his car wheels, it has also been busy in other lines. Today a colt is foaled; four years from today this colt is a mature horse with a full mouth and goes to market at the top price he would ever bring. Today a calf is born; twenty months from today he is a finished Christmas beef and tops, the market at the very highest selling point of his life. Today a pig is farrowed; in six months this pig is a mature hog and demands the highest market price. These are results of early maturity. How many of us can remember when these results were not thought to be within the range of possibilities! Why are they advantageous? What does it mean in dollars and cents to put a horse on the market in a finished condition at four years instead of five? It means the saving of one year's keep, twenty dollars; interest on the price of a horse for one year, six dollars; risk of life one year, five dollars; total, thirty-one dollars. It means that you can put thirty-one dollars extra on the four-year-old horse and still be the gainer and we all know that that amount extra will keep him in prime condition every day of his life up to this time. Feed the colt liberally, make it fat on the right kind of feed, and never let it get poor. Once, in conversation with a great Scotch feeder, he made this remark: "You Americans lose your greatest chance to develop your young horses by not feeding in the summer time while on grass; then is the time you can make the greatest growth at the least cost and the least danger." I have thought of this remark often; it will bear careful study. Do you know that a calf will grow more pounds per day than a three-year-old, and you may feed them both all they will eat of the very best feed? If you do not, think about it; it is a fact. Why have the showrings of Great Britain dropped all classes for cattle over two years old? Because the margin of profit narrows with age, and our British cousins have not been slow to find it out. A calf of one of the beef breeds (and no one should think of making beef of any other), if properly handled from birth, should, at twenty months old, weigh thirteen hundred pounds. He will top the market in the greatest cattle market in the world, Chicago. The days of his most rapid growth are over; why keep him longer? I know the opposition will say that cattle kept

on this high pressure plan will not eat such rough feed, but I do not wish to winter my calves and yearlings on a straw pile, nor make them bite the grass to the dust, just for the sake of getting to feed a two or three-year-old, at twice the cost, which will make less growth per day than a calf six months old.

This early maturity idea furnishes the solution to the gravest question now confronting the cattle feeder, viz: "Where shall I get my feeders?" Buy the kind you want or could raise; if you cannot, the only thing left is to raise them. But to keep them till three years old before putting them on the market, as the prevailing custom now is, necessitates the keeping of a great many cattle. For instance, if you want to put off ten head each year, you must keep ten cows, ten calves, ten yearlings, ten two-year-olds, and ten three-year-olds, making in all fifty head of cattle. While by the other method you would have at no time more than thirty head, and four months in the year but twenty head, and that four months in the winter time, when it suits us best to have the fewest possible number. Another advantage which would be well for us to think of, is that the younger an animal is, especially the cow, the more thoroughly it digests its food. Hence there is less loss in feeding grain to young cattle than to older ones. If feed fed to a steer under twenty months old will make more beef than if fed to an older one, and that beef of the highest market price, where is the propriety of feeding the older one?

The feeding of hogs, or rather pigs (for we don't expect to keep them on our hands until old enough to be called anything else, unless by some misfortune over which we have no control), is very similar to the feeding of cattle; that is, in regard to the most rapid growth being the most profitable. The theory of scantily feeding a pig until he gets more bone and frame to feed on is all wrong. Life must be sustained every day, and every day we can shorten the time of reaching the best market weight is that much gained. The difference between making a pig weigh two hundred pounds at twelve months old and two hundred pounds at six months old, is the feeding of enough feed to sustain life one hundred and eighty days for nothing.

Think of it, brother pig feeder! Have we learned this lesson well?

Our profit lies not in how little can we keep the pig on, but how much can we get him to eat and digest properly. If you will feed a pig all he will eat of the right kind of feed, he will have bone and frame enough to carry his weight up to the most profitable time to market him.

I have only mentioned three kinds of farm animals, because they are the ones with which I have had the most to do, but I believe as strong a plea may be made for the early maturing of all other kinds as of these. Rapid and continuous growth is the key to success in these days of keen competition and great production. If you would have a large animal of its kind, you must grow it while young. If neglected or stunted while young, no amount of care and feed will make it what it might have been. After its bones have hardened and it takes on its stunted form it is impossible to make it reach that high standard which nature intended it to attain. I have tried to show you some of the attainable results. If any one thinks I have overestimated the capacity of our improved animals, I would be pleased to point him to a horse that weighed sixteen hundred pounds at the age of one year, to a calf that weighed eight hundred and sixty pounds at eight months old, to a pig that weighed two hundred and nineteen pounds at six months old. How were these extreme weights secured? By the intelligent feeding of well-bred animals. Don't waste your time, feed and patience on scrubs. It will not pay you.

524

PRACTICAL HOG RAISING.

By CHARLES HAINES, Centerville, O.

[Read at the Farmers' Institute held at West Carrollton, Montgomery County, December 28 and 29, 1898.J

On the subject of practical hog, raising the writer would say first, having selected your place or farm you should consider whether you will be a breeder in the highest sense, a mere dealer or a raiser. This may seem a foolish distinction, but it is a serious one and the determination as to which character will be assumed marks an event in life. It is not every man that handles hogs that can lay claim to the appellation of a breeder. There is no great skill in merely raising pigs, a few rules easily understood and applied will enable any one of ordinary intelligence to be reasonably successful so far as numbers are concerned. In fact the animals if left to themselves will propagate their species, as is clearly demonstrated by the action of wild and common domestic animals. The man who has no experience worth mentioning can raise hogs and supply feed in a humdrum sort of way that will produce pork, but whether at a profit or loss he does not know and never stops to consider. This, however, is merely mechanical or instinctive work and is not breeding swine in that higher and better and most profitable sense. The raiser will continue to supply meat at ordinary prices while the breeder will find a market for his stock at much larger and more uniform prices. There are in this country two distinct and separate classes of swine breeders, the one being he who only breeds and feeds for pounds and the other the proIn either case thoroughbred animals are a necessity in order iessional breeder. to be successful. You can buy thoroughbred stock at prices that will range from ten dollars up.

There is one very important point that every hog raiser should observe in the selection of his breeding stock, and that is the feeding or fattening qualities in the stock he is using, A good knowledge of pedigree will play a very important part in the selection of breeding animals; there is as much difference in different breeds of hogs taking on fat readily with a given amount of feed as there This is one of the good points to be obtained is in a large hog and a small one. in a knowledge of pedigree. Take the horsemen of our day; there is much to them in pedigree. You would not take a Clydesdale or a French Norman to produce the two-minute animal. Neither would you with the hog select the long legged, long bodied, long snouted, uneasy, restless hog to make pork quickly with a small amount of feed. On the other hand, you want a hog of compact form, short head, quiet disposition. This kind of a hog you can crowd rapidly and in the course of six to ten months he can be made to weigh two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty pounds. One thing should always be remembered, that pigs will take on fat more readily than older hogs.

The profit lies in getting to market promptly and often. No breeder or feeder loses anything by constantly keeping his hogs in a condition ready for market. Care, judgment and skill pay proportionately as well in raising porkers as thoroughbreds, but remember that life is too short to waste in feeding scrubs; the lower the price of pork the more important it is that the farmer have the best machine to work up corn at a profit. Pigs intended for pork should be crowded as rapidly as possible to be the most profitable. The advantage of growing improved stock does not lie merely in its better adaptation to the market wants and to the fact that it will respond more promptly and continuously to feed; the early age at which it matures is one of the sources of profit to its owner. Early maturity is chiefly a question of feeding for generations with a view of making rapid and continuous growth, the early maturing quality being trans

mitted, as it gradually increases, by heredity. Breeding at an early age also probably has much to do with the creation of the quality. It is possible to push it so far as that the results will be inconsistent will full and healthy development, but if this be avoided early maturity is one of the most valuable attributes of the improved animal.

As to the breeds every one must be his own judge. The writer has full faith in the Poland-China as being the most profitable, both to the feeder and the professional breeder. In his judgment they come nearer meeting all the requirements for either breeders or feeders than any of the distinct breeds, of which there are some good specimens.

If you have not had much experience, begin on a small scale and increase slowly until you have a liberal supply of it, for it matters not how much theory you have you will learn that it takes experience to insure success.

As stated before the profit lies in getting to market early and often. If big hogs are bringing the most money, hold over until early in the second year of life; if very fat hogs are demanded, make the porkers respond to the demand, and if more lean is desired, market before they get so fat. The best results come to us only as the result of labor, patience, courage, ambition and experience.

As to the feeds and manner of feeding nearly every breeder has his own way of doing. I have never been an advocate of cooked feeds for hogs, young or old. Humanity is accustomed to being fed in the main on cooked food and because it is more palatable to man it has been assumed that it is also more palatable and even more digestible when fed to domestic animals. This is by no means clear, however, and in fact the results of numerous experiments are all the other way with but few exceptions. More than a dozen different series of experiments have been undertaken to determine what effect cooking or steaming has upon the flesh and fat making power of various feeds, and in nearly every one of these the result showed that a given amount of feed would make a larger gain uncooked than cooked, with a possible exception in the case of potatoes, in which the proportion of albumenoids is very small and the starch very large. I would say, provide your hogs with good, wholesome feed, changing the feeds frequently. Do not feed corn alone but with it give slops made from ground feed. In the winter when the weather is very cold feed liberally of corn at night and no slops, unless the slops are fed warm, as the corn will help to retain the animal heat, the slops having a tendency to cool and chill the animal. In the morning, when they have the day and warmth of the sun (if there be any sunshine) in which to exercise and retain the animal heat I would feed slops and less corn. In the hot days of summer feed plenty of slops and less corn. This manner of feeding will keep them cool; they will worry less, thrive better and give good results. Another thing, I would rake up and burn to a charred condition all the corn cobs, water the charcoal thus obtained and sprinkle it with salt and sulphur. This I consider one of the best, if not the best, preventives of hog cholera and other diseases known among swine. In the winter provide your hogs with shelter and warmth, in the summer with good shade.

One of the first elements of success in the breeder and feeder is constant watchfulness. The breeder ought not to expect to jump at one leap to the pinnacle of greatness as a breeder or feeder; no man has ever done so; on the contrary, it will take a little common sense and experience. The professional breeder should delight in his calling. It will keep him in close contact with his herd and will make their company more attractive. It will prompt him to watch the development of the different individuals, the effects of different kinds of feeds and the result of different combinations of blood. It is time well spent and an education that can be obtained in no other way.

In conclusion let me say that all cannot follow the same line of breeding and feeding. As to myself, I do not think it would be profitable or practical to breed