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ON THE LIVE-STOCK
a good breed, will always be moderately fat at that age withthe run of the straw-yards, and their flesh is of an excellentquality.
It is unnecessary to mention the mode of feeding pigs atdairies, mills, distilleries, &c.; but when farmers find it pro-fitable to keep large swine that cannot be fattened for bacon,as is the practice in some of the western counties, without aregular supply of food being served up to them, the practiceis, to rear swine chiefly on raw potatoes and Swedish turnips,and to fatten them on these roots boiled or prepared by steam,with a mixture of oat, barley, or bean and peas meal. Theirtroughs should be often replenished with a small quantity offood at a time, and kept always clean; and their food chan-ged occasionally, and seasoned with salt.—In none of thecounty reports, is there any calculation of the expence andproduce of this management, nor of the weight of meat re-turned for any given consumption of food. In so far as con-cerns pigs fed on whey, reference may be made to a formerpart of this chapter. “ If proper care is taken,” says MrHenderson, “ a feeding swine should not consume more thansix Winchester bushels of oats made into meal. It ought tobe shelled before it is ground, the same as for family use, butneed not be sifted The quantity of potatoes is notdistinctly specified, nor the weight of the carcase. Whenpotatoes and grain bring the average prices of late years,there is reason to doubt the advantages of this practice,except in those places, where the imperfect state of husbandryproduces a greater supply of potatoes than can be disposed offor other purposes.
A farmer of great experience has stated, that “ upon a til-lage farm of 300 (Scotch) acres, whereof 200 are kept underthe plough, it is reckoned, that a sum not less than L. 100Sterling, may be gained annually from keeping swine, werethe management arranged in a systematic manner.”—“ Withthe addition of one acre of broad clover, and one acre of