The North Carolina Standard

ON THE FATTENING OF HOGS.

There is another communication from Mr. L'Hommedieu, the object of which is to recommend to farmers to soak the corn destined for their hogs, until it has become soured, instead of feeding it to them dry. Much of hard corn fed to fattening hogs is not digested, and a considerable portion is discharged with the dung, which does them no good. Mr. L. estimates that one-tenth of the corn fed to hogs may be saved by soaking. Estimating the number of hogs annually fattened to equal the population of the State, leaving out the cities, or at 530,000, and that each hog consumed two bushels of corn, the saving by soaking the feed would then have been 50,000; now upon the same calculation, it would amount to about $200,000. Mr. L. thinks soaking as good as grinding, "with the advantage of saving the toll, or one-tenth. If corn is made to undergo fermentation before it is fed, the reasoning may be correct; but the modern belief is that a saving of nearly 50 per cent. is effected by grinding and cooking corn before it is fed, that the globules may be ruptured, and the dextrine, or nutritive properties of the grain, may be fully developed. Accurate experiments, made by the Rev. Mr. Colman, have shown that pigs fed with cooked Indian meal, gain twice as fast as when fed with dry corn; but on the supposition that twenty-five per cent. would be saved, exclusive of the toll, the saving upon the estimate of consumption laid down by Mr. L'Hommedieu, would amount to half a million of dollars, annually to the State of New York, by grinding and cooking the corn feed for hogs.—Cultivator.