A Handbook of Agriculture

THE STORY OF A PIG.

Prof. W. L. Carlyle.

The accompanying photographs il-, mates did not survive the first night, lustrating a very interesting "side" ex-the other three lingering for some time, periment conducted at the Wisconsin were kept warm in a box by a stove Experiment Station will interest the and fed carefully on warm sweet cow's younger readers of the Institute Bulle-milk every few hours. At last only

tin, if it does not add materially to the this cue lonely little piggy was left in knowledge of their elders. the box.

One of the photographs shows my small daughter, Helen, two years old feeding her pet pig his ration of milk from a nursing bottle. The pig is a pure bred Chester White, that with seven brothers and sisters were left orphans at birth. Four of his little

He was early given the name of "Ikey" and as he appeared to be well and bright and the litle girl Helen very attentive in caring for him, the herdsman Mr. George Little, a true lover of stock as well as of children, asked to be allowed to care for him

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The second photograph shows Ikey when he was about six months old and weighing 180 pounds. Shortly after this photograph was taken he became very cross and fretful, did not enjoy visitors and was frequently quite surly to his two old friends. No good reason could be found for this condition of affairs until some little time later he began to refuse his feed, then grew quite sick and finally died very quietly

recognize the bottle and manifested | visiting the University on their annual great interest in the preparation of his picnic excursion. numerous "dinners." He very early learned to recognize his name and would respond with a cordial grunt and come running briskly when it was called. At four weeks of age he began to nibble at whole oats or ground corn that were occasionally scattered about the floor so that at this age his feed was changed to a thin slop made of oil meal, wheat shorts and skim-milk; to this in a few days were added finely ground peas and corn. When four-one evening. teen weeks of age he weighed fortysix pounds having gained as much as nine pounds in a single week. At this In conclusion let me say for the age he had consumed of new milk, 50 benefit of all swine raisers that Ikey's pounds; shorts 10 pounds; oil meal career was a convincing demonstra10 pounds; ground peas 10 pounds; tion to all who knew him that hogs, ground corn 10 pounds; skim-milk 91 | both old and young, are possessed of a pounds. From this time forward his surprising amount of intelligence and growth and development were very rapid yet he always seemed to remember his early friends and they appeared equally fond of him.

The herdsman never grow impatient at the mischief Ikey did, though he became a veritable genius at getting into places that he should not be, while Helen came several times daily to rub his back and feed him a few kernels of corn. That he had perfect confidence in them I had ample proof. One day when he was about four months old on going into the hoghouse I found Ikey in a large tub of water, he was resting his fore feet and chin on the edge of the tub, while the rear portions of his body were submerged in the water, his attendants meanwhile giving him a vigorous scrubbing with soap and brush. seemed perfectly content and apparently enjoyed his bath quite as much as he did the reception he held the following day when attired with a nice silk cardinal ribbon and bow about his neck, and a smaller green ribbon with bow at his tail he grunted a welcome to several hundreds of farmers and their wives, who were

An autopsy disclosed

the fact that he had been suffering from chronic digestive troubles.

it was a perfect demonstration of the further fact that may be a surprise to some, but is well known to many, namely, that hogs are naturally one of the most cleanly of animals in their personal habits. No matter how filthy quarters may be, the hog's bed will always be found surprisingly clean and dry. This we found to be markedly true of Ikey, no small household pet could be more immaculate in its habits of cleanliness than this small orphan pig. It is true as he grew older and the weather warm he longed for some means of cooling his heated body and since nature had denied to him as to all others of his kind any sweat glands in his skin so that the temperature of his body might be lowered by evaporation he would enjoy a roll in a dirty pool of water and the more muddy the better as the coating of mud served to retain the moisture on his body for some time. Hogs do not frequent stagnant pools and filthy mud baths because they enjoy the filth and dirt, but only as a means of keeping their bodily temperature reduced by the evaporation of moisture from the surface of their bodies.