VOL. L1V.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., JAN. 28, 1899.
NO. 4
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SANITARY   MANAGEMENT   OF   SWINE.
How   do    you    Prevent    Hoe   Cholera?
How Stamp It Out?
1st Premium.—It is true that many farmers
ignore the fact that a hog will respond to
good treatment as readily as does his favorite cow or best driving horse. Because a hog
will wallow in the mud is no reason that he
should be compelled to sleep and wade in it,
much lesa have his feed poured out in it. One
of the first requisites for health is clean quarters, and second, clean pure food. Our hog
houses are built on sled runners, so that instead of having to disinfect or work at a great
disadvantage in cleaning out the old beds,
we simply hitch a horse to the houje draw it a
few feet sprinkle the ground with air-slacked
lime, replenish with good clean straw, load
the old bed into a wagon, haul it away with
its disease germe, if it contains any such,
thug insuring healthy Bleeping quarters.
These houses are made, some largo enough
for one sow and litter of pigs, others large
enough for from 10 to 20 fattening hogs. If
disease has baen in the herd disinfectants are
unsparingly used. This treatment is not only
sanitary but a preventive to cholera as well.
But to go further in preventing this dreaded
disease, we furnish our hogs with pure water
and wholesome food. By this we mean good
sound corn, and slops that have not been allowed to rot in the swill barrel, an abundance
of clrJvei, both winter and summer, artichokes
or some equivalent succulent food and laet,
but not least, the soja bean. A self-feeding
box filled with ond buahel wood ashes, one
bushel charcoal, one peek ealt, five pounds
eulphur and one-half pound copperas ia accessible to the hoge all the time. We believe
that if theee rules are followed a healthy, vigorous constitution will be the result, nnd so
long as thie is the case cholera germs will find
no place for lodgement. We uee further
precaution by breeding nono but mature eowe
theee eecuring strong healthy pige to begin
with. "An ounce of preventive is worth a
pound of cure," but in case the diseaso does
make its appearance in our herd the infected
hogs are put into a close pen where they are
closely watched and cared for, while all the
well hogs are taken to a paeture on the far
elde of the farm. We have bten able to save
eome infected animals by the uee of coal oil,
soap euda and copperae, but when a hog bae
the genuine cholera it is beet to give him a
epeedy death. B. D.
Hendricks Co.
2d Premium.—Poor Richard once eaid an
ounce of prevention if worth a pound of cure.
This is doubly true in the caee of so-called
hog cholera. The exercise of good common
senee in the sanitary management of hoge is
of the utmost importance. Olean, comfortable sleeping apartments in winter without
over-crowding, separation of hoga into email
lota, not to exceed 30 or 40 in a lot, graded as
to age and eize, shade from sun, ehelter from
etorm, room for exercise and fresh wator t j
drink, no muddy wallowe for bacteria breeders—and judicious feeding are among the necessary sanitary conditions to be observed for
the provention of hog cholera. The first essential element, however, is to have etock of
good conetitutlon. Thia can only be attained
and maintained by judicious breeding and following the eanitaryrequlrementealreadystated.
Keep mature hoga of both sexes for breeding
purposes. If you would have pige of vigorous
cOnetltutution do not feed your eowe too
j strongly at farrowing time, it is better to
keep them a little hungry than to overfeed
until the pige are two or three weeks old. This
, gives the mother hog a disposition to get out
. and huetle, and unleee the weather ie extreme-
j y bad tbe pigs will follow her, thus avoiding
I
the possibility of thumps and other ailments
that are destructive to pige. After tho pigs
are three or four weeks old teach them to
come to eome place apart from the sowe,
where you can feed them milk mixed with
mill feed, slops a waste from the kitchen, and
you will ba eurprieed to find how quickly they
learn to hunt for something to eat and how
fast they will grow. During eummer when on
graee give ealt and wood ashes. Alight feed
of whole wheat once or twice a week in the
lato summer months improves the appetite.
When I commence feeding new corn I keep
on hands a eupply of soda and eulphur, which
I mix, one part sulphur to two parts soda, and
feed twice a week one teaspoonful to a hog.
By following the plan outlined here I have
not lost a hog by cholera in 12 yeare, althoughl
have been surrounded with it frequently in that
time. The laet time cholera attacked my
herd, I had about SO head and wae feeding
new corn. Ono morning I obeerved several
"off their feed," (I had been ecourged two
yeare before, loeing 48 out of a herd of 80) I
separated the hoge, penning all that showed
eymptome of dleeaee; the others I transferred
to another part of tho farm and quit feeding
for a few days. Of the 10 taken and penned
8 died within two days. The two others recovered and no new cases developed.
Tippecanoe Co. J. A B.
3d Premium.—Sanitary management of
swine is of vital importance, for beet reeulta.
See that they have clean, comfortable quarters to eleep in. It mattere not whether it be
a house, or hole in etraw etack, eo it ia clean
and dry. Some object to straw etack, claiming they are cholera breedere. But my experience teachee me that there ie no place like a
hole on the eouthside of a etrawstack, to start
pigs Id cold weather; though such placee
ehould be looked after every day. Don't allow pige, (or older hoge) too have too much
loose etraw, clean all loose etraw out every few
daye, and then pull fresh, bright etraw, and
see how the little fellowe enjoy it. Don't allow too many to bed together. Feed a well-
balanced ration, and don't confine hoge to a
muddy pen, but let them have range of clover-
field in eummer, by all means, and blue grntre
paeture in winter if possible. Corn ie king,
but corn alone won't do; they muet have milk
slop made of middlings, clover or graes, with
corn, for beet results. Slop ehould be fed
everyday as made. I think the swill barrel Ib
gone forever. Fresh water ehould be at hand
at all times; don't compel hogs to go fifty or
sixty rods, and drink out of a pond or mud-
hole. Wocd aehee ari(l charcoal, with a little
ealt ehould be fedreguIarly;alsoueeeomegood
diainfeclant occasionally and keep tho hogs
free from lice. Cholera can be prevented
largely by the selection of breeding etock, and
the management of tha breeding. Select a
hog (male or female) ehowlng lota of coneti-
tutional vigor. Breeding etock, cannot impart to their offspring what they do not possess. Preserve and assimilate this constitutional vigor, by breeding for early spring pige,
one litter a year. A matured eow can not fur-
nirdvtwo littere a year, and eupply conetitution
sufficient to ward cff the swine plagues. The
great trouble is that men are too hoggish,
they want two littera a year, thereby inviting
cholera into their herds, by debiliating their
etock. Fall pige are moet liable to ewine
plaguce, ae swine plagues are more prevalent
at that time of year, and the young are more
susceptible to disease. Cholera is not ae contagious ae eome think. A partition fence divided my hoge from diseased ones, tho past
two summers, part of thia fenco waB smooth
wire. I didn't think It a very good protection, but it proved to be sufficient. How
stamp it out? Apply the above described ean-
itary mansgement of swine, and you will not
bo tho first in your immediate neighborhood
to howl cholera. A. M. S.
Hope.
HEV1IW.
I muet express my regret and apology to our
friends who wrote some 20 letters for this department on free mail delivery and again on
wido tiree. We appreciate thie great popular
interest in theee questlone. But you will forgive us for not publishing more of them when
you eec how full the paper waa thoee ieeues.
We are glad to get thoee letters so wo can
cream them, even if too crowded to print
them all.
The beet that I find on ewine diecaeee is
given in our letters. There le much promise
of relief through vaccination, but it ie not
cheap enough or well enough underetood to be
ueed by the public. I prophecy of a day not
far off when science will wipo out cholera ae
cleanly as it has emallpox. But we farmers
will have to learn eome eeneo beforo that can
be done. We must ubandon the silly thought
that each farmer has the right to do about aa
ho pleases in caee of any kind of catching disease. The ignoramus who ineiete that it is
good and safe to let the herd eat its dead will
have to be taught by the hard arm of the law
to burn and clean up.
I will only add a euggeetlon or two. The
writers fay breed for vitality. In fighting hu-
mau peetilenca the authorltiee clean up. It ie
eetimated that it will cost $5,000,000 to put
Havana in sanitary condition.
Any money spent to fight Yellow Jack or
any other Jack without cleaning up ie waeted.
Feeding a balanced ration helps some. Dividing the herd eome. Warm quarters too. And
of medicines let ue remember that common
cheap lime ie the deadliest thing that can
touch a cholera microbe. A microbe will forsake father and mother to take to the woode
when he Beee lime or carbolic acid in the road
I have no copy on the laet three topics of
thie eeriee. 	
No. 152, Feb. 4.—The winter management
of breeding ewee—What are the beetmethodo?
No. 153,Feb. 11.—Agricultural superstitions.
—Name a number we have outgrown and a
number that still have advocates.
No. 154, Feb. 18 —Name one or more books
or persons or events that havo greatly improved and shaped your life.
No. 155, Feb. 25.—What do you mean to the
people who know you—WhatdoyouBtand for?
Premiuma of $1 75 cents and £0 centa will be
given to 1st, 2d and 3d beet articles each week.
Let copy be as practicable as poeelblc and forwarded 10 daya before publication to
Lafayette. E. II. Collins.
Florida Letter.
Editors Indiana Farmer.
Hero we are again for the winter in our far
away Florida home, below the "blizzard line"
since November, and time files all too fast
on fairy winged feet, and in our day dreams,
and listening to the song of civilization, in
the rush and friction of this wonderful age,
we hopo we have friende that* etill remember
us kindly after our GO yeura of exercising on a
farm and nureery in Indiana.
We had only a few light frosts thie winter;
orange trece are doing well and increasing
rapidly in value Some orangee here yet.
Some men eold from one to threo hundred
boxes. They aro higher here than in Indiana.
So many northern people here, the home demand absorbs them all. It ia very healthy;
only one old man died thie winter; he had
heartdisease. "Grip" never killed anybody
here but one old woman, and Bhe died with
the phthielc. Many peoplo are placing pine
wood in their grovee to fire out Jack Frost if
he gets off hie base again.
The McKinney company are fencing in 10
acrea of orange trees, 25 feet high, to protect
oranges and pine apples through the winter,
with email fires inside. When a cold wave ia
expected our flag and railroad whistles give
warning.   The wood costs nothing, and will
not be needed after the trcee are a year or two
older.
Wo have new potatoes, strawberries, etc.
and plenty of eour (wild) orangee arouna
Lake View. You rake them off the thorny
trcee with a garden rake; cut off the end and
gouge in eugar. They beat lemone and you
eoon forget stomach trouble, and get hungry
three tlmee a day unless your digestive appa-
ratue haa been disgusted with noetrums and
stimulants. A good many are plowing under
graes and weede to rot, out of way of eummer
work, and make eafe from the firee that burn
through the pine woode and keep them open,
eo you can gee half a mile between trcee 100
feet high.
The great white pine and cyprcea forests are
dieappearing rapidly, and the lakes have gone
down to 15 feet. We dig the hottom out of
the wells for water, and Marlon county haa
voted "dry." No more saloons or rum slaves,
wrecks and wretchedness, unless some lawyer
knocks out theee props, for money? We are
eetting out many eorte of fruits, shrubs and
flowers that wo never saw in Indiana. The
climate and health are euperb, but the land ia
sandy and poor, plenty of land for a dollar an
acre. Y'ou could not make a living on 1,000
acres if it wae given to you. The rich hammock lands are not eo healthy. Most of the
colored people want to work. They are kind-
hearted and tractable, ignorant and awkward,
but ae good or better than the average, considering their past condition and preeent
chances. No race war here, because the
whites rule, a caee of "survival of the fittest."
Tho colored people keep out of the way, work
and mind their own bueinees, and what they
live on the Lord knowp,—somo Bweet pota-
toee, fish, turtles, 'poe.'Um. They whletle, eing
and hope; work all day, dance all night; come
and gone to and from tho beyond, and what
for? Well, it is another fad this talk about
enake'e and alligators in Florida. I never
saw half a dozon in all my travels. They are
not around rnueh in winter, but I have a
ecorpion pinned down in a box. It has 8 lege,
two front ones forked. Ita long pointed tail
hae a curred eting on the end; will make a
man hotter than eitting on tacks. We see 8
tralne a day pass our door going to Tampa on
the plant eyetem, and hear 8 more four miles
away on the Florida it P. railroad. We are
only 100 feet above the sea level, and in the
morning my shadow ie }{ mile long. We hear
tralne running five to eight miles away. We
are sorry for you all when we. here of your
grip, cold waves, blizzards and thinge, and wo
are glad and thankful we are here where we
hope you will be glad t o hear from ue again.
Kindly yours for the good of all.
A. 0. Hakvky.
Chandler, Fla.
Generous Offer to Our Next 20 Subscribers,
Editors Indiana Farmer.
Having taken the Farmer from its flrst
number I like it and its friende. It is truthful honorable and clean, and I will denote
free a copy of my "40 Florida lettere" (100
pa>;ee) to each of the next 20 new cash eub-
ecribere to the Farmeb at $1 per year. The
book describee "Five wintere among the
palme, plnee and orange grovee of Florida,"
and coet me a eight of time, experience and
money. A. 0. Hasvey.
Chandler, Fla., Jan. 20.
—In behalf of our first 20 full paid subscribers received after Saturday, Jan. 28th, we
thank our good friend Harvey for his kind
offer. We aseure tho fortunate subscribers
that they will enjoy a eure treat in reading
this 25e book. Mr. Harvey is a pleaeant and
witty letter writer, and pictures the places and
thinge he describes in a moet graphic and in-
tereeting manner. We have one of hia spicy
letters which will be publiehed aa soon as we
can find room.