Custom and interest make his life ephemeral; I make it comfortable. From
the day of his birth until we separate, I take watchful care of him.
During infancy he is protected from cold and wet, and his mother is
coddled by the most nourishing foods, that she may not fail in her duty
to him. During childhood he is provided with a warm house, a clean bed,
and a yard in which to disport himself, and is fed for growth and bone
on skim-milk, oatmeal, and sweet alfalfa. During his youth, corn meal is
liberally added to his diet, also other dainties which he enjoys and
makes much of; and during his whole life he has access to clean water,
and to the only medicine which a pig needs,--a mixture of ashes,
charcoal, salt, and sulphur.
When he has spent 250 happy days with me, we part company with feelings
of mutual respect,--he to finish his mission, I to provide for his
successor.
My early plan was to turn off 200 of this finished product each year,
but I soon found that I could do much better. One can raise a crop of
hogs nearly as quickly as a crop of corn, and with much more profit, if
the food be at hand.
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