One of the most extensive and successful swine raisers in Kansas tells the author this: “Twenty-five years of pasturing hogs of all ages on alfalfa has proven conclusively to me that with a fourth to a half grain ration, while they are on such pasture, will produce in them a greater growth per day than when in dry lots on full feeds of corn. Hogs will maintain a reasonable growth, but not fatten much, on alfalfa pasture alone; I believe it profitable to feed them some grain while running on green alfalfa. If it is desired to full-feed hogs, they will make a rapid fattening growth by increasing the grain ration while on the pasture, and with the full grain ration the meat will be nearly as firm as those of the dry lot, where grain alone has been fed. I find no distinction on the market between alfalfa-fed swine and those purely grain-fed, and they sell price and price alike. The general health of the alfalfa-fed hogs is equal to that of those maintained on any other feed, and they are prolific.” The Kansas station realized $11.90 per acre from rape pasture and $24.10 per acre from alfalfa pasture in ninety-eight days. These results were obtained from the following experiments, which were begun July 25 and concluded October 31. Thirty shoats, averaging fifty-two pounds in weight, were divided as nearly equally as possible into three lots of ten each. Lot I was fed on a grain mixture of shorts one-half, corn meal one-fourth, and Kafir-corn meal one-fourth, in a dry lot. The other two lots were fed the same grain ration, but one received rape pasture and the other alfalfa pasture in addition. Each lot was given what grain the hogs would eat up clean, and each had access to water and ashes. The weights of grain consumed and gains made are as follows: --------------------+---------+--------+--------------- | Grain | Total |Grain consumed Feed | consumed|gain, in| per 100 lbs. |in pounds| pounds |gain, in pounds --------------------+---------+--------+--------------- I. No pasture | 3,801 | 1,023 | 371 II. Rape pasture | 3,244 | 1,076 | 301 III. Alfalfa pasture| 3,244 | 1,078 | 300 --------------------+---------+--------+--------------- The gains of the three lots are very nearly equal. The dry lot consumed 557 pounds (or seventy pounds for every 100 pounds of gain) more grain than the pasture lots. The lot on rape required one acre of pasture, while the alfalfa lot used a trifle less than one-half acre.