SWINE. 289 



appetite, — thus giving time for the thorough reduction of the 

 food to chyme before the introduction of more into the stomach, 

 and avoiding all irritating and injurious consequences from too 

 frequent eating ; while the majority follow the practice of feed- 

 ing three meals daily. Objection might be made to cooking 

 food, or to any change in its form, or to any regularity in feeding, 

 as in a state of nature none of these conditions enter as elements 

 in the result ; but we should remember that domestication for 

 ages has not only changed their appearance, so that our fine 

 porkers would be hardly recognized as of the same species as 

 the wild hogs found in the jungles of India, or the repulsive- 

 looking wart-hog of Africa, with its immense protruding tusks, 

 wide nostrils, long legs and tail, and the whole appearance so 

 formidable as to suggest anything but a hog, but subjecting 

 them to such entirely different conditions has so altered their 

 habits and constitution that very different treatment is necessary. 

 Whatever method is adopted, and of course modes will differ 

 with different individuals, enough should be given that the 

 animal may develop progressively, and become in the end all it 

 is capable of becoming according to the laws of its being. 



It is somewhat doubtful whether pork can be raised in this 

 vicinity with much profit in dollars and cents, owing to our 

 great distance from the great grain-growing sections of the 

 country, — transportation so enhancing the cost of so bulky a 

 commodity, that it can be fed where grown, and the product 

 delivered here in about one-fifth the weight ; as very nearly a 

 ton of grain will generally be required to make a hog weighing 

 four hundred pounds. And yet there may be pleasure in watch- 

 ing the growth of a fine animal, satisfaction from knowing what 

 materials and conditions have contributed in the production of 

 our food, and for those who keep a vegetable garden, the 

 product of much good fertilizing matter, which may make it 

 after all not altogether an unprofitable adventure. 



And now having our hog, shall we eat him ? Some say, no : 

 more, yes. Think of the immense numbers that are slaughtered 

 yearly in the United States, and consequently how largely in 

 one form or another they enter into our daily food, affording in 

 the opinion of many, flesh as delicate and finely flavored as can 

 be found anywhere among the animal creation. Doubtless for 

 persons of scrofulous habit, it may not be well to use much 



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