366 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



going into any nice biblical pliilology, we contend that this un- 

 couth, outlandish, three lettered monosyllable, would better 

 express the opprobrium which all the sacred writers seem to 

 have attached to this animal ; we say opprobrium, for the first 

 authentic mention of swine is in connection with the defiled 

 meats prohibited by the Mosaic law ; and the last, is where a 

 legion of devils drove a herd of two thousand down a steep 

 mountain, until they were choked to death in the bottom of the 

 sea. 



We have glanced at profane history with little better suc- 

 cess. Goldsmith, in his "Animated Nature," and Buflbn, in his 

 "Natural History," both speak of this animal as a glutton, 

 sordid and brutal in his domestic state, whose sensations are 

 as gross as his shape is unsightly; destitute of attachment, 

 incapable of instruction, his whole life being divided between 

 sleep and gluttony. 



Yet the swine has outlived the higher laio of Moses, the 

 rude attacks of Goldsmith and Buffon, until he has become, in 

 our domestic economy, an animal second in importance only to 

 the cow ; whilst in the market it is one of the great staples of 

 the world. The family circle is now incomplete without a pig ; 

 the farmer, with small means, would almost as soon part 

 with the crib and porringer of his last responsibility, as the 

 cozy pen and trough of his little grunter, to which he looks for 

 future subsistence. More secure than lands and houses, the 

 law itself exempts from attachment one of these animals for 

 every family. 



The first thing in rearing swine is to select the right breed. 

 The Suffolk, or a cross between that and some other, is proba- 

 bly the best. You might as well try to find a miser's name on 

 a subscription paper, as to undertake to get the first quality of 

 pork from a long-legged, long-cared, long-nosed, large-boned, 

 rawny hog ; whilst the opposite qualities, with good feeding 

 and attention, will ensure fine meat. Hogs should have regu- 

 lar meals to fat well ; unless this is done, he will '•' squeal off 

 flesh " about as fast as you can put it on. The Irishman fed 

 his pig every other day, and when asked the reason, said he 

 liked streaks of lean and fat together. 



The trough of the swine should be kept clean; he wants no 



