HOGS AND POEK PACKEN'G. 205 



joined together they •u-onld make 5,600 miles of "bolognas" — enough to girt the continent 

 from San Francisco to New York, and give beside a small piece to grace the head of every 

 beer barrel on the route." 



But few hogs are now driven any considerable distance on foot for a mar- 

 ket. Much the larger portion of the hogs received alive in Chicago are slaugh- 

 tered here, while many of the better lots finds an eastern market, being shipped 

 in cars, as before described, over the three great routes — the Michigan Central, 

 Michigan Southern, and the Pittsburg, Fort "Wayne, and Chicago railroads 

 The statistics of receipts and shipments will be found in another part of this 

 article. 



As will also be seen by the annexed statistics, a large number of di-essed 

 hogs are brought to market, killed and dressed by the farmers themselves, 

 and either consigned to commission men for a market, or sold from teams as 

 brought in. 



HOG TAMI\G. 



The hog in his natural state is a long, lean, cadaverous-looking animal, ap- 

 parently as Avild as when the herd " ran violently down a steep place into the 

 sea." Their noses are in the ground wherever they can be, and if perchance 

 they find their way into the lawn or pasture it is soon full of unsightly spots 

 ■where the turf is overturned. That they obtain anything from the earth of 

 any value to them as food, compared to the injmy they do, is not generally 

 believed, while it is known that they really consume considerable earth or- 

 clay, which by many is deemed decidedly injurious to a growing hog. 



Various devices have been resorted to for many years to prevent their root- 

 ing by ringing them, some with a simple wii-c ring put through the centre 

 cartilage of the nose ; some by cutting off the gristle or rim from the upper 

 end of the nose with a knife or chisel ; others by simply cutting the gristle or 

 rim loose in the centre, leaving it hanging at the two ends. This latter, when 

 well done, seems to be the best of all ways, as in the winter it is not like a 

 metallic ring, accumulating frost and mud on the end of the nose to annoy and 

 make the nose sore, neither is it ever in the way of eating. Hogs thus treated 

 are far more peaceably inclined, seem in a great measure to loose their uneasy 

 wandering disposition, and never afterwards show any disposition to root, 

 especially if the operation is performed when the pig will Aveigh 30 to 40 

 pounds. They rest more and take on fixt better, and hence the term " hog 

 taming." A simple instrument has been invented, somewhat resembling a. 

 pair of shears in form, with a wooden block on one blade and a semi-circular 

 blade on the other. The shears arc opened with the wooden block against the 

 end of the snout, the blade brought doAvn, and the work is done. The instru- 

 ment is known as "Kurd's hog-tamer." But any device Avhich will prevent 

 the hog from rooting is very desirable, and nearly all good feeders practise the 

 •* taming" in some manner. 



DISEASES. 



Nearly all the diseases to which hogs are liable are classed under one head 

 by the masses, and called "cholera;" and the description of the disease and 

 symptoms of the animals are almost as varied as the writers — due, in a great 

 measure, to the want of sufficient knowledge of the anatomy of the hog, and 

 the terms used, to give an intelligible ide.i of the disease. The most reliable 

 description of the hog cholera that has ci me under our observation was fur- 

 nished, in 1S58, to the "Medico Chirurgical Review," by Dr. George Sutton, of 

 Aurora, Indiana, and is as follows : 



"The hog at first appears weak, his head droops, and somr-times, in a few hours after 

 these symptoms, diarrhcea commences; there is frequently vomiting. In some cases the 



