SWINE. 359 



SWINE. 



THE present domestic breeds of swine are the remote offspring of the wild swine (Sus 

 scrofa), and though occupying a less prominent place in the estimation of the farmer 

 generally than the horse, ox, or sheep, the hog is nevertheless an animal of great 

 value, being easily reared, arriving quickly at maturity, subsisting on a great variety of food, 

 and yielding a larger and quicker return in the amount of flesh in proportion to live weight 

 and food consumed, than any other domestic animal whose flesh is used for food. 



This animal is found in almost every zone, although his natural habitat, as with most of 

 the thick-skinned animals, is in warm climates. The original country of the hog, however, is 

 unknown, as is the case with many of the domestic animals. It has been known to exist in 

 a wild state in Asia, Europe, and Africa, ever since history began. A species of wild hog 

 is also found in America. Swine are very abundant in China, the East Indies, and those 

 groups of islands found in the Southern and Pacific Oceans; they are also extensively raised 

 in Europe, and especially in the United States, where pork is one of the most valuable 

 exports, swine being raised in many States and Territories in the Union, and always at a fair 

 profit when properly managed. 



Swine are reared for meat alone, the sole aim of the breeder being to produce an animal 

 that will render the largest amount of pork and lard, from a given amount of food. While 

 swine are kept to a greater or less extent by all American farmers, the great swine-breeding 

 regions of the country are northwest of the Alleghanies. Of the nearly forty millions of hogs 

 in the United States, it is estimated that three-fifths of that number are raised in the follow 

 ing Mississippi Valley States, viz.: Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Ten 

 nessee, Kansas, Nebraska, and Wisconsin; while these States produce annually about three- 

 fourths of the entire corn crop of the country. 



With a large home consumption, some of our recent exports of pork and its products 

 have amounted to nearly a hundred millions of dollars annually. From the fact that swine 

 are easily kept and fattened, they afford an easy and profitable means of converting the bulky 

 and low-priced farm products of the Great West into a portable and salable commodity, the 

 pork-packing establishments of Chicago and Cincinnati being the largest in the world. 



It is interesting as well as amusing to compare the facts concerning swine and other farm 

 stock gleaned from the scant literature of 150 to 200 years ago with that of the present time, 

 and to note the progress that has been made during that period. 



John Laurance, M.A., rector of an English parish, edited a work upon &quot;Agriculture and 

 Gardening,&quot; which was published in the year 1726, in which he speaks of the hog as a useful 

 animal in that he furnishes good substantial meat for human consumption, but refers to him 

 as a beast hard to restrain, as he is given to tearing down fences, and going wherever he likes. 

 He mentions white as the prevailing color, but states that, of late, &quot; a black hog has been 

 introduced, smaller in size than the common hog of the country, and having a big belly.&quot; 



Another work published in London about that time, edited by James Lambert, and 

 entitled &quot;The Countryman s Treasure,&quot; in describing the desirable qualities of the boar, says: 

 &quot;His bristles should be rough and strong, erecting themselves on every occasion of anger and 

 disgust.&quot; The same work also recommends, &quot; that in order to keep fattening hogs free from 

 the measles, put finely sifted red lead or red ochre in the swill. Also dead flesh should be 

 kept away from them, and neither should they be permitted to drink fish water, nor the 

 washings of any mustard plates or trenchers, nor any soap water, for that will sicken them 

 and breed diseases in their eyes and head. Nail thin plates of lead in the bottom of their 

 troughs, which will cool their noses, and make them feed with more delight, and by a 

 secret quality hinder inflammation of their lungs. Let their styes be in such places where 

 the extremes of heat and cold may not affect them, though they rather covet cold than heat, 

 being themselves of a hot constitution.&quot; 



