238 THE HOG. 



chickens like hens. Barrow-hogs have also small 

 tusks like sows. 



Thus far it is plain, that the deprivation of mas- 

 culine vigour puts a stop to the growth of those 

 parts or appendages, that are looked upon as its 

 insignia. But the ingenious Mr. Lisle, in his book 

 on husbandry, carries it much further; for he says, 

 that the loss of those insignia alone has sometimes a 

 strange effect on the ability itself. He had a boar so 

 fierce and venereous that, to prevent mischief, orders 

 were given for his tusks to be broken off. No 

 sooner had the beast suffered this injury than his 

 powers forsook him, and he neglected those females 

 to whom before he was passionately attached, and 

 from whom no fences could restrain him. 



LETTER LXXV. 



TO THE SAME. 



THE natural term of a hog's life is little known, 

 and the reason is plain because it is neither pro- 

 fitable nor convenient to keep that turbulent animal 

 to the full extent of its time ; however, my neigh- 

 bour, a man of substance, who had no occasion to 

 study every little advantage to a nicety, kept a half- 

 bred Bantam sow, who was as thick as she was long, 

 and whose belly swept on the ground, till she was 

 advanced to her seventeenth year ; at which period, 

 she showed some tokens of age by the decay of her 

 teeth, and the decline of her fertility. 



For about ten years, this prolific mother produced 

 two litters in the year, of about ten at a time, and 

 once above twenty at a litter; but, as there were 

 12 



