PIGS. 65 



March and September, as cold weather is death to 

 little pigs. A high-bred lot are apt to drop their 

 tails, as infra dig., I presume, or from anxiety to rise 

 to a higher order of being. This disfigurement, how- 

 ever, for such it is, may be prevented to a certain 

 degree by a light dose of physic, a taste of oil in their 

 soup, and anointing the sore place with a little 

 digestive ointment. 



Around one, at least, of the sties, as a lying-in 

 hospital, there should be run a couple of rails one 

 above the other, a foot from the wall, the lowest 

 being about three-quarters of a foot from the ground, 

 into which a sow can be removed as the period of her 

 confinement draws near. The great risk at such 

 times is of the little pigs' being smothered by her 

 lying helplessly upon triem in her pain, whereas if 

 there be a rail she is likely to bear against it, so that 

 the little ones, if they have the bad luck to get 

 underneath, will either work themselves out, or 

 escape the great burden of her direct weight. They 

 soon learn worldly wisdom enough to take refuge 

 behind, where you should have some soft straw or 

 hay for their especial use. 



Under the sow at farrowing time there should be 

 little or no straw, as with the best disposition she is 

 then more apt to annihilate some of the wee ones 

 who may be lost to sight, having gone burrowing on 

 their own behalf. The best practice, however, is to 

 have her watched, and the little ones taken from her 

 as they appear, and kept near the fire in a hamper, 

 in wool, for a day or two — being carried to and fro 

 for their meals. This entails a little trouble, but it 



