FEEDING DOGS. 571 



When a sow is breeding which, she is fit for twice a-year, 

 and from a very early period of life, though it is better post- 

 poned till she is at least a year old her diet should manifestly 

 include a good share of flesh-formers and proper mineral mat- 

 ter, in order that her progeny in the womb may be rightly 

 developed. Again, while she suckles her brood, care must be 

 taken that her diet is proper to sustain the due secretion of 

 milk. Further, during the growth of the pig, before the process 

 of fattening is commenced, care must be taken that there is a 

 sufficiency of flesh-formers in the diet. But, in particular, 

 when a boar-pig is to be reared to breed from, he must be 

 allowed exercise, and a proportionately larger amount of flesh- 

 formers in his food. 



It might be conceived that a boar, after having attained 

 mature age, must be altogether unfit for food. Nevertheless, 

 this is a mistake. After castration such an animal takes on 

 fat readily, and when killed furnishes pork of a quality very 

 far beyond, for ham, what can be obtained from pigs killed at 

 the usual age. 



On Feeding Dogs. Eew materials exist from which to de- 

 termine the normal diet of dogs, under the different circum- 

 stances of their existence. The dog is a purely carnivorous 

 animal, and yet, in the domesticated state, he is fed very much 

 on vegetable food. The following passage from Youatt affords 

 some insight into the feeding of fox-hounds : " Sixty-five 

 couples of hounds in full work will consume the carcasses of 

 three horses in one week, or five in a fortnight. The annual 

 consumption of meal will be somewhat more than two tons 

 per month. In feeding, the lighter should be let in first, and 

 a little extra flesh distributed on the surface of the food, in order 

 to coax those that are most shy. Some hounds cannot be kept 

 to their work unless fed two or three times a-day ; while others 



