PIG 



171 



turning up the soil in search of roots and other 

 food. In most of the improved varieties the face 

 is much shorter than in the wild boar or ancient 

 pig. There are six incisors, two canine teeth, 

 and fourteen molars in each jaw, the lower incisors 

 projecting forwards ; the canine teeth long and 

 stroii};, projecting and curved, becoming formidable 

 tusks in wild boars, and large and powerful even 

 in tin- females in a wild state. The feet have each 

 four toes, the lateral ones small, and scarcely 

 touching the ground, all separately hoofed. The 

 tail is short. The stomach shows mere traces of 

 division. The food is chiefly vegetable, but per- 

 liaps ni> animals may more property l>e called om- 

 nivorous ; and although, even in a wild state, pigs 

 arc not to l>c reckoned among beasts of prey, they 

 not uiifrci|iientlv, even in domestication, kill and 

 eat small animals that come in their way, as many 

 a housewife has had occasion to observe in respect 

 to chickens. The Common I'ig (it. scrofa) appears 

 tn be a native in the wild form (see BOAR) of most 

 parts of Europe and Asia ; the domestic European 

 oreeils are apparently descended from the European 

 wild lioar, crossed \vith domesticated Asiatic 

 breeds. Like the other thick-skinned animals with 

 which it is allied the elephant, rhinoceros, hippo- 

 potamus, and tapir the pig delights in humid and 

 shadowy places. The pig usually grows until five 

 years old. Its natural life ranges from tifteen to 

 thirty years. Although the use of its flesh was 

 prohibited to the .Jews, and the prohibition has 

 Dad adopted in the .Mohammedan law, the pig has 

 been a domesticated animal from a very early 

 period, and its fle-sh constitutes a large part of the 

 food of many nations. The fecundity of the pig is 

 yrcat : with proper treatment it will produce two 

 litter- annually, generally of four to eight pigs each, 

 although sometimes there are as many as fourteen 

 in a litter. Vast quantities of the flesh are con- 

 sumed in various forms, as pork fresh or salted, 

 bacon, bam. \-c. Brawn (<|.v.) is an esteemed 

 luxury. The fat of the pig, which is produced in 

 a thick layer under the skin, is an Important 

 article of commerce, and of various use under the 

 name of l.anl (o.v. ). The skin of the pig is made 

 into leather, which is particularly esteemed for 

 saddles. The bristles, especially of" the wild boar, 

 are much used for bnislimaking. Indeed, there 

 is no food-producing animal which is of greater 

 lienefit to mankind than the pig. 



There are numerous varieties of the domestic 

 pig. Some have erect and some pendant ears, 

 :inil those are most esteemed which exhibit the 



Improved Yorkshire Pigs. 



greatest departure from the wild type, notably in 

 shorter and less powerful limbs, less muscular and 

 more rounded forms, wider ribs and greater wealth 

 of tlesh. The ('liiiirxf breed and the Neapolitan 

 base liccn of great use in the crossing and improv- 



ing of the breeds commonly reared in Britain, 

 giving rise to the improved white and black breeds 

 respectively. The Chinese breed is renowned for 

 its fertility, as well as for the rapidity with which, 

 without materially increasing in offal or bone, it 

 lays on flesh. Its head is snort and thick, ears 

 erect, legs very short, chine high and broad, and 

 jowl wide, belly hanging very near to the ground. 

 As a rule it carries a small quantity of hair. The 

 skin is usually dark, but the flesh is delicate and 

 white. These valuable characteristics distinguish 

 the improved Yorkshire pigs which are now so 

 much esteemed all over the British Isles as well as 

 in several foreign countries. The Neapolitan breed 

 is entirely black, with little hair, moderately short 

 in the face, ears small and erect, short in the leg, 

 moderately long and thick in the body, remark- 

 ably easy to fatten, but scarcely so robust in con- 

 stitution or so prolific as the Chinese pig. 



Besides many local varieties of recognised merit, 

 there are at least six improved breeds of swine reared 

 extensively in the British Isles. The White York- 

 shire are divided into the three sub-varieties known 

 as the Large, Middle, and Small White Breeds. 

 Then there are the black Berkshire, the Suffolk 

 breed ( some black and others white), and the red 

 Tarn worth. The black Suffolk pigs are sometimes 

 spoken of as the Small Black breed. The Tain 

 worth is a large-si/ed pig, rather stronger in the 

 bone than the other sorts, with a long race. It is 

 noted for a high proportion of lean meat. The 

 Large White is the most widely distributed variety. 

 It is being used extensively and with excellent 

 results in the improvement of the pigs in Ireland, 

 Scotland, and on the continent ot Europe. The 

 pigs of America are descended mainly from the 

 Berkshire, Poland-China (a breed developed in 

 1816-38), white Suffolk, Chester, Cheshire, Essex, 

 Jersey red, and Victoria (a breed originating at 

 Saratoga about 1855). The first swine seem to 

 have been introduced into Hayti by Columbus in 

 1493, and into Florida by Oe Soto in 1538 ; within 

 a century pigs bred in Virginia, Canada, and Nova 

 Scotia. The extent of the pork packing business 

 in America may be. estimated from the figures 

 given at CHICAGO. See also PORK. It used to be 

 said that pigs were indigenous in the Polynesian 

 area, but most likely they were introduced by the 

 earliest navigators. Allowed to run wild, they 

 multiply rapidly under favourable conditions ; thus 

 in New Zealand they liecame atone time a nuisance, 

 and in Nelson province three men killed 25, (XX) pigs 

 in twenty months. 



Pigs are profitably kept wherever there is much 

 vegetable refuse on which to feed them, as by 

 cottagers having gardens, farmers, millers, brewers, 

 &c. They are often allowed to roam over fallow 

 ground, which they grub up for roots, and over 

 stubble-fields, which they glean very thoroughly. 

 It was an ancient practice to allow pigs to feed in 

 woods, where they consumed acorns, beechmast, 

 and the like. When they are fed, as is sometimes 

 the case, chiefly on animal garbage, their flesh is 

 less palatable and less wholesome. The pig has 

 a reputation, which it does not deserve, of peculiar 

 filtlnness of habits. It is true that it wallows in 

 the mire, as the other pacliydermata also do, to 

 cool itself and to provide itself with a protection 

 against insects, and it searches for food in any 

 puddle ; but its sleeping-place is, if possible, kept 

 scrupulously clean. The too common Klthiness of 

 pigsties is rather the fault of their owners than 

 of their occupants ; and a clean and dry sleeping- 

 place is of great importance to the profitable 

 Keeping of pigs. 



The Hog Cholera or Swine Plague, due to the 

 presence of a bacterium, caused terrible havoc in 

 the United States in 1870-80, though hardly 



