CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



An excellent form of feeding-trough is now much 

 used. That part of the trough in the inside of 

 the yard is divided with partitions, reaching some 

 distance into the yard, so that each pig can quietly 

 take its meal without being forced away by a 

 stronger animal, as is often the case in ordinary 

 troughs, where they all feed in common. Another 

 contrivance is also attached, by which the incon- 

 venience occasioned to the attendant in filling the 

 ordinary trough is obviated. Part of the trough 

 being outside the sty, a swing-door or iron plate 

 is suspended on hinges from its upper end ; when 

 this is pushed forward towards the yard-side of 

 the trough, and kept in this position by a catch, 

 the pigs cannot obtain entrance ; the whole of the 

 trough is therefore exposed to the attendant, so 

 that he can easily place the food without being 

 annoyed by the pigs. When filled, the swing- 

 door is pulled towards the outside, and there kept 

 by the catch, and the pigs have free access to the 

 trough. The form of feeding-trough on this prin- 

 ciple is shewn in the preceding figure. It is built 

 in the wall of the sty, and may be used to feed 

 pigs on either side. A good form of feeding- 

 trough for a yard is the circular one, divided into 

 compartments ; these being extended radially for 



Fig. 2. Circular Pig-trough. 



some distance, forming a series of stalls admitting 

 only one pig at a time. The figure represents 

 Ransomes and Sims' circular trough for feeding 

 pigs in an open court. 



Feeding. 



A number of pigs are still allowed to cater the 

 bulk of their food in rural districts, especially of 

 Scotland, during summer, but not nearly so many 

 as once were herded in this way. The most of 

 the pigs now are kept the whole year in sties, and 

 4 hand-fed.' To many cottagers, the keeping of a 

 pig or two is an important matter. When a pair 

 of young pigs are purchased by a cottar or small 

 farmer, one is sold when ready for the butcher, 

 weighing from seven to fourteen stone, and the 

 money received for this one defrays the buying- 

 price of the two, and also any outlays for artificial 

 food required beyond the wastes of the holding. 

 The second pig is thus free, and is killed for use 

 in the feeder's family over winter, and highly 

 prized it is by them. Unless for delicate pork, it 

 should not be killed less than a year old. During 

 the summer, the pig may be fed on any refuse 

 from the kitchen or garden, including turnip and 

 potato parings, table-waste, cabbage-leaves, &c. ; 

 but if barley-dust, or grains from a distillery, can 

 be economically procured, either forms a good 

 article of diet. Let it be kept in remembrance 



660 



that the finer the feeding, the finer will be the 

 pork. The food should, at all events, be of a 

 vegetable kind, or principally so ; nothing beyond 

 refuse from the table being advisable in the shape 

 of animal food. Whatever be given, let it be 

 offered in small quantities, and frequently, it being 

 a matter of importance never to allow the pig to 

 become violently hungry, nor to have food lying 

 long in the trough. The food should be carefully 

 salted and seasoned ; the trough cleaned out 

 before each meal, the diet varied occasionally, and 

 the animals fed separately according to their ages, 

 sizes, conditions, and destinations. Breeding-pigs, 

 or those intended for bacon, should not be very 

 highly fed at first. Let the quantity of bran and 

 succulent roots used in the diet be guided by the 

 state of the dung-cast. 



Farmers possess considerable advantages for 

 feeding pigs. In folds among young store-cattle, 

 during winter, pigs thrive exceedingly well. They 

 get abundance of heat, lying as often as they can 

 between two or more of the cattle : nor are the 

 cattle any the worse for their porcine companions. 

 The food of the pig kept in this way is scarcely 

 appreciable. Pigs intended for slaughter about 

 Christmas, which is the best time to kill them, 

 should be fed on particularly nourishing material 

 during the autumn. If for pork, the feeding need 

 not be quite so high as for bacon. In any case, 

 let the bulk of the food be of a hard, substantial 

 character, such as oats or meal, for some weeks 

 before killing. Boiled potatoes mixed with a 

 handful or two of meal, the last month or two, 

 are a very common feed at the numerous small 

 farms and crofts, especially in Ireland and Scot- 

 land, and produce very fine pork, though not so 

 fat as that raised from such hard food as barley, 

 bean, or pease meal. Above all, the half-starving 

 system should be carefully avoided. Repaid 

 as it is by a miserable carcase scarcely worth 

 slaughtering, it is naturally approaching extinc- 

 tion, and cannot reach that goal a day too soon. 

 In fact, there is almost as much oppression 

 occasioned to pigs in these times by excessive 

 as by inadequate feeding. Indeed, many of the 

 huge specimens exhibited at the leading shows 

 appear as if positively suffering from obesity. 

 Not only are they unable to walk, but some 

 of them are quite blind, the eye being buried 

 in three or four inches of actual fat. Nearly 

 all that is visible of the head are the snout and 

 ears. 



The most approved modes of curing and pre- 

 paring pork, brawn, bacon, and hams are detailed 

 in the number on FOOD BEVERAGES. 



Diseases. 



The pig is naturally a very healthy animal, an 

 if at all carefully fed and properly tended in the 

 domesticated state, is not addicted to disease. 

 But if neglected either in feeding or housing, the 

 principal diseases to which they are liable are 

 fever, leprosy, tumours, murrain, measles, foul 

 skin, mange, crackings of the skin, staggers, indi- 

 gestion or surfeit, lethargy, quinsy, inflammation 

 of the lungs, catarrh, and diarrhoea. The only 

 general prescription that can be given beyond 

 greater attention to cleanliness and warmth in 

 housing, and to the regulation of diet is to call 

 in the services of a veterinary surgeon. 





