PIG 



chiefly in demand for the pork 

 trade, and is a useful pig for cross- 

 ing with coarse and nondescript 

 breeds to improve their quality. 



The curly-coated pig of Lincoln- 

 shire is a very ancient breed. Its 

 abundant curly hair gives it a 

 very characteristic appearance. It 

 is hardy, matures rapidly, and 

 yields well for either pork or bacon. 



Of the coloured breeds, the Tarn- 

 worth, mainly to be seen in the 

 districts around Birmingham, more 

 closely resembles the wild boar, 

 from which it is a more direct de- 

 scendant, than any other breed. 

 It is long, and nearly straight in 

 the head, and its body is covered 

 with long, red hair. It is a par- 

 ticularly hardy animal, and yields 

 well in bacon, with a good pro- 

 portion of lean ; but it has the 



6148 



scrupulously clean. Frequent 

 whitewashing of the walls of the 

 sty and court greatly conduces 

 to cleanliness. Litter should be 

 provided, peat moss being avoided, 

 as the pigs are apt to devour it. 

 Wheat straw is best for veVy young 

 pigs, while fattening pigs can 

 entirely dispense with litter. When 

 pigs are kept in confinement a lump 

 of rock salt should be provided. 



Pigs are omnivorous, and when 

 they chiefly live on the waste 

 products of the farm are very 

 profitable. Apart from swill, with 

 whey and buttefltnilk from the 

 dairy, to which skim milk may 

 with advantage be added, barley 

 meal, brewers' grains, peas, beans, 

 oats, and maize are all useful foods. 

 In the fattening process, which 

 gives the best result if crosses are 



Pig. Modern pigsties of corrugated iron and concrete around a yard covered 

 with straw litter 



By courtesy of The Agricultural Gazette 



great disadvantage that it matures 

 very slowly. It makes a very good 

 cross for introducing hardiness 

 into a delicate breed. 



The Berkshire breed is black, 

 with the exception of the face, feet, 

 and tip of the tail. It is now the 

 most popular type of coloured pig ; 

 and where colour is not objected to 

 in the market, it is a very profitable 

 breed to keep. It is hardy even in 

 hot climates, breeds freely, matures 

 early, and produces fine hams. 



The large and small black pigs 

 have been the subject of much 

 attention of late, and have been de- 

 veloped much on the lines of the 

 large white breed. They are pro- 

 lific, and yield well in bacon of the 

 best quality, while a cross between 

 these breeds and the Berkshire 

 produces an excellent all-round 

 strain of general utility. 



A few general principles may be 

 borne in mind with advantage. 

 The pig is not a lover of filth, but 

 is quite a clean animal if given 

 the opportunity. Hence the usual 

 condition of the pigsty is quite as 

 wrong and objectionable as a dirty 

 stable or cow-byre, and tends to 

 impair the health of the animals. 

 Sties should have a S. aspect, 

 should be large, well ventilated, 

 and well lighted, and be kept 



used, too much maize conduces to 

 flabbiness in the flesh, while an 

 excessive use of peas and beans 

 causes hardness. Various roots 

 are added to the dietary in winter, 

 and such things as clover and 

 vetches in the summer ; pigs are 

 often turned out to forage for 

 themselves in grass fields or over 

 stubble. They require frequent 

 feeding, but in small amounts. 



Pigs are weaned at from six to 

 eight weeks after birth, and until 

 they are able to feed miscellaneous- 

 ly their diet largely consists of a 

 mixture of sharps and bran, with 

 an increasing amount of barley 

 meal, and skim milk when avail- 

 able. Before they reach the age of 

 about five months the sharps and 

 bran should be replaced by meal. 

 See Animal ; Babirusa ; Bacon ; 

 Mammal ; Pork ; Swine-fever. 



W. J. Wintle 



Bibliography. Pigs : Breeds and 

 Management, S. Spencer, 1897 ; The 

 Book of the Pig, J. Long, 2nd ed., 

 1906 ; British Breeds of Live Stock, 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 

 1910 ; British Pigs : The Art of 

 Making Them Pay, J. Long, 1918 ; 

 The Pig : Breeding, Bearing and 

 Marketing, S. Spencer, 1919. 



Pig OR PIG IRON. Term used for 

 a particular form of casting of iron. 

 When molten iron is run out of a 



PIGEON 



blast furnace it is usually directed 

 into a channel about eight ins. wide 

 formed in a bed of sand ; branching 

 off from each side of this channel 

 at short intervals there are formed i 

 moulds in the sand communicating 

 at one end with the main channel. 

 These moulds are from two ft. 

 six ins. to three ft. six ins. long, from 

 three to five ins. wide and four to 

 six ins. deep. When the channel 

 and the moulds are filled with the 

 metal they suggest the idea of a 

 sow lying on her side suckling her 

 young ; the channel is therefore 

 called the sow and the blocks of 

 metal formed in the moulds are 

 called pigs. In the United Kingdom 

 there were 345 blast furnaces in 

 1905, and in 1918 the camber was 

 318. The total (tons)^of pig-iron 

 made was about 8,000,000 in 1920. 

 See Iron. 



Pigeon. Name applied to the 

 various species of birds of the order 

 Columbiformes, which includes the 

 pigeons proper, the doves, and the 

 extinct solitaire and dodo (q.v.). 

 There are about 60 genera included 

 in this order, and the typical 

 pigeons, Columba, number about 

 70 species, distributed over nearly 

 the whole world with the exception 

 of the polar regions. 



Most pigeons are strong Hiers. 

 They are all monogamous and pair 

 for life when under natural con- 

 ditions, the promiscuous court- 

 ships of the domestic pigeon being 

 simply a mark of degeneracy due 

 to life under abnormal circum- 

 stances. Both cock and hen assist 

 in the incubation and care of the 

 young. The eggs are always white, 

 and one or two in number. 



The birds of this group are all 

 marked by the possession of a very 

 large and distensible crop, which 

 enables them to take huge meals. 

 A pigeon has been known to eat 

 more than its own weight in food at 

 a meal. Another peculiarity of the 

 group is that the young are fed 

 with partially digested food by 

 the parents, whose crops during 

 the rearing season secrete a peculiar 

 fluid the so-called pigeon's milk. 



In Great Britain three species of 

 pigeon occur in the wild state, the 

 stock dove, the wood pigeon, and 

 the blue rock pigeon. The turtle 

 dove also breeds in Great Britain, 

 but it is only a summer visitor, 

 arriving early in May and leaving 

 in Sept. It is smaller than the 

 three other species and is found in 

 woods, where it is seldom seen, 

 as it keeps within the densest 

 foliage. It is spread over the whole 

 of Europe, except the extreme N., 

 and in winter migrates to Africa. 



The stock dove may be distin- 

 guished from the common wood 

 pigeon by its smaller size and 



