THE RAZORBACK 127 



out of a jug, has done more for the pioneer and 

 the backwoodsman than any other animal. 



Take this semi-wild beast away from his wild 

 haunts, give him food and care, and he will 

 double his gifts. Add a hundred generations of 

 careful selection, until his form is so changed 

 that it is beyond recognition, and again the prod- 

 uct will be doubled. The spirit of swine is not 

 changed by civilization or good breeding ; such 

 as it was on that day when the herd "ran down 

 a steep place and was drowned in the sea," such 

 it is to-day. A fixed determination to have its 

 own way dominated the creature then, arid a 

 pig-headed desire to be the greatest food-produc- 

 ing machine in the world is its ruling passion 

 now. That the hog has succeeded in this is beyond 

 question ; for no other food animal can increase 

 its own weight one hundred and fifty fold in the 

 first eight months of its life. 



All over the world there is a growing fondness 

 for swine flesh, and the ever increasing supply 

 doesn't outrun the demand. Since the disper- 

 sion of the tribes of Israel there has been no 

 persistent effort to depopularize this wonderful 

 food maker. Pig has more often been the food 

 of the poor than of the rich, but now rich and 

 poor alike do it honor. Old Ben Jonson said : 



" Now pig is meat, and a meat that is nourish- 

 ing and may be desired, and consequently eaten : 

 it may be eaten ; yea, very exceedingly well 

 eaten." 



