128 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



Hundreds have praised the rasher of ham, and 

 thousands the flitch of bacon ; it took the stroke 

 of but one pen to make roast pig classical. 



The pig of to-day is so unlike his distant pro- 

 genitor that he would not be recognized ; if by 

 any chance he were recognized, it would be only 

 with a grunt of scorn for his unwieldy shape 

 and his unenterprising spirit. Gone are the 

 fleet legs, great head, bulky snout, terrible jaws, 

 warlike tusks, open nostrils, flapping ears, gaunt 

 flanks, and racing sides ; and with these has gone 

 everything that told of strength, freedom, and 

 wild life. In their place has come a cuboidal 

 mass, twice as long as it is broad or high, with 

 a place in front for mouth and eyes, and a fool- 

 ish-looking leg under each corner. A mighty 

 fall from " freedom's lofty heights," but a won- 

 derfully improved machine. The modern hog is 

 to his progenitor as the man with the steam- 

 hammer to the man with the stone-hammer, - 

 infinitely more useful, though not so free. 



It is not easy to overestimate the value of 

 swine to the general farmer ; but to the factory 

 farmer they are indispensable. They furnish a 

 profitable market for much that could not be 

 sold, and they turn this waste material into a 

 surprising lot of money in a marvellously short 

 time. A pig should reach his market before he 

 is nine months old. From the time he is new- 

 born until he is 250 days old, he should gain at 

 least one pound a day, which means five cents, 



