156 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



but I think it has paid for itself several times 

 over in health and comfort to the herd. The 

 structure on this floor was of the simplest ; a 

 double wall only five feet high at the sides, 

 shingled roof, broken at the ridge to admit 

 windows, and strong partitions. It cost 13100. 

 As in the brood-sow house, there is a kitchen at 

 the west end. The 150 little pigs made but a 

 small showing in this great house, which was 

 intended to shelter six hundred of all sizes, from 

 the eight-weeks-old baby pig to the nine-months- 

 old three-hundred-pounder ready for market. 



Pigs destined for market never leave this house 

 until ripe for killing. At six or seven months 

 a few are chosen to remain on the farm and 

 keep up its traditions ; but the great number 

 live their ephemeral lives of eight months luxuri- 

 ously, even opulently, until they have made the 

 ham and bacon which, poor things, they cannot 

 save, and then pass into the pork barrel or the 

 smoke-house without a sigh of regret. They 

 toil not, neither do they spin ; but they have a 

 place in the world's economy, and they fit it 

 perfectly. So long as one animal must eat an- 

 other, the man animal should thank the hog 

 animal for his generosity. 



Now that my big hog-house seemed so empty, I 

 would gladly have sent into the highways and 

 byways to buy young stock to fill it; but I 

 dared not break my quarantine. I could easily 

 have picked up one hundred or even two hun 



