Ch. XLL] ON FATTING. 519 



of food from that usually given to stores, in order to iiarden the flesli, and 

 render it of that mellow firmness which constitutes the essential property of 

 fine hams and bacon. For this purpose, some people commence with about 

 two-thirds of steamed potatoes, and one-third of pease and barley, ground 

 in equal proportions into meal, enlarging the quantity of meal as the animal 

 grows fat; by which means it is said that a quick feeder will in twelve 

 weeks consume from 14 to 16 bushels of the grain, and will probably 

 double his weight*. One bushel of pease to four of oats and four of 

 barley, or three or four bushels of potatoes, with two bushels of ground oats 

 and barley, boiled, are also considered good mixtures ; but nothing in this 

 country is equal to barley-meal and white pease — the pease being given 

 whole, and the meal made into a mash with skimmed milk. 



Such is the system pursued in the fatting of dairy-fed pork ; but, of 

 course, it can only be practised by those farmers who have a large stock 

 of cows, and, therefore, cannot be generally followed. Wheaten pollard 

 and shelled oats are also given ; but beans, though occasionally used, 

 render the lean of pork, and indeed the flesh of all animals fed upon them, 

 extremely hard ; thus injuring the value of the hams, but, in regard to 

 bacon, improving the firmness of the fat: such, indeed, is the objection to 

 them, that farmers who pay strict attention to feeding", even reject the 

 grey pea, as approaching too nearly to the nature of the bean, and ren- 

 dering the meat tough and ill-flavoured. When milk cannot be given, 

 then the better mode of making the mash is to boil the meal in a mo- 

 derate quantity of water, seasoned occasionally with a little salt ; but the 

 ])ease should always be given dry ; for although many persons are of opinion 

 that, if boiled, they better promote the animal's fatting, yet they do not 

 by this means improve tlie firmness of the flesh. In fact, the better mode 

 is to omit the mash altogether, and give nothing but dry pease and water 

 for a few weeks before the hog is to be killed t- 



As to the quantity of food, porkers will consume two or three pecks of 

 corn or pulse weekly, while fattening ; but the quantity of pease requisite 

 to fatten a bacon-hog necessarily depends upon his size, breed, condi- 

 tion, and disposition to take on fat ; as well as whether the object is 

 to fatten him to a moderate state, or to suit him for common farm 

 use. If a large animal, he will consume for the first few weeks from 

 1^ to 2, and in some cases even 2^ bushels weekly; and it has been 

 calculated that his weight will commonly increase at the rate of 9 or 



* Devonshire Survey, p. 356. A pig of a breed from various crosses, fed upon milk 

 and potatoes, and finished upon 4i bushels of barley-meal, steeped until left to grow 

 sour, weighed when killed at ten months old, 182 lbs., exclusive of the head and feet. — 

 Cornwall Report, p. 156. 



f Marshall mentions two particulars of practice in the fattening of swine which is 

 worthy of notice. " In one, salt was mixed with their food, in the proportion of a 

 pint to every two bushels of barloy-meal, under an opinion that it kept them from dis- 

 orders, forwarded their fatting, and added to the delicacy and flavour of the pork." 



" In the other, the meal or flour, whether of barley, pease, or other grain, was given 

 to them dry, and this is the practice of one of the largest and best farmers on the 

 Surrey hills ; under a conviction, resulting from experience, that the practice is less 

 wasteful than the ordinary one of mixing water with the flour, and forming them into 

 grout, which in winter is liable to be frozen, and in summer, to be baked to the sides of 

 the troughs." — Southern Comities, vol. ii. p. 416. 



Ari experiment was also lately published by a farmer, who stated that he took two 

 pigs of the same litter, and of similar weight, and fed them apart, one upon barley-meal 

 mixed with swill, or wash, and the other with dry meal, having his drink given to him 

 an hour afterwards. At the end of six weeks, both were weighed, and the hog fed upon 

 dry food was found to be a stone heavier than the other. 



