528 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XLI. 



waste will be avoided, and the servant can fill and clean the troughs without 

 entering the court. The styes for breeding sows, and those used for store- 

 pigs, may be somewhat wider, and the trough should, of course, have a suf- 

 ficient number of apertures for the little pigs' heads, together with a sepa- 

 rate trough having a larger opening for the sow, as well as high enough to 

 prevent the sucking pigs from getting into it. Where water can be con- 

 veniently obtained it is also a good plan to have a small spout directed 

 through the styes, not only for their more easy cleansing, but to afford the 

 opportunity of always allowing the animals to drink. The building, when 

 not circular, may thus be extended to any length ; and if connected at 

 one end with a boiling-house, and at the other with a cess-pool, into 

 which the drains are emptied, the elevation of the whole will wear this 

 appearance ; — 



If many pigs be reared, it is always advisable to keep those of different 

 ages from each other, and even those of the same brood are never of the 

 same strength ; they should therefore be placed in separate styes, not con- 

 taining more than three or four in each, and those of as nearly as possible 

 equal disposition. In the fatting of hogs, however, a plan has been lately 

 adopted by many breeders of feeding them singly in styes which only allow 

 them to lie down, without being admitted to the court ; and this has been 

 carried by some so far as not to leave them room to turn. Some of these 

 styes are built in the form of a cage of planks, one side of which is made to 

 move with pegs, so as to fit them exactly, and to be enlarged with their 

 growth : they are either placed upon wheels for the convenience of moving 

 them, or upon feet a few inches from the ground, with a gently sloping 

 floor to carry oft' the filth from the back door, and having holes at the 

 bottom for the water to drain from, while they feed through a hole in the 

 front. The more general plan, however, is to build the styes in divisions, 

 each to contain a pig, and to fit him as near as may be ; on one side is a 

 range of small troughs, and on the other a row of sliders which shut in the 

 pigs. No litter of any kind is permitted, as the stalls are placed upon an 

 inclined plane, and swept out every day ; and the chewing of their litter is 

 thought to be injurious to tiieir thriving. The annexed cuts show a front 

 and back view : — 



