AARHUS AND A PIG FARM 31 



young pigs which are being "grown on." As we 

 appeared among these, hundreds of heads and fore- 

 legs were thrust over the tops of the styes, and from 

 hundreds of hungry throats rose a chorus of piercing 

 yells. Indeed the din was so tremendous that I was 

 glad to escape from the place. On the ground floor 

 were the pigs whose earthly career was drawing to 

 an end, many of them being already marked with the 

 fatal black spot which indicated that on the morrow 

 they must make their first and last journey to the 

 slaughter-house. 



At that date pork was, and I believe still is, 

 fetching a price in Denmark that at present makes 

 its breeding there a most remunerative business 

 no less indeed than 5d. per lb. This is paid for 

 the animal as he walks on to the scale, and for that 

 reason it is customary to feed a pig as heavily as 

 possible on the morning of its departure. It is given 

 an opportunity of satisfying itself with every dainty 

 before it dies, and as it recks not of the future its 

 appetite rises to the occasion. At 3f d. (30 ore) per 

 lb., pork production is fairly remunerative, while 

 3d. (24 ore) per lb. covers all outgoings and risks. 

 The average cost of a pig from the hour of its birth 

 to that when it enters the bacon factory, including an 

 allowance for labour, rent, and every other expense, 

 is here reckoned at 2, 9s. iojd. (45 kroner), and 

 the average price it realises is ^3, 6s. 6d. (60 

 kroner). 



In another part of the piggery are kept the great 

 drop-eared boars and the new-littered sows. Here 

 the piglings are weaned by means of an ingenious 

 contrivance of wooden bars, behind which they are 

 confined, only being allowed to the mother at stated 



