1018 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and shaggy, with long hair and bristles ; they graze on the hills like sheep ; their sole food 

 is herbage and roots, and on these they live the whole year round, without shelter, and 

 without receiving any other sustenance. In autumn, when they are in the best order, 

 their meat is excellent, and without any artificial feeding ; but when driven to the low 

 country, they fatten readily, and rise to a considerable bulk. ( Walker's Hebrides^ vol. ii. 

 p. 17.) In the Orkney islands they are commonly of a dark red, or nearly black color, 

 and have long bristles, with a sort of coarse wool beneath them. 



6560. The old Irish breed are a long legged, thin-sided, lank, haggard, unprofitable 

 sort of swine ; but where they have been crossed with the Berkshire, they are consider- 

 ably improved. 



Sect. II. Of ^Breeding and Rearing of Swine. 



6561. In the breeding of swine, whatever be the variety, the most perfect and best form- 

 ed boar and sow should be chosen, and a due regard paid to their age, time of copulation, 

 period of gestation, farrowing, castrating or spaying, and weaning. 



6562. In choosing the boar and sow, regard must be had to their size, as well as perfec- 

 tion of form. Where food is abundant, or the object of the progeny is the production 

 of bacon and flitches, the larger breeds, as already observed, are to be preferred : but 

 where food is scarce or uncertain, as in the case of the cottager's stock, or rearing for 

 suckled pork, fresh pork, or pickled pork, the smaller breeds, as the Berkshire, are to be 

 preferred. A breeding sow ought to have a large capacious belly, and not to be too much 

 inclined to obesity. To check this tendency, some allow them to breed five times in two 

 years. 



6563. The age of the boar should not be less than a year, as he will then be at his full 

 growth ; nor that of the female less than ten months. They may be used in breeding 

 for three or five years, and then fed off for the shambles. 



6564. T/ie period of gestation in swine is about four months, so that two litters may be 

 easily produced in a year, five in two years, or ten in four years. 



6563. The best times for copulation are November and May ; because then the pro- 

 geny are brought forth in mild weather, and when green food is to be had. They should 

 not be allowed to farrow in winter, as young pigs are exceedingly tender, and can with 

 difficulty be preserved in very cold weather ; nor at a time when food is scarce, as is gene- 

 rally the case upon corn-farms in summer, if the stock of them is large. When the object 

 is suckled pigs for the shambles, copulation should be so contrived as to produce par- 

 turition at all seasons. 



6566. The usual produce is from about eight to ten or twelve pigs in the large, but 

 more in the smaller breeds, which in general bring the greatest number, and the most 

 early. Twenty swine are estimated to bring at an average seven pigs and a half each 

 for their first litter ; but the number varies much, and many young pigs are lost soon 

 after their birth by the unkindness of their dam, and by casualties, to which they are 

 more exposed than most other young animals. 



6567. The pregnant swine should be separated from the herd some time before she is 

 expected to farrow, carefully watched, and littered with a small quantity of dry short 

 straw. Too much straw is improper, both at the time of farrowing, and for a week or 

 two afterwards, as the pigs are apt to nestle beneath it unperceived by the sow, and are 

 thus in danger of being smothered when she lies down. A breeding sow should be well 

 fed, particularly when nursing ; and it is advantageous early to accustom the pigs to feed 

 from a low trough on milk or other liquid food, mixed with meal or bran. Such of the 

 pigs of both sexes as are not to be kept for breeding, are usually castrated or spayed when 

 about a month old, and the whole may be weaned at the end of six or seven weeks. 



6568. The food allowed to growing swine depends in almost every case upon the cir- 

 cumstances of their owners, for, as already observed, it is a doubtful point whether 

 swine will pay when all their food bpth in rearing and fatting is to be purchased. The 

 cottager's pig must be contented with the scanty offals of his kitchen and of his dairy, 

 the produce generally of a single cow ; towards the end of autumn a few potatoes are 

 added for the purpose of preparing it for the slaughter, and perhaps a little meal is 

 mixed with boiled potatoes for a week or two before. Such pigs, however, often thrive 

 amazingly, make themselves moderately fat, and form a most valuable addition to the 

 winter stores of their owners. In the south-eastern counties of Scotland, the hinds or 

 man-ied ploughmen are commonly allowed to keep a pig each, which they feed in this 

 manner, and from which their families derive much benefit at very little expense. Near 

 woods, acorns, mast, and other seeds, as well jfe some roots and vermin, aftbrd excellent 

 nourishment. On many corn farms, the chief, and not unfrequently, the only depend- 

 ence of swine is on the straw-yards. The sweepings of the barn floor, corn left upon 

 the straw, and oats found among the dung of horses, with a share of the turnips given to 

 4he cattle in winter, and of the clover in summer, afford ample subsistence to swine, in 

 the proportion, perhaps, of one to every five or six acres under corn, clover, and turnips. 



