sus. 



735 



and enables herd to succeed herd, just as generation 

 succeeds generation, is both simple and easily seen. 

 The young do not come to their full growth till the 

 age or five or six, but they begin to breed at two. 

 Till they attain their full growth, the attachment to 

 the parent herd continues ; but after this it ceases, 

 and each pair, as they arrive at this stage, go off to 

 found a new colony in a part of the forest which does 

 not interfere with the pasture of that from which they 

 take their departure in order to make room for other 

 races. When the young of the year are so far ad- 

 vanced as that they do not greatly need the protec- 

 tion of the mother, the whole of the herd assemble 

 and feed socially together, until the season again 

 comes round, at which they disperse in pairs. When 

 they are in the herd they are always under the leader- 

 ship of a male that may be looked upon as the patri- 

 arch ; though he does not exercise the same kind of 

 sway as the patriarch of a polygamous race. After 

 they have assembled in the herds they are apt to 

 sally forth from the forests, and do no small damage 

 to the cultivated fields, both by rooting up and by 

 trampling down. There is an allusion to tins in the 

 beautiful parable of the vine in the eighteenth Psalm : 

 " The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the 

 wild beast of the field doth devour it." This is finely 

 true to nature, even in the contrast of the mischief 

 done by the two. The wild beast of the field de- 

 vours simply eats, but the boar out of the wood 

 wastes tramples down and destroys. 



The leader of the herd is usually at some distance 

 from the rest, but they do not spread far; and as their 

 vision is neither keen nor extends far, they are under- 

 stood to proceed chiefly by scent.; and this is the 

 further necessary that the night is the time at which 

 they commit their depredations. When the herd are 

 attacked, they form in a circle with the weaker ones 

 in the centre, and make a most formidable resistance, 

 standing boldly out to meet the danger. If wounded 

 by a shot, even when surrounded by the dogs, the 

 boar will instantly turn in vengeance upon the 

 hunter. 



The hunting of the boar is a favourite field sport, 

 but it is one which is not unattended with danger. 

 The male when living apart affords the most dashing 

 sport. Common sporting dogs will not do ; forstrength 

 and weight, not swiftness or address, are required ; and 

 thus large mastiffs, or crosses between large mas- 

 tiffs and bull dogs, are employed. When drawn from 

 its course it does not run off, as it would find but little 

 safety in flight. It stalks off with glaring eyes ; and 

 if the dogs run in upon it before it is a little winded, 

 it finishes them one by one with a single application 

 of the tusks. Old boars are not quite so formidable 

 as those which have about gained that age at which 

 they separate from the parent flock ; and these too 

 happen to be the ones that are most readily found. 

 They can hold out longer, so that the dogs are more 

 fatigued ; and the tusks are sharper and straighter, 

 and inflict more deadly wounds. The hunting of the 

 wild boar is, however, a subject which does not di- 

 rectly belong to natural history. Hog-hunting in the 

 woods is a favourite sport in India ; but we believe 

 that the wild hog there is not quite so formidable as 

 in more temperate climates. This would lead us to 

 suppose that the proper locality of the animal is not 

 in the very hottest parts of the south ; for, even in the 

 islands of the South Sea, which are in point of fertility, 

 and of course of abundance of food, superior to most 



other regions, the native hog is a smaller animal 

 than the wild boar of the European forests ; and it is 

 different in shape and colour its legs are very short, 

 and it is black ; still it does not appear to be any thing 

 more than a climatal variety. There is one other par- 

 ticular connected with the varieties of hogs to which 

 it is worth while to attend. It is this : they seem to 

 be much more easily broken into varieties by mere 

 change of place than most animals ; but when once 

 a variety is established in a district, it appears to be 

 more constant. 



The domestic hog is an animal of very great import- 

 ance in an economical point of view ; but it is one of 

 which, on account of the almost endless variety of 

 breeds, it is impossible to give a detailed account in 

 a sketch. In a merely natural history point of view 

 this is not necessary, because, in all its characters, 

 generic and specific, it is identical with the wild one. 

 All the varieties that have been tried breed freely 

 with each other, and the progeny is fertile in every 

 race. This is quite enough to prove that the species 

 is only one ; and not to show this only, but further 

 to show that varieties without limit may be obtained 

 by crossing and by changing from place to place. 

 Though the same breeds vary greatly in size, none 

 of them is so large, or nearly so powerful an animal 

 as the wild boar ; and thus if, in breeding with a view 

 to any of the points that are held as being most valu- 

 able, the size and strength should be reduced below 

 what may be considered as the proper standard, 

 crossing with the wild boar will bring them back, 

 though it is said that crosses near the pure blood pro- 

 duce much more vicious animals than the breeds that 

 are removed from it. 



In a highly improved state of a country, the hog is 

 certainly not entitled to take precedence either of 

 the ox or the sheep in point of utility, its uses not 

 being so many or so general ; but still it is a very 

 useful animal ; and there are some states of a coun- 

 try, or at least of particular districts, in which it is 

 more valuable than either of the others. The milk 

 of the hog is not, we believe, used as an article of 

 food in any place, though there is not the least doubt 

 of its being wholesome. It can, however, be much 

 more advantageously applied to the purpose for which 

 nature intended it, us the young are of some value 

 (though not wholesome as a food certainly) at a very 

 early age ; and they grow much faster than any do- 

 mestic animals of nearly equal size. 



Upon an arable farm, where hogs are only a sub- 

 ordinate article with the farmer, the estimate is that 

 with two females and one male, managing them so 

 that they may be always in the highest state of fer- 

 tility, the succession may be kept up, and forty fed 

 ones sold every year, besides some of the young, at 

 an expense of about twenty pounds, besides the waste 

 about the farm which could not be profitably applied 

 to the keep of any other animal. The trouble which 

 they require is not great, and thus, at the very lowest 

 estimate of them, there would be a profit of between 

 300 and 400 per cent, upon the absolute cost, which 

 is far more than can be obtained from any other ani- 

 mal that can be kept on a farm. No doubt the breed 

 must be skilfully chosen, and the treatment must be 

 judicious ; but these are essential to success in every 

 thing that is cultivated. The average estimate is 

 that twice the same weight of food may be obtained 

 from hogs, taking the bad breeds with the good, that 

 can be obtained from the same cost of food by mean? 



