sus 



737 



and in situations where they had to roam about and 

 merely consume the scraps, they would be most un- 

 profitable. As compared with what we may, from 

 present observation on the continent, consider as the 

 type of a wild hog in Britain, this Chinese breed is 

 in the most artificial state ; and thus it must be best 

 adapted for those places where the climate is mild 

 and the soil rich, and where the breeding of hogs has 

 been reduced to a regular system. 



The three leading breeds of hogs which we have 

 mentioned afford a more distinct means of assigning 

 these animals their proper "locations," according to 

 the nature of the places, than we have in the case of 

 any other animals ; and the almost endless variety of 

 circumstances under which hogs may be kept to ad- 

 vantage, renders this a very important matter to all 

 classes of our rural population. Oxen and sheep 

 cannot be profitably fattened except on a large scale ; 

 but any who has room to hold it may profitably fatten 

 a hog. We do not of course recommend that, more 

 Hibernicc, it should be kept in the house, at bed and 

 board with the human inmates. This is not a seemly 

 way of doing the business, and yet it is one of the 

 strongest possible proofs of the great value of the 

 hog. An Irish labourer and his family, who "rint a 

 quarsther " of a cellar or a garret in some squalid den 

 in the British metropolis, often have a pig in the frac- 

 tion of an apartment, which eats of the same potatoes, 

 reposes on the same straw, and is in fact to all intents 

 and purposes a member of the family, not merely 

 tolerated, but loved and loving ; for though hogs are 

 sullen and stubborn animals when one attempts to 

 lead them captive, and require to be pulled backward 

 in order that they may be impelled forward, yet they 

 are susceptible to kindly treatment ; and a hog may not 

 only be taught to follow its master, but there have 

 been instances of training them to point at game like 

 dogs, and there is not a country fair in England 

 where the pow r ers of " Toby the wise pig," in the 

 mysteries of divination, are not the marvel of the 

 rustics. 



It is not, however, for the purpose of playing the 

 pointer, or astonishing the natives with the wisdom 

 of Tobias, that the pig is kept with so much care in 

 the cantonment of the cellar or the garret. It tells a 

 tale of the great and paramount value of the pig to 

 the poor man, and a tale of Ireland a tale of most 

 monstrous and most heart-rending injustice on the 

 part of somebody, but with the latter we have no con- 

 cern. The tale of the pig is, that without it the poor 

 man in Ireland could not keep the tenancy of the 

 mud cottage reared by his own hands on the margin 

 of the health-invading bog, that the pig finds the 

 annual impost which the man must pay for being in 

 that state of " glorious independence," in which no 

 wind can blow upon him with a more bitter blast, and 

 no contingency of events can despoil him of a single 

 comfort. 



Now, if the hog is thus, as the case of millions has 

 proved, a sheet-anchor by which man can ride out the 

 topmost bent of misery's tempest, how well may it 

 serve those who can have it all to themselves? This 

 of itself gives a -popular interest to the animal, far 

 above that which is possessed by the veriest marvel 

 in mere natural history. Nay, there is more depth 

 of pathos, and force of moral and social instruction, 

 in a single hog, circumstanced as we have mentioned, 

 than in all the formal zoological collections on the 

 face of the earth. But the reader can pursue it for 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



himself, while we proceed with 'the routine of our 

 article. 



We shall just run over the outlines of a few of the 

 leading breeds, which have been formed out of one 

 or more of the three principal ones. The Berkshire, 

 which also chiefly prevails in north Wilts, and some 

 other places, is remarkable for the compactness of its 

 form, and the quality and quantity of its flesh. Small 

 boned as it is, there have been individuals twelve or 

 thirteen hundred weight. The Hampshire hog is 

 longer in the body than the Berks, and not so corn- 

 pact and handsome, and it is more inclined to white 

 in the colour an approach, but a very slight one, to 

 the mountain breed. It is, however, easily fattened, 

 and valuable. The Sussex hogs resemble the other 

 southern breeds, that appear to be related to the 

 Berkshire. They are black and white in large patches, 

 the white being often in one mass placed about the 

 middle of the length. On the borders of Wales 

 there are some large and coarse breeds, of clumsy 

 form and not very profitable. The Cheshire are 

 white in the ground colour, but with large patches of 

 black or blue. They have great heads, large ears, 

 long and stout legs, and their skin hangs loosely about 

 them, so that, though they are moderately fat, they 

 are never plump in appearance. The Shropshire is 

 an analogous breed, although not quite the same as 

 the Cheshire. They are white or sand coloured in 

 the ground, with patches of black, less abundant and 

 smaller than those upon the Cheshire. They are 

 rough and shaggy-looking animals, with numerous 

 long and strong bristles, and a good deal of rough 

 hair among the roots. They have large bones, and 

 are not very profitable for ordinary treatment ; but 

 when fattened on grains, at breweries or distilleries, 

 they yield a great weight of fat but coarse pork. 

 The two breeds last mentioned are still nearer to the 

 mountain breed than the long-legged hogs of the 

 south. The Suffolk breed, though different in colour, 

 being in general without patches, is like those of the 

 border of Wales, high on the legs and long and thin 

 in the body. 



In what we may consider as the mountain hogs, or 

 those that have had their characters for a long time 

 moulded to the more inclement atmospheres of our 

 islands, there appear to be two varieties, one of the 

 mainland of Scotland, and one of the islands ; and as 

 both of these are very variable in their localities, 

 there are numerous shades of difference among the 

 hogs. The native breed of the west Highlands and 

 western isles are of small size, and of a sort of silver- 

 grey colour. Their coats are shaggy, being abun- 

 dantly supplied both with bristles, and with coarse 

 under wool. These animals are remarkably hard}', 

 and, for the greater part of the year, they find their 

 own food on the hill without any cost of artificial pro- 

 vision, and very little trouble of any kind. They do 

 not get fat in this situation, as compared with the 

 southern breeds, but their flesh is of very good flavour ; 

 and when they are brought down to the low country, 

 they are rendered very fat and excellent in a short 

 time, and at comparatively little expense. 



In many parts of Scotland the people have a strong 1 

 prejudice against hogs. It cannot be called a reli- 

 gious prejudice ; but, like other superstitious preju- 

 dices, it borrows the phraseology of religion ; and it 

 is, or at least used to be, not uncommon, in many of 

 those places where hogs could be reared with the 

 greatest advantage, to hear the folks object to their 

 AAA 



