PIGS. 165 



Pigs thrive best when they are kept clean, and washing 

 them two or three times a week in lukewarm water, and 

 scrubbing them with a brush, have been found to answer well 

 and to give satisfaction even to the pigs. They prefer a clean 

 place to lie upon, and will generally keep one corner of the 

 stye clean, for a bed, when all the rest is dirty. 



They should always have boards to lie upon, in which event 

 they will do very well without any straw at all, save in very 

 cold weather. Pig-styes should be weather-proof, dry, fairly 

 warm, and well ventilated. The paving flags should be laid 

 in cement, for the sake of dryness and cleanness. 



Breeding-styes should have a stout round rail running round 

 them, a foot from the wall and the same' from the floor; it is 

 wanted to prevent the sow from crushing the young pigs, 

 when she lies down, between her back and the wall. Whilst 

 they are only a few weeks old, young pigs need some good dry 

 straw to huddle together in ; later on they will do just as well 

 without it, save in cold weather. It is desirable that pigs 

 should have warmth in cold weather ; they will thrive all the 

 faster for it. 



All kinds of pigs, whether store or fat, will thrive better on 

 lukewarm food, especially in winter. The temperature of the 

 food may be about 70 Fahr. with advantage higher in winter 

 and lower in summer. Experiments have demonstrated that 

 warm food pays, and, indeed, it is reasonable that it should. 

 When an animal takes a mass of cold food into its stomach, 

 the temperature of that food must be raised to the temperature 

 of the body first of all ; and herein is a loss of carbon, for a 

 portion of it is wasted in raising the temperature of cold food 

 to the point at which it is most readily digested. 



The best possible breed of pigs is perhaps the Berkshire, but 

 it does not follow that it will always pay the best in the 

 hands of the rank and file of farmers. The Americans swear 

 by the Poland China breed, and it is a good breed, no doubt, 

 but it is not superior to our Tamworth or Shropshire, or to 

 any of our medium-sized breeds, if, indeed, it is equal to any of 

 them. 



