SWINE-CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



■35 



the knee, on the inside of the forearm. 

 It may be drawn more copiously from the 

 roof of the mouth. The flow of blood 

 may usually be stopped by applying a 

 sponge or cloth with cold water. 



The diseases of swine, though not nu- 

 merous, are formidable, and many of 

 them soon become fatal. They have not 

 been the subject of particular scientific 

 study, and most of the remedies applied 

 are rather the result of casual or hap- 

 hazard suggestion than of well-digested 

 inference from long-continued and accu- 

 rate observation. 



The cardinal principles of successful 

 pig raising are, to breed only from sound 

 and healthy parents of remote relation- 

 ship, to keep the animal in dry, warm, 

 and cleanly quarters, to feed regularly 

 and with varying food, and to remove as 

 early as possible any diseased or weakly 

 animal from the herd. 



SWINE, Apoplexy and Inflammation 

 of the Brain. — In distilleries, and Avhere 

 many hogs are kept, and too well kept, 

 this is a very destructive and not unfre- 

 quent malady. If the swine had been 

 carefully observed it would have been 

 seen that they were making a more than 

 usually rapid progress, but there was at 

 the same time a laziness, or heaviness, or 

 stupidity about them. A dose or two of 

 physic would have removed this, and not 

 have interfered with the fattening ; indeed 

 they would have thriven the better after 

 it. If this, however, has been neglected, 

 the apoplexy will probably be established. 

 The swine, in the act of feeding, or when 

 moving across the sty, will fall suddenly, 

 as if struck with lightning. He will be 

 motionless for a little while, and then con- 

 vulsions will come on, strong and dread- 

 ful; the eyes will seem protruded, the 

 head and neck will swell, and the veins 

 of the neck will be brought into sight, 

 notwithstanding the mass of fat with 

 which they may be covered. In the 

 midst of his struggles the animal will be 

 perfectly unconscious He will often die 

 in a few minutes, or should he recover, he 

 will be strangely exhausted, and some in- 

 ternal injury will be evidently done, so 

 that he will afterwards be very subject to 

 returns of these attacks, either of apo- 

 plexy or of fits. 



The course here is plain enough. He 

 should be bled, and bled copiously. In- 



deed, the blood should be suffered to flow 

 as long as it will. Two or three ounces 

 of Epsom salts should then be given ; the 

 quantity and the heating character of the 

 food should be diminished, and a couple 

 of drachms of sulphur given daily in the 

 first meal. 



When apoplexy or fits have once appeared 

 in a sty they spread like wild-fire. There 

 is nothing contagious in them, but there 

 is the power of sympathy acting upon an- 

 imals become too disposed to inflamma- 

 tion and fever. The most forward of 

 them should be disposed of as soon as 

 possible 



The habit of fits once established can- 

 not easily be broken, and the only way to 

 prevent the continuance of much annoy- 

 ance is, to separate those that are oftenest 

 affected from the rest, and to fatten them 

 as soon as possible. 



SWINE, Measles. — This is an inflam- 

 matory disease, not always indeed dis- 

 covered during the life of the animal, but 

 plain enough after death, and very con- 

 siderably diminishing the value of the 

 carcass. The red and pimpled appear- 

 ance of the skin, or of the cellular sub- 

 stance between the flesh and the skin, suf- 

 ficiently marks the disease. It shows that 

 there has been general inflammation, 

 either resulting from the fattening process 

 being carried too far, or, much oftener, 

 from the animal having too suddenly been 

 taken from poor keep, and suffered to have 

 as much as it will eat of highly nutritious 

 and stimulating food. The measles are 

 very seldom or never fatal, but the dis- 

 ease may generally be recognized by the 

 pink blush of the skin, or of some parts 

 of it, and by the hog rubbing himself 

 more than usual, while the skin is free 

 from pimples and scurf. The remedy 

 would be a less quantity of food, or of not 

 so stimulating a character, and occasional 

 doses of Epsom salts or sulphur. 



SWINE, Mange. — Few domesticated 

 animals are so subject to this loathsome 

 disease as the hog if he is neglected and 

 filthily kept ; but in a well cleaned and 

 well managed piggery it is rarely or never 

 seen, unless some, whose blood from gen- 

 eration to generation has been tainted 

 with it, should be incautiously admitted. 

 A mangy hog cannot possibly thrive well. 

 His foul and scurfy hide will never loosen,. 



