112 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



tress, others will at once rush to its assistance and attack 

 its assailant. In this respect they seem to rank even above 

 the dog. What else can a pig indicate by its voice, besides 

 distress ? 



Value of hogs to man. As far as meat alone is concerned, 

 the hog is at least as valuable to us as horned cattle. They 

 attain their full growth in a much shorter time than cattle ; 

 their meat is easily preserved by salting and smoking, and 

 can be cooked in its own fat. For men who do hard physi- 

 cal work, as farmers, lumbermen, miners, -soldiers in the 

 field, and sailors, pork is the principal meat diet. In the 

 big slaughterhouses of Chicago alone from thirty to sixty 

 thousand grunters are converted into pork in one day. 

 Among modern nations, Americans and Germans are the 

 greatest consumers of pork. 



Structure. The feet of the pig are cloven ; each foot has 

 four toes, but only two touch the ground. Although the 

 foot of a pig resembles a cow's foot very much, the pig's 

 dentition and its stomach are entirely different from those 

 of cattle. You see at once, if you examine a pig's jaw- 

 bones, that it has all three kinds of teeth. In the wild 

 boar, the eyeteeth are powerful, long tusks, which are 

 curved upwards and project from the mouth. The boar 

 cannot chew with them. Can you think what use he may 

 make of them? In the domestic pig, these teeth remain 

 small. With its front teeth the pig can graze, shell corn, 

 pick up nuts, acorns, worms, and other food. Now let us 

 look at its molars. Do you think they are fit for grinding, 

 like the molars of a cow ? Why not ? Are they sharp 

 and pointed like the teeth of a cat ? Do hogs eat flesh ? 

 Do they move their jaws like cattle and horses, when they 

 eat? 



A hog's stomach is a very simple affair. If you have 

 never seen one, look for it the next time a pig is killed in 



