OPINION PURPOSES IN FEEDING. 183 



fitable ; at any rate, wooden troughs ought to be 

 iron bound. A RANGE of sties is convenient where 

 numbers are fed, on account of the greater facility 

 of attendance, and of distribution of the wash re- 

 served in the cistern. 



According to an ancient and general opinion, not, 

 however, entirely supported by either ancient or 

 modern experience, swine do not long succeed, if 

 kept upon the same ground in considerable numbers, 

 infecting each other with a malignant atmosphere. 

 In opposition to such an idea, history informs us, 

 that the Roman feeders possessed herds of swine, to 

 the amount of two or three thousand each ; and I 

 have often seen upwards of two thousand large hogs 

 fattened under the same roof, where, in a long 

 course of years, no mortality had been experienced 

 or apprehended. The opinion in question has, 

 most probably, arisen from the circumstance of too 

 great number of pigs bred within confined limits, 

 and a defective ventilation, assisted, perhaps, by a 

 wet or boggy soil, and a want of cleanliness. 



PURPOSES IN FEEDING. 



These are either for mere domestic use, or for 

 profit by sale ; and the choice of plan lies between 

 BREEDING, and purchase of STORES ; the former at- 

 tended with most trouble, but proportionate emolu- 

 ment. Swine are not generally kept to advantage, 

 unless where some waste remains to be gathered, or 

 cheap articles of food can be grown for them ; but 

 the rule admits of exceptions in favour of those who 

 are well skilled in the animals themselves, and in the 

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