44: THE HOG. 



able, and as little disposed to wander or trespass, as any of the other 

 animals that it contains. Here, as in many other things, man is but 

 too willing to attribute the faults, which are essentially of his own 

 causing, to any other than their true source. 



Martin says : It has been usual to condemn the domestic hog, in 

 no very measured terms, as a filthy, stupid brute, at once glutton- 

 ous, obstinate, and destitute of intelligence. Against this sweeping 

 censure we beg to enter our protest. With regard to the filthiness 

 of the hog in a state of confinement, every thing will depend on the 

 trouble taken by its keeper. He may allow the sty or the yard to 

 be covered with filth of every description, as disgraceful to himself 

 as it is injurious to the animals. In this case the hog is the sufferer, 

 for naturally it delights in clean straw, luxuriating in it with evident 

 pleasure, its twinkling little eyes and low grunt expressing its feel- 

 ings of contentment. In fact, the hog, so far from being the filthi- 

 est, is one of the cleanliest of our domestic quadrupeds, and is un- 

 willing to soil the straw bed of his domicile if any thing like liberty 

 be allowed him. It may be here said, is not the hog fond of wal- 

 lowing in the mire ? Undoubtedly it is ; and so are all the genuine 

 packydermata, as the elephant, the rhinoceros, and the tapir. The 

 skin of these animals, thick as it may be, is nevertheless sensitive, 

 and a covering of mud is doubtless intended as a protection to the 

 skin in the heat of summer, (the time in which the hog chiefly de- 

 lights to wallow,) both against the scorching rays of the sun and the 

 attacks of myriads of puny but intolerable winged persecutors. No 

 animal delights more to have its hide rubbed and scratched than the 

 hog a circumstance which every one practically conversant with 

 pigs must have very frequently noticed. 



With respect to the gluttony of the pig, we acknowledge him to 

 be " a huge feeder ;" but so is the horse or the ox, and indeed every 

 animal that has to support a bulky carcass ; and not only so, but 

 become fat upon vegetable aliment. To a certain extent, indeed, the 

 hog is omnivorous, and may be reared on the refuse of the butchers' 

 slaughter-houses ; but such food is not wholesome, nor is it natural; 

 for though this animal be omnivorous, it is not essentially carnivo- 

 rous. Vegetable productions, as roots and grain, beech-mast, and 

 acorns, constitute the staple of its natural diet ; hence, the refuse of 

 the dairy farm is more congenial to the health of the animal, to say 

 nothing of the quality of its flesh. All animals eat with a keen 

 relish the hog amongst the rest ; besides, his appetite is pampered, 

 the object being to make him fat: and certainly a well-fed, plump 

 hog is a more comely-looking beast than the gaunt, lean, flat-sided 

 animals so generally seen in France and Germany. However, if 

 the charge of gluttony be proved against the pig fattening in his sty, 

 it may be equally proved against the ox fattening in his stall. When 

 old, or when oppressed by fat, the hog, ; t must be confessed, is slug 



