98 THE HOG. 



In the Channel Islands Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark 

 the, pig is an important animal, pork being the staple animal food 

 of the Islanders during the winter. It is said to be very delicate, 

 even more so than any in England. Almost every cottager keeps a 

 pig, and is enabled to feed it the more easily, as his garden yields 

 an abundant supply of produce. 



The Channel Island breed, once gaunt and coarse, and of French 

 extraction, is now greatly improved, and fattens rapidly. The pigs 

 are kept in styes, and fed during the spring and summer months on 

 buttermilk, bran, potatoes, cabbages, and all kinds of vegetables ; 

 in the autumn, almost exclusively upon parsnips, Bacon hogs are 

 generally killed at about twenty months old, and average from 300 

 to 450 Ibs. Sometimes, hogs attain to a much larger size ; and 

 instances have been known in which they have weighed 640 Ibs., 

 exclusive of the offal. 



In the Isle of Man, the native breed closely approaches that of the 

 Orkney and Shetland Isles. The animals resemble the wild boar 

 in miniature, and roam about at liberty ; yet they fatten readily, 

 and yield excellent meat. Within the last few years, crosses from 

 England have been introduced, and the plan of sty-feeding has been 

 practised ; but not with much success. 



It is now time that we turn to Ireland, whence so much of the 

 salted pork and bacon sold in England is exported. 



The modern Irish pig has, within the last few years, become greatly 

 improved. Formerly, it was a gaunt, flat-sided, large-boned, rough 

 beast, long in the leg, sharp along the spine, long in the snout, and 

 with huge flapping ears. It was a slow feeder, and yielded coarse 

 meat. Latterly, the introduction of some of our best breeds, with 

 which to cross the old Irish swine, has been attended with decided 

 success, although there is still room for further improvement. The 

 sides are sent, roughly salted, to certain houses in London, (and other 

 large towns,) and are there finished off for the market. 



Irish bacon is not to be despised, and, as we have said, the breed 

 of pigs is generally much improved. Berkshire, Suffolk, Yorkshire, 

 and even Chinese boars and sows, have been introduced, and by 

 intercrossings, produced a considerable change a change, however, 

 neither quite so decided nor quite so general as is desirable. Besides, 

 the plan of fattening upon potatoes is not calculated to do justice to 

 the most improved stocks. 



The Irish bacon is not of such good quality as that fed in Eng- 

 land, as the animal is generally fattened on potatoes only, while the 

 best practice here is, when half fat, to finish off with peas-meal, 01 

 barley-meal. The agricultural laborers, in counties where their con- 

 dition is most comfortable, know that it is most profitable to buy 

 the higher-priced English bacon, which swells in the boiling, and is 

 at once more palatable and substantial than the potato-fed bacon 



