176 THE HOG. 



we ourselves know those who act upon the plan, and find it a source 

 of profit and comfort. It would not, however, do for the idle or the 

 improvident ; it demands industry, order, and fore-thought, ar d that 

 assistance, which, while the man is going on with his regular work, 

 his wife or some part of his x family can render. 



" Exclusive of bacon, hams, &c., great is the demand for fresh 

 pork throughout our island- much greater, indeed, than formerly, 

 and this is in some measure owing to the improvement of our breeds ; 

 our porkers are small-sized, with fine-grained delicate flesh, and firm 

 fat, sufficiently but not superabundantly laid on, and the skin is thin 

 and clear ; the limbs are round and fine-boned. Such is the country- 

 fed pork to be seen in London and in other towns. Formerly such 

 pork was never sent to market, and in some counties it is still un- 

 known. We allude to the more northern of the midland counties, 

 and those still farther north. A relative farming in Derbyshire, and 

 on a visit to the author, expressed his surprise at the smallness and 

 delicacy of the dairy-fed pork placed upon our table. His idea of 

 fresh pork was limited to spare-ribs, and griskins of bacon hogs; 

 and he deemed the destruction of young porkers for food utter folly. 

 He forgot, perhaps never reflected that these younglings, by quick 

 returns and good profits, remunerated the farmer, miller, or dairy 

 man far more than they would have done if kept to be bacon hogs 

 and fed up to the proper pitch. 



" We have sufficiently demonstrated the value of the pig as one 

 of the flesh-producing animals which man has reclaimed. Through- 

 out the whole of Europe, and the greater portion of America, the 

 flesh of the hog, fresh, salted, or cured, is in constant demand ; nor 

 less so the lard, which is required by the cook, by the apothecary, 

 and by the perfumer. 



*' No part of the hog, as we have said, is useless ; not even its 

 bristles or its skin. 



" The bristles of our fine-bred races are perhaps of no value 

 they are generally short, slender, and thinly set ; but in the coarser 

 breeds, they are long and strong, firm and elastic. The export of 

 bristles alone from Russia and Prussia into our country, forms nr 

 inconsiderable item. We need not detail their various uses. 



" With respect to the hide of this animal, it is, when tanned, of a 

 peculiar texture, and very tough. It is used for making pocket- 

 books, and for some ornamental purposes, but chiefly for covering 

 saddles. The numerous little variegations in it, and which constitute 

 its beauty, are the orifices whence the bristles have been removed." 

 MARTIN. 



The establishment of agricultural societies and cattle-shows formed 

 the commencement of 4 new era in the breeding of all domesticated 

 animals, and especially of swine, which had, previously to that epoch, 

 been very much neglected. There cannot be a doubt but that the 



