208 THE HOG. 



The alterations latterly effected in the breeds of swine have tended 

 materially to improve pork, and to render it more sought for and 

 valued. We can recall to mind when the thought of pork was asso- 

 ciated in our minds with visions of coarse-grained meat and oily fat, 

 and with forebodings of a fit of indigestion. Nothing could tend 

 more effectually to banish such fancies than a sight and taste of the 

 small, fine-grained joints, delicate as poultry, and of excellent flavor, 

 which have taken the place of those ungainly legs and Brobdignagian 

 loins and hands of " olden times." 



And with the improvement of the meat has grown an increased 

 demand for it. Formerly, ay, as lately as within the last five and 

 twenty years, the trade of " pork-butcher" was unknown in almost 

 all our country towns, even in those of some considerable import- 

 ance; it is no longer so; there are now few places of any size or 

 note which have not on an average one pork-butcher to every two or 

 three meat-butchers; and in all smaller places pork is generally to 

 oe procured wherever other meat is sold. 



PORKERS. 



* Supposing the brood to be weaned at the age of eight or nine 

 weeks, those destined for porkers may be allowed the range of the 

 paddock or straw yard for three or four weeks, being at the same 

 time regularly fed on the refuse of the mill and dairy. Where, as 

 in the case of market gardeners and other such, a degree of liberty 

 cannot be allowed, we recommend that the sty-yard be as roomy and 

 extensive as possible. During the last ten days or fortnight, the 

 feeding may be pushed, and more barley-meal, pea-meal, and milk 

 allowed. Too many pigs should not be kept together in the same 

 sty, nor should they be of unequal ages, as the larger are apt to per- 

 secute their younger co-mates, and drive them from the trough. 

 Porkers are killed at different ages, varying from about three months 

 to seven months old. We consider that the true dairy-fed pork is 

 in perfection when the animal does not exceed the age of about three 

 months, or ranges from three to four months. Large pork is apt to 

 be coarse and over fat, and consequently not so digestible as younger 

 meat, and is therefore not so much sought for in the London market. 

 It bears a lower price than small pork ; and though the pig weighs 

 heavier, still, taking the extra keep into consideration, it is perhaps 

 not more profitable. On such points as this, however, the breeder 

 will always consult his own interest, and study the demands of the 

 market. 



