540 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK v. 



weakness. We should, indeed, not hesitate for a moment in breeding 

 from a bob-tailed boar or sow, provided the other points were such as 

 we look for in a well-developed pig. 



Those pigs not required for stock purposes should be operated upon 

 when they are about six weeks old. It is particularly necessary that 

 the sow pigs should be dieted before being spayed, and for a day or 

 two afterwards. A great proportion of the losses sustained from the 

 operation are due to the neglect of this precaution. In some of the litters 

 of pigs there may be found one or more boar pigs with an enlarged 

 scrotum, or, as it is commonly called, " ruptured." These may without 

 danger be operated upon, provided the operator carefully sews up the 

 one incision made for the purpose of drawing the testicles. 



PIG KINGING. In the olden times when "rail splitters" were far 

 more general amongst the pigs of this country, it was considered to be 

 necessary to insert into the snout of the pig something which should 

 have the effect of making the animal most careful as to where it poked 

 its nose. In some cases large, complicated, barbarous instruments of 

 torture were with great pain to the animal secured in the long snout 

 of the pig, which was rendered very tame by the operation, and also 

 made to fight shy of everything which might by any possibility come in 

 contact with its fearfully sore and tender snout. In this, as in most 

 other matters connected with pig-keeping, a great improvement is 

 visible ; the owners and the pigs themselves are more amenable to 

 reason. The former found it to their pecuniary advantage to minister 

 to the wants of the greatly improved pig, which in its turn shows a 

 stronger disposition to rest and be thankful for the more liberal supply 

 of food. A very common kind of pig ring is a horse-shoe nail. The 

 point is made quite sharp, then forced through from the upper to the 

 front portion of the snout and the projecting part twisted round on 

 itself. But in this, as in many other details connected with the 

 mechanical section of the operations on the farm, our American friends 

 have improved on the old system. The plan they adopt is simple, and 

 at the same time humane and usually efficacious. The ring is formed 

 of about 1 inches of copper wire, the ends of which are so cut that 

 when it is pressed, by the aid of a pair of nippers suited for the purpose, 

 through the cartilage at the top of the snout, the ends so lap over as to 

 form a complete ring. If one of these rings is affixed on either side of 

 the ridge of the snout, rooting will not be a source of pleasure to the 

 pig, nor will the snout be made sore as is often the case with other 

 rings. In the early autumn after a long drought, the sows will turn up 

 the soft turf in search of roots, notwithstanding the American rings in 

 their snouts. A certain way to prevent this is to remove a small portion 

 of the cartilage on the upper part of the snout. This is effected by the 

 end of a punch specially made. 



As to the names applied to swine, the terms yelt, yilt, gilt, gelt, hilt, 

 elt, ilt, &c., are simply local words used to designate a young sow left for 

 breeding purposes. A male pig is called a boar, or a boar pig, and an 



