156 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
but I think it has paid for itself several times 
over in health and comfort to the herd. The 
structure on this floor was of the simplest; a 
double wall only five feet high at the sides, 
shingled roof, broken at the ridge to admit 
windows, and strong partitions. It cost $3100. 
As in the brood-sow house, there is a kitchen at 
the west end. The 150 little pigs made but a 
small showing in this great house, which was 
intended to shelter six hundred of all sizes, from 
the eight-weeks-old baby pig to the nine-months- 
old three-hundred-pounder ready for market. 
Pigs destined for market never leave this house 
until ripe for killing. At six or seven months 
a few are chosen to remain on the farm and 
keep up its traditions; but the great number 
live their ephemeral lives of eight months luxuri- 
ously, even opulently, until they have made the 
ham and bacon which, poor things, they cannot 
save, and then pass into the pork barrel or the 
smoke-house without a sigh of regret. They 
toil not, neither do they spin; but they have a 
place in the world’s economy, and they fit it 
perfectly. So long as one animal must eat an- 
other, the man animal should thank the hog 
animal for his generosity. 
Now that my big hog-house seemed so empty, I 
would gladly have sent into the highways and 
byways to buy young stock to fill it; but I 
dared not break my quarantine. I could easily 
have picked up one hundred or even two hum 
eee SS Se rettlet leit Sn aioe 
