208 STIES OPINION. 



pected. Nor are swine, in whatever state, proof 

 against excessive cold, for I have known instances 

 of their being frozen to death in their sty, and 

 have always remarked that severe weather materi- 

 ally checks their thriving, unless they be sufficiently 

 defended from the chilling effects of the air. 



The STY, situated upon a dry foundation, as well 

 as sheltered above, should be paved at bottom, to 

 the end that it may be kept clean and dry, the ope- 

 ration necessary for which should be daily per- 

 formed, for although pigs will wallow in the mire, 

 they are yet more thrifty in clean lodgings. As 

 swine confined usually employ their leisure time in 

 demolishing, with their teeth, the wood-work within 

 their reach, the modern cast-iron TROUGHS are pro- 

 fitable ; at any rate, wooden troughs ought to be iron 

 bound. A RANGE of sties is convenient where num- 

 bers are fed, on account of the greater facility of 

 attendance, and of the distribution of wash re- 

 served in the cistern. 



According to an ancient and general opinion, not, 

 however, entirely supported by either ancient or 

 modern experience, swine do not long succeed, if 

 kept upon the same ground in considerable numbers, 

 infecting each other with a malignant atmosphere. 

 In opposition to such an idea, history informs us, that 

 the Roman feeders possessed herds of swine, to the 

 amount of two or three thousand each ; and I have 

 often seen upwards of two thousand large hogs fat- 

 tened under the same roof, where in a long course of 

 years, no mortality had been experienced or appre- 

 hended. The opinion in question has, most probably, 



