410 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER XX. 



SWINE. 



The hog is a cosmopolite of almost every zone, though his 

 natural haunts, like those of the hippopotamus, the elephant, 

 the rhinoceros and most of the thick-skinned animals, are 

 in warm climates. They are most abundant in China, the 

 East Indies and the immense range of Islands which extend 

 over the whole Southern and Pacific Oceans ; but they are 

 also numerous throughout Europe, from its Southern coast to 

 the Russian dominions within the Arctic. In the United 

 States, they have been an object of attention since its earliest 

 settlements, and whenever a profitable market could be found 

 for pork abroad, it has been exported to the full extent of the 

 demand. For 20 years following the commencement of the 

 general European wars, soon after the organization of our 

 National government, it was a comparatively large article of 

 export ; but since then, exports to any extent, have not been 

 justified, till within the last two years, since which, a mate- 

 rial reduction in the British import duty on pork, lard, hams, 

 beef, &c., has again brought it up as a prominent article of 

 commerce with that country. The recent use which has 

 been made of the carcass in converting it into lard oil, has 

 still further increased its consumption. Swine are reared in 

 every part of the Union, and when properly managed, always 

 at a fair profit. At the extreme north, in the neighborhood 

 of large markets, and on such of the southern plantations as 

 are particularly suited to* sugar or rice, they are not profita- 

 ble, beyond the number required for the consumption of the 

 coarse or refuse food produced. While pork remains at a 

 moderate price, it can only be advantageously raised on a 

 large scale, on good soils, as it is such only that yield heavy 

 crops of grain, roots, &c. which are essential to fattening it. 

 Swine are profitable in connexion with a dairy or orchard, as 

 with little additional food besides what is thus afforded, they 



