THE *NEW PIG 21 



animal is judged in its own sty, and it is interesting to 

 know that the evolution of an almost perfect pig was 

 due to the innate sagacity of the Yorkshire pit-hand. 

 The sties in which these animals live are very rough 

 affairs, often made of a few boards nailed over 

 railway-sleepers ; but it is interesting to learn that 

 the young pigs are ' as blooming and healthy as 

 possible,' and that, small though the collier's back- 

 yard is, he always contrives that his pig-sty shall be 

 thoroughly ventilated and look towards the south. 

 Architects of costly home-farms often house the un- 

 happy pigs under north walls, and condemn them to 

 rheumatism, cold, and sunlessness. 



Yorkshire produces not only the best pork, but has 

 long been famous for the best cured hams in the world. 

 But elsewhere it is curious to note the dislike of the 

 farming class to any form of manufacture other than that 

 of raw material. One-fourth of the English pigs are 

 kept in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. Yet Mr. Saunders 

 Spencer doubts whether there is now a bacon-curing 

 factory in Suffolk, and relates the failure of one established 

 in Norfolk. In the former case, the people would not 

 rear the precise kind of animal wanted ; in the latter, the 

 dealers made a ring, and put up prices beyond the margin 

 of profit. Our Illinois is Somersetshire and Wiltshire, 

 and our little Chicago the ' sausage town ' of Calne. As 

 almost everyone who has a country house, large or small, 



