WEST DEVONSHIRE. 257 



in. The method of FATTING SWINE, 

 in this Diftria, forms another of the many 

 fingular pradlices which fhew, that the 

 Devonshire hufbandry -is not of Englijh 

 growth. They are fhut up in a narrow 

 clofe hutch, in which they eat, drink, and 

 ' difcharge their urine and fcEces; which are 

 formed, of courfe, into a bed of mud, to 

 fleep in ^ th^ir briftly coats being prefently 

 converted into thick coats of mail : in 

 which filthy plight, they remain until they 

 are flaughtered. 



This extraordinary trait of pradice is not 

 to be afcribed, wholly, to negledt and Ho- 

 venlinefs ^ but, in part, to a principle of 

 management, which, it is highly probable, 

 has been drawn from experience. ** Fat 

 pigs fhoul* lie wet ; it keeps them cool : 

 they are of a hot nature, and if they lie on 

 dry warm litter, it melts their fat !" And, 

 when applied to pigs fliut up in a clofe 

 coop, without an aperture, perhaps, at 



Vol. I. S which 



pared with thofe of the old white fort ; but this ohjeftion, 

 while the hide of the hog remains a favorite article of 

 human food, has no weight. 



