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THE DOMESTIC HOG. 



Swine* 



There are various breeds of the common hog, some of which 

 are preferred for a particular quality of their flesh ; others for 

 their size, or for their great fecundity, and the cheapness and 

 facility with which they may be reared and fattened. The 

 Rudgwick breed is the largest, and attains an enormous size. 

 The Berkshire breed, much esteemed for its excellence, also 

 acquires great obesity. Mr. Culley, in his Treatise on Live Stock, 

 mentions one of this breed which was three yards, eight inches 

 long from the nose to the end of the tail ; four feet and a half 

 high j and weighed, after it was killed, eighty six stone eleven 

 pounds avoirdupois. 



Though pigs will not refuse animal matter, yet roots, fruits, 



* The word swine now always used for the plural, was formerly the singular 

 also. Thus in the scriptural proverb, " As a jewel in a swine's snout, so is a 

 fair woman who is without discretion ;" and in Holland's Plinie (book viii. 

 ch. 51), " Will ye know that a swine is sicke or unsound, pluck a bristle from 

 the back, and it will be bloody at the root ; also he will carry his neck at one 

 side as he goeth." 



