OF SELBORNE. 



9 



LETTER XXXIII. 



TO THE SAME. 



The natural term of an hog s life is little 

 known, and the reason is plain — because it 

 is neither profitable nor convenient to keep 

 that turbulent animal to the full extent of 

 its time : however, my neighbour, a man 

 of substance, who had no occasion to study 

 every little advantage to a nicety, kept an 

 half-bred Bantam sow, who was as thick 

 as she was long, and whose belly swept on 

 the ground, till she was advanced to her 

 seventeenth year ; at which period she 

 showed some tokens of age by the decay of 

 her teeth and the decline of her fertility. 



For about ten years this prolific mother 

 produced two litters in the year, of about 

 ten at a time, and once above twenty at a 

 litter ; but, as there were near double the 

 number of pigs to that of teats, many died^ 

 From long experience in the world this 



