149 



Everyone will have read in the home papers about the large 

 importations of Chinese pig carcases to England. At first there 

 seemed to be some opposition to this trade but now it appears that 

 a good business is being done in this line. 



It would be quite possible, one would think, for the Malay Penin- 

 sula with its large number of pig-rearers to get a corner of the 

 business if it were worked up, and the Chinese taught and encour- 

 aged to grow sound pork for the home-market as well as for their 

 own use. 



Mr. Douglas lays great stress on the correct feeding of pigs, the 

 value of the meat depending much on the kind of food supplied. The 

 feeding recommended for the English pig would not be possible here. 

 Thus one gallon of separated miik, three pounds of potatoes and 

 four pounds of barley meal is stated to be a very common ration for 

 growing pig, and one which seems to pay well. Milk indeed seems 

 to be agreed upon by all breeders as an important item in the diet of 

 the pig. The feeding of the Chinese pig is based on utterly different 

 lines, the most striking thing being the great difference due to the 

 large amount of green vegetable food used. 



The following notes on pig culture in Singapore may be inter- 

 esting to many. 



The pigs are kept in shaded styes with a plank or round wood 

 flooring beneath which is a cement tank for receiving the excreta, 

 which are used as a valuable manure for the vegetable garden. 



The roof of the sty is usually made of attaps, the sides of a fence 

 of horizontal poles to keep the animals in. This arrangement though 

 not perhaps quite as good as the styes used by high class breeders in 

 Europe is a great deal better than many pig-styes in the country 

 villages in England where the excreta are left on a brick floor in 

 actual contact with the animals. 



The pigs are fed thrice a day, on a mixture of farinaceous foods 

 and green stuff all boiled together in a large iron cauldron or " kwali." 

 The following are the chief vegetables used : 



1. Kangkong: Ipomoea Squaticd Forak. an aquatic convolvulus 

 with white flowers, cultivated extensively as a spinage for human 

 consumption and an excellent and rapid growing vegetable. 



2. Sweet potatoes. Ipomea Bnfdtas. the leaves of this well known 

 vegetable. 



3. Ktrladi Babi. Colocasia Aniiquonnn L. This aroid, an intro- 

 duction piobably from Polynesia, is only used here for pig feeding. 

 In other places the tubers are extensively used for human food, but 

 in the Straits it is not favoured to any extent though the shoots and 

 rhizomes are eaten to a small extent. The plant grows abundantly 

 in ponds and swampy low lying places and is very prolific. Indeed 

 it is a troublesome weed to exterminate in many spots. 



