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XV. — Pigs ; and Experience in their Breeding and Management. 
By James Howard, M.P. 
The breeding, rearing, and management of pigs is a subject 
which has been very ably treated by practical men who have 
preceded me ; the question, however, is of such importance that 
any additional information which experience has suggested will 
not be without its value; further, if in the present paper I go 
over some of the ground which has been already well trodden, 
the repetition may not prove altogether unprofitable. 
Like other problems connected with agriculture, that of how 
to rear and feed pigs profitably has been rendered not a little 
difficult of solution by the formidable competition which has 
set in from the United States and other countries. 
The fliesh of the pig is the principal animal food in tens of 
thousands of families throughout the United Kingdom ; it also 
enters largely into the diet of all classes. Bacon is a con- 
siderable article of commerce ; every grocer's shop is a mart 
for the article, and a noticeable feature in respect of pork in 
other forms is the modern growth of pork -butchers' shops. With 
a commendable attention to cleanliness, it is not surprising that 
these establishments flourish, nor that the labouring population 
resort to them for their supplies. As is quite natural, all 
classes prefer, when they can exercise a choice, home-fed and 
home-cured meat. 
That the consumption of pork has been greatly on the in- 
crease will appear from the following figures, extracted from the 
Board of Trade Statistical Tables : — 
Average Annual Consumption of the principal Imported and Excisable 
Articles, per Head, for the Total Population of the United Kingdom. 
1840. 
1850. 
1860. 
1870. 
1875. 
1879. 
Bacon and Hams 
Cwts. 
0-1 
Cwts. 
1-41 
Cwts. 
1-27 
Cwts. 
1-98 
Cwts. 
8-26 
Cwts. 
14-84 
Out of nineteen articles of food and drink included in these 
Tables, amongst which are tobacco, wines, malt, and spirits, 
only two show a larger increase than swine's flesh, viz. eggs 
and potatoes. 
A very rapid increase in the importation of bacon and hams 
took place in 1872 and following years, whilst the home stock 
of Pigs diminished by a million head between 1872 and 1879. 
