40 
NATUll A f, tllSTOHY 
sow. 
The Sow is bred in most parts of the 
world. Its skin is all over rougli and hairy, 
not so thick as that of the ox, yet much long- 
er and stiffer, standing up on the ridge of the 
back. The general colour varies considera- 
bly, as in all domestic animals ; the snout is 
long, strong,, arid broad, well calculated to 
cast up the earth for its food; having on the 
tip a rising gristle, round and picked at the 
end, between the nostrils, wherewith it first 
enters the ground in digging. 
The. fertility of the Sow is very great, as 
each litter generally amounts to between 
nine and fifteen pigs, twice or thrice in the 
course of the year: and she sometimes lives 
to fifteen or twenty years. 
