1869.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
409 
Swine—Their Qualities and our Needs. 
Under our present social system pork seems 
to be an absolute necessity to the. com¬ 
munity, not only to supply fixed individual 
wants, but for those of our national army, 
navy, and merchant marine. An isolated family 
or a limited community 
may eschew pork, fresh 
and salt, abjure lard, 
sausages, and bacon, 
and believe that there¬ 
by they improve their 
health, prolong then- 
lives, and add essential¬ 
ly to the sum total of 
human happiness; but 
were such a change of 
practice brought about 
throughout the country, 
a revolution would be 
wrought in trade, com¬ 
merce, farming, and 
business of every sort. 
We raise pigs because 
they are easily bred and 
multiply very rapidly; 
they make a greater 
amount of flesh upon a 
certain quantity of feed 
than any other stock; 
they lose very little in dressing for market; 
their flesh will absorb salt enough to keep sure¬ 
ly in hot weather without becoming tough and 
leathery; their fat becomes liquid at a moder¬ 
ate heat, and when pure is nearly tasteless; 
and because their meat, whether fresh or cured 
by salt and smoke, is relished by almost every 
one. These qualities are possessed by no other 
animal, and if well bred, well fed, and kept and 
fattened in good health, the hue and cry about 
the unhealthfulness of pork would be without 
that foundation which it now unfortunately has. 
The domestication of pigs has produced great 
changes in the race, 
and wc have a num¬ 
ber of very distinct 
breeds, which it re¬ 
quires a volume to 
discuss. Such a work 
we hope soon to be 
able to announce 
from the pen of a 
well-known breeder. 
We present here¬ 
with two engrav¬ 
ings, showing the 
contrast between the 
wild hogs still pre¬ 
served in Central 
Europe, and the cli¬ 
max reached by 
English breeders of 
the large breeds. 
Commissioner Ca- 
pron tells a story of 
a Maryland nabob 
who prided himself 
on his hogs. On vis¬ 
iting the field in 
which they grazed, a 
fine lot of lazy Suffolks were dozing under the 
fence near the feeding troughs. “ See there,” said 
Mr. N., “thelazy brutes! They do nothing but 
eat and sleep; I like a hog that will earn his 
own living. Wait until we find mine.” After 
some search they were found in a swale up to 
their eyes in deep furrows, working away for 
grubs, roots, or what not. “ There,” said the 
proud proprietor, “are hogs that earn their 
board.” Root, hog, or die! was to him a say¬ 
ing of practical wisdom, and it went directly 
against his principles to see hogs like the Suf¬ 
folks simply eat, sleep, and grow. It had never 
occurred to him that the more hard work and 
WILD SWINE OF EUROPE. 
rooting hogs did, the less flesh they made. This, 
however, is the principle. We want breeds of 
hogs of good constitutions, quiet, lazy disposi¬ 
tions, great capacity for digestion, of rapid 
growth and easy fattening qualities. No doubt 
the true principle in breeding for market is to em¬ 
ploy large, coarse sows in connection with small, 
fine males—for thus smallness of offal and ex¬ 
cellence in the quality of the flesh are combined 
with the large size and the great digestive 
powers of the dam.- Better and more profitable, 
and probably larger, hogs for slaughter may be 
produced in this way, than from any pure breed. 
YORKSHIRE SOW PARIAN DUCHESS," OS UVaUM Wj JMmSOn 
Sows Eating their Pigs. 
but then, would not light feed reduce her, and 
make her chance for a healthy litter as good as 
that of a lean, half-fed animal ? Would she not 
give richer milk, and would not the pigs grow 
all the faster ? Besides, breeding sows were 
scarce, and it was this one or nothing. She had 
thirteen pigs on a cold, windy day, six of which 
died, in spite of Sam’s 
most careful nursing. 
But there were seven 
left,and two-months-old 
pigs would be worth 
thirty cents a pound,— 
rather a cheerful pros¬ 
pect. At a week old, 
one was strangely miss¬ 
ing. It could not have 
run away, and there 
was nothing to carry it 
off. Sam said the can¬ 
nibal had eaten it alive. 
He administered a 
pound of raw pork in 
slices with the next 
feed, and the evil was 
checked there. The 
Deacon had a lean,wild¬ 
looking animal, with a 
fair proportion of snout, 
so accustomed to root¬ 
ing that it took two 
rings to keep her in anything approaching 
wholesome check. She had the run of a small 
pasture, or what once was pasture, for in spite 
of the rings I noticed that grass was uncom¬ 
mon scarce, and dead turf plenty. I do not 
think her rooting propensity was much abated 
by the rings. This lean, mean-looking animal 
had eleven nice pigs, and raised them all. The 
Deacon says he never loses pigs in the fall, when 
the sows can have plenty of fresh grass, roots, 
and grubs. Sometimes he has lost them in the 
spring, when the sows were kept shut up and 
confined principally to corn meal diet. His 
philosophy of pig¬ 
eating is this. Swine 
like some animal 
food, and especially 
roots, for which they 
are furnished with a 
natural digger. If 
they can have access 
to the ground, and 
get plenty of grubs 
and roots, their nat¬ 
ural appetite is sat¬ 
isfied. If kept up¬ 
on board floors or in 
small pens, and fed 
principally upon 
meal and slops, they 
have a great craving 
for flesh, and not in¬ 
frequently devour 
their own offspring. 
He says the leaner 
you keep a sow, the 
more she will root 
and gather worms 
and grubs. I think 
the Deacon carries 
vvier. 
The Deacon beat me badly on pigs, and the 
way it happened was this. I bought a big fat 
sow a short time before her time was up, for a 
big price, calculating on a dozen pigs at least. 
She was a little too fat according to my notions, 
his philosophy rather too far, but it may be, like 
most stories, founded on fact. He recommends 
feeding sows that have this propensity to eat 
pigs, with some raw animal food, such as butch¬ 
er’s offal, and plenty of roots, in connection with 
the ordinary provender. Whatever may be 
thought of the Deacon’s philosophy, he has 
