PORK—BACON—HAM.—NO. 8. 
347 
PORK, BACON, HAM.—No. 8. 
The best and most economical Mode of Rearing , 
Keeping , and Fattening Pigs .—In selecting males 
and females to breed from, neither should be 
chosen less than twelve to fifteen months old; 
the third litter will generally be found the best 
for this purpose. Whether as a boar or sow, the 
finest of each sex only ought to be selected. By 
these means only will the good points of any 
breed be perpetuated. There is generally one 
snail pig in every litter, called the riddling— 
this should never be used as an animal to breed 
from. For sucking pigs and porkers color is 
an object—these should invariably be white. 
For bacon hogs color is a matter of indifference, 
other than the fact that the black pigs appear 
generally to do better on the same amount of 
food than the white breeds. A singular reason 
was assigned to me for the prevalence of black- 
Oolored pigs in Essex, viz.: that the white kind 
was subject to eruptions of the skin of the back 
when put into the clover-fields, whilst the black 
kinds were not obnoxious to this complaint. 
Probably the white kind had more of the Chi¬ 
nese, and the other more of the Neapolitan breed. 
It must be remembered, also, that the old Essex 
breed was a black one. A sow’s usual period 
qf gestation is from sixteen to seventeen weeks. 
When she has arrived near the period of far¬ 
rowing she will be seen collecting and carry¬ 
ing straws in her mouth, to form her bed. If 
there exists any suspicion that the sow will de¬ 
vour her young, as sometimes is the case, care 
should be taken that she is securely muzzled. 
All such sows should be fatted and slaughtered. 
The carnivorous habit here alluded to is rarely 
exhibited amongst the improved breeds; amongst 
the old sows of the rough breed this habit was 
somewhat prevalent, probably brought on, in 
many instances, through deficiency of food. 
Sows should be put to the boar at such times 
as to avoid farrowing from the middle of Octo¬ 
ber to the end of February, unless sucking pigs 
for the festive time of Christmas and the new 
year is the object; if so they should be well 
littered and kept warm. Whether intended for 
socking pigs, porkers, or stores, skimmed butter¬ 
milk and whey, mixed with steamed potatoes, 
and a little barley, pea, or oatmeal, should be 
given in moderate quantities even when suck¬ 
ing; if intended for porkers, they should be 
kept continually fed up with this mixture. Suck¬ 
ing pigs should never be allowed to run about, 
and porkers permitted only sufficient exercise 
to keep them in health. Where convenient, 
store pigs may be allowed to pasture in clover, 
giving them only a morning and evening meal 
in addition, or they may be allowed to root in 
fallows or on the dung-heap, and during winter, 
in the straw-yard. In fallows and rough pas¬ 
tures swine eagerly devour such weeds as dan¬ 
delion, chickweed, sowthistle, &c. 
For store' pigs, exercise is necessary in order 
fully to develop the frame. In feeding, tran¬ 
quillity is equally indispensable, a singular ex¬ 
emplification of which was made in the course 
of the experiments of the Earl of Egremont, 
(1777,) related in the ‘Annals of Agriculture,’ 
upon some porkers, seven of which were put up 
to fatten in the ordinary manner in a sty, and 
another of the same brood, but smaller than the 
others, was put into a cage one week later. All 
were fed alike on barley-meal. When slaughtered, 
the one fed in the cage exceeded in weight any 
of the others. The cage was made so that he 
could not turn round, and had only sufficient 
room to rise up and lie down. Whether this 
mode would pro’ve advantageous on the large 
scale is a matter of doubt. The experiment has 
however been adduced by Baron Liebig as a 
practical evidence of the correctness of his 
theory respecting the formation of fat. Too 
much exercise is well known to retard fattening; 
or, to use the ordinary phrase employed by 
farmers, “ they run all the flesh off their bones.” 
Where a large number of hogs are to be fat¬ 
tened and bred, it has been recommended that 
the sties should form a semicircle, the steaming 
apparatus, &c., being placed by the straight 
side. This form has many advantages. In a 
general way, the feeding of hogs will only form a 
minor adjunct to the other business of the farm, 
and at only few places will it be found conve¬ 
nient to erect new buildings for the purpose, 
however advantageous they might eventually 
prove. There are some circumstances connected 
with sties which should be invariably attended 
to: these are, that their floors should be well 
paved with stone, flag, or hard brick, the interior 
elevated half a foot above the exterior area, and 
a sufficient slope afforded to both, with proper 
drains to carry all moisture to the dung-heap. 
Separate sties must be kept for breeding-sows, 
weaning pigs, stores, and fattening pigs. 
Sties should be so constructed that the swine 
may be fed without the feeder going amongst 
them ; and divisions should be made in the feed¬ 
ing-trough, according to the number of swine, in 
order to prevent the strong driving away the 
weak; if they can be made to communicate conve¬ 
niently with the straw-yard and dung-heap, all 
the better, particularly for stores and brood-sows. 
