November 27. THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 135 
honey in the comb, from the moors in Yorkshire, of most 
excellent quality. It is perfectly transparent, very thick, 
and its colour a bright orange—in flavour it very much 
resembles the finest orange marmalade ; perhaps some of 
our bee-keeping readers in that locality will be kind enough 
to tell us what plant it is that imparts this peculiarly fine 
flavour to the honey. 
HINTS TO COTTAGERS ON THE MANAGEMENT 
OF PIGS. 
As a source of sustenance and emolument to the cottager, 
the pig is only second in importance to the cow, its flesh 
being greatly conducive to the support of human life in the 
laborious state, and it has been remarked that the sight of 
a couple of flitches of bacon upon the rack, tends more to 
keep a man from poaching and stealing than whole volumes 
of penal statutes. They are great softeners of the temper, 
and promoters of domestic harmony. 
There are several varieties pf pigs, but these signify but 
little to the cottager. The best advice we can give him is to 
choose the best in his neighbourhood, for the best is gene¬ 
rally the most economical. Breeding sows do not generally 
answer the cottager's purpose so well as to buy a couple of 
pigs of about three to four months old, on account of the 
want of accommodation; but whenever he has room, a 
breeding-sow is decidedly the most profitable. 
The first thing for consideration is the house or sty, for 
unless you have a place to lodge him in, it is of no use to 
think of a pig; any man of common ability can knock up a 
pig-sty. It should, if possible, be in some well-sheltered 
spot, and with its front to the south or west. It should 
consist of two compartments, a sleeping room well-roofed in, 
and a yard not covered, but exposed to the weather, the one 
opening into the other. With reference to the floors for the 
sleeping rooms of the breeding-sows, opinions are much 
divided, some contending for wooden floors as being warm 
for the pigs when young and delicate, and others for floors 
made of brick, thinking that the advantage that is gained in 
point of warmth, is fully counterbalanced by the following 
objections. In the first place, wood very soon rots if laid on 
the earth, and if, on the other hand, it be raised from the 
ground, it only leaves a space for the dung to accumulate, 
which will find its way through the crevices of the boards, 
and makes a harbour for the rats; ail I can say is, if wood 
is more easily to be obtained than bricks, then use wood; if, 
on the other hand, bricks are most convenient, then use 
bricks. The sleeping room of our breeding-sty is paved 
with bricks, and we have never yet found any inconvenience 
arise from it; whilst, on the other hand, a former one was 
boarded, the boards being raised from the ground (certainly 
it was very badly made), and we did find much incon¬ 
venience. But the warmth on the side of boards certainly 
ought to be a great matter for consideration, and I should 
think they would answer very well, if a concrete surface were 
j first made, and the boards laid on it. The sleeping room 
I should be on the same level as the outer compartment, not 
j with a step up into the bed-room as I have seen them, as if 
the young pigs get out, they cannot get up this step again. 
Perhaps it may save some people trouble who wish to 
build a sty, if 1 give the proportions; as to telling a man how 
to build one, this cannot be necessary, for if he cannot 
knock up a pig-sty, he certainly is not fit to keep a pig. 
Breeding-sty.—Width in front and back, 7 ft.; length of 
sides, ft.; height in front, 5 ft.; length of yard, 10 ft.; 
width of door from the inner compartment to the outer, 
20 in.; height of same, 4 ft.; ditto back, 3 ft.; width same 
as sty. 
The sty for fattening pigs may be much smaller according 
to the convenience you have—they want very little room. 
An excellent warm roofing may be made of the “ Patent felt 
roofing,” which is sold for Id. the square foot; the only 
thing it wants to keep it in order is to tar it every spring— 
in fact this should be done to all the sty outside, to make it 
look nice and to preserve the wood. 
The floor of the sty should be made to slope in some par¬ 
ticular direction, that the moisture may run off* ; the outer 
court should also be well paved with bricks, or large flat stones 
* If you have a tank to catch it in, so much the better. 
evenly laid, also sloping in the same direction as the bed¬ 
room ; the sty should be kept very clean, well-washed down 
occasionally, and the litter being well-shaken up, the sty 
should be swept out clean every morning and evening. If 
straw manure is proportionately more valuable than straw, 
then both the bed-room and outer room should be littered 
with straw; but if, on the other hand, straw is proportionately 
more valuable than manure, then only the sleeping room 
need be littered. 
The troughs are best made of iron, but good, strong 
wooden ones are easily made, and cost little, while iron 
troughs are very expensive. The wooden ones should be 
bound with iron, to prevent the pigs gnawing them. They 
should also be fastened, to prevent them knocking them out 
of their places, and divided into compartments by bars 
nailed strongly across the tops, at such distances as to allow 
the pigs to put their heads in, but not their legs—this 
prevents great waste of food. For this purpose also a 
board should be fastened in a slanting direction to the back 
of the trough, so that when they root the food out with their 
snouts, which they are very fond of doing, it Mill run back 
again into the trough, instead of being wasted on the ground. 
I must yet again refer to the necessity for cleanliness. It 
is a most foolish and mistaken notion to suppose that pigs 
are naturally dirty*, they love to be kept clean, and a pig that 
has been washed once or twice, will like it as much as any 
human being. Let us then beseech all pig-keepers, under j 
whose eyes these pages may come, to preserve the sty in the j 
most dry and clean condition possible, to change the straw 
frequently, and to brush the pig’s skin regularly. 
If you make up your mind to keep a sow, by all means let j 
me advise you not to “ buy a pig in a poke.” Choose a j 
sow of a good shape, ample bellied, with a short neck and I 
snout, and the full number of teats, thirteen or fourteen, I 
and altogether of good-looking appearance. Your best way j 
will be to buy one about three or four months old, which 
will cost about 15s., and keep her till she is the proper age, j 
the nearer twelve months the better. By all means give her j 
a name; you may laugh, and say what is the good of this, 
but you will find it is of use; the tamer and quieter a pig is, j 
and the more she knov's you, the better mother she is likely I 
to be. By all means keep her well and clean, no starving, 
no fattening, but let her be in good condition. Take care 
always to get the best boar in the neighbourhood, and 
depend upon it your pigs will always sell well. Try and 
“get a name’’ for your pigs. Let it be said, “I would 
rather pay a shilling or two more for so and so’s pigs, 
because I know they will do well; his are always nice pigs, 
and I know they will do better than any body else’s.” When 
a cottager has such a sow, he may begin to be proud of her, 
and his only difficulty will be to have pigs enough to supply 
the demand. But now he must not begin to think too much 
of them, and because there is a demand for them, charge a 
high price; ask a good, reasonable price, and stick to it, 
never take a farthing over or under, so that when your 
neighbours come to buy, they may know what they have to 
pay, and let them know, if they do not like to pay that price, 
they may stay away. 
But above all things keep both her and her family clean ; 
the best pigs in the world never look so nice when they are 
begrimed with mud and dirt, as when they are clean. I 
cannot say too much on this point; let me turn where I will, 
I nearly always see the pigs put in some dirty hole, the | 
dung not cleared out for u r eeks together, and their skin so 
covered with dirt and scurf, that it seems impossible for 
them ever to grow —but grow they do, you will say, and 
many a nice piece of pork I have eaten that came from a 
pig kept in a dirty sty—so you may; but that pork would 
have tasted twenty times nicer if it had been kept clean, and 
M ould have been ready a mouth or six weeks sooner. 
W. H. W. 
(To be Continued.) 
DUTCH MODE OF LETTUCE-FORCING. 
The Dutch sow the seed of the White German Cabbage 
Lettuce, from the beginning of September to the first week 
in October, for the purpose of producing this variety in cold 
* I certainly advise all who can afford it, to buy Youatt on the Pig; it 
is 7s. 6d. I think. Published by Cradoclc. [A shilling book —Richardson 
on the Pig, is also excellent. Ed. C. G.] 
