William Youatt

“ On entering the pen, these performers, who put you vastly in mind of assassins, make a rush at the hogs, each seizing one by the leg, amid a general yell of horror on the part of the victims. Whilst the hog and the man are struggling on the ground, the latter with the rapidity of thought pushes his skewer betwixt the fore-leg and the body quite into the heart, and then gives it a turn or two. The pig can rise no more, but screams for a minute or so and then expires. ”

“ It has been too much the custom to regard the hog as a stupid, brutal, rapacious, and filthy animal, grovelling and disgusting in all his habits; intractable and obstinate in temper. But may not much of these evil qualities be attributable to the life he leads? In a native state swine seem by no means destitute of natural affections; they are gregarious, assemble together in defence of each other, herd together for warmth, and appear to have feelings in common; no mother is more tender of her young than the sow, or more resolute in their defence. ”

“ Annette was very fond of dumb creatures, as she called them; the pig became her darling, and for want of a companion of her own species, Toby became her constant associate; and finding his visits to the kitchen were winked at, he made use of the privilege, and would bask himself at full length before the fire. He even ventured occasionally to follow her into the front lobby; and if, as sometimes was the case, she put him into the yard, he would kick up such a row at the kitchen door to be let in, thumping on it with his snout, that she was fain to admit him to his old quarters. ”

“ When any thing goes wrong in the piggery, the farmer too often, instead of exercising that shrewd sense which he turns to so good an account in almost every other instance, either sends for the butcher, or consigns the sick tenants of the sty to the care of an ignorant "pig-doctor," whose whole pretensions to leech-craft rest on the possession of some antiquated recipe, which he uses indiscriminately as a grand panacea for "all the ills swine's flesh is heir to," or on the traditionary lore he inherits from some ancestor famous in his day for certain real or supposed wondrous cures. ”

“ A fat hog is a comely, comfortable-looking animal, the embodied type of epicurean felicity; but a bloated, overladen hog is a disgusting object, uneasy and distressed in its own feelings, incapable even of enjoying its food, buried in its excessive fat. ”

“ The next thing which we shall claim for our porcine clients is sagacity; nor are we here in want of illustrative evidences of their possession of it. But in general there is nothing in the life of a hog, in his domesticated state at least, which calls for any exercise of reasoning powers. His sole business is to eat, drink, sleep, and get fat; all his wants are anticipated, and his world is limited to the precincts of his sty or of the farm-yard. Yet even in this state of luxurious ease, individuals have shown extraordinary intelligence. ”

“ The German agriculturist, Thaër, does not, however, advocate the forest feeding of swine unless they are kept in the woods day and night and carefully sheltered; as he conceives that the bringing them home at night heats their blood, and nullifies the good effects of the day's feeding. He likewise considers that, although acorns produce good firm flesh, beechmast makes unsound oily fat.
But if he is a useful animal in this public point of view, how much more so is he to individuals? Among the poorer classes of society how often is the pig their chief source of profit. ”

“ Then the animal suddenly falls as if struck by lightning, and for a few moments lies perfectly motionless; after which convulsions come on gradually, increasing in intensity until they are fearful to behold; the countenance is distorted, the neck curved in every direction, and the legs alternately drawn up to the body, and extended with momentarily increasing rapidity. ”

“ To dwell upon the nutritive qualities of grain in general would be useless. The value of barley-meal, middlings, mill-sweepings, &c., in the feeding of hogs, is well known. It is true that this food is expensive, but then it is not used exclusively till the time for finishing off, or need not be; and, what is more, the expense is repaid by the gain of the animal in weight, and by the great superiority of the meat, which will command its price in the market. The rapid increase in the weight of hogs fed upon barley-meal, peas, steamed potatoes, with whey or butter-milk, is astonishing. ”

“ Such instances of sagacity in the dog and the horse scarcely astonish us, because we allow to them a certain degree of reasoning power. But is not the great development of it in them as much arising from their intercourse, if such we may term it, with man?—from their being his companions, educated and ordered by him? "I have observed great sagacity in swine," observes Darwin, in his "Zoonomia," "but the short lives we allow them, and their general confinement, prevent their improvement, which would otherwise probably equal that of the dog." ”

“ In the mean time the screams become fainter and fainter, and then all is silence on the death of the last pig. A cart is in attendance; the carcasses are lifted into it, and it proceeds through the street, leaving one or more dead hogs at the different pork-shops. No blood appears outwardly, nor is the internal hæmorrhage prejudicial to the meat, for Rome cannot be surpassed in the flavor of her bacon or in the soundness of her hams."—Essays on Natural History. ”

“ A single glance determines whether she shall pass a yard, or enter it; and if a pig, from indolence or greediness, be loitering on the road, the sting of the wasp cannot be sharper or more spiteful than the cut she gives it.
"Besides the little girl who brought up the rear, the herd was preceded by a boy of about fourteen, whose duty it was not to let the foremost advance too fast. In the middle of the drove, surrounded like a shepherd by his flock, slowly stalked the 'Schwein-General.' In his left hand he held a staff, while round his right shoulder hung a terrific whip. ”

“ He bivouacs in some potato-field, which he rarely quits until he has excavated a ditch large enough to bury within it a dozen fellow-commoners of his own weight and size. Nor is the reign of this petty tyrant wholly bloodless; young lambs just dropped often fall victims to his ferocity or thirst for blood. ”

“ In cattle-shows there is, in many respects, sufficient evidence of the general and marked improvement which has taken place in this class of domestic animals; but we form our judgment rather from those which show their points, are really well fed, and not fattened up till they appear like bloated skins of lard—as destitute of definite shape, as of the power of moving about. What a waste of money must the forcing of such a monster occasion! The outlay would have sufficed to bring three pigs into fine and profitable condition. ”

“ But too often exorbitant overloading of fat is too much regarded—a point of less consequence than shape, fertility, and aptitude to fatten upon moderate rations; inasmuch as the wealthy have at their command the means of forcing animals unnaturally, and think little of the waste thereby incurred in order to accomplish their object. Pigs are shown not only incapable of standing, but also of seeing, from the enormous volumes of fat with which they are loaded. Such an accumulation of fat is in itself disease. ”

“ Indeed an old hunter once saw a panther spring from a tree into a drove of wood hogs, and scarcely had he touched the ground than the larger ones fell upon him with their tusks and the weight of their bodies, and killed and tore him in pieces in a few moments. ”

“ They are all of the true breed, and cannot for a moment be confounded with the tame variety; there is the tusked mouth, the thick fore-quarter, the narrow hind-quarter, the mane, the coarse bristles, the speed of gait, indicative of the wild breed, but they appeared tame and pigmy in comparison with the huge savage monsters bred in the obscure recesses of deep forests, and unacquainted with the sight of man. ”

“ So far from any place being good enough for a pig, much of the animal's health and ultimate profitableness depend on the domicile in which it is kept. For those who keep only one or two pigs, a well-built wind and waterproof sty or shed for a dormitory, in an inclosure for air and exercise as large as convenient, will suffice. The feeding-trough should be made of stone, as wooden troughs are liable to be gnawed, and are often knocked over when half full of food by the snout of the pig, either by accident or in wantonness. ”

“ Sows with pig should be well and judiciously fed; that is to say, they should have a sufficiency of wholesome nutritious food to maintain their strength and keep them in good condition, but should by no means be allowed to get fat, as when they are in high condition the dangers of parturition are enhanced, the animal is more awkward and liable to smother or crush her young, and besides, never has as much or as good milk as a leaner sow. She should also have a separate sty: for swine are prone to lie so close together, that if she were amongst others her young would be in great danger ”

“ Many sows will often be found herding together, each followed by her litter of young ones, and in such parties they are exceedingly formidable to man and beast. Neither they nor the boar, however, appear to want to attack any thing, but only when roused by aggression, or disturbed in their retreat, do they turn upon their enemies and manifest their mighty strength with which nature has endowed them, otherwise they pursue their way in a kind of solitary savage majesty. ”

“ In all probability the reason why this and many other diseases of swine have hitherto been regarded as incurable, is that men of science, educated veterinarians, have as yet given but little of their attention to these useful animals, and deemed the study of their diseases and of the means of treating them beneath their notice. Nor is the owner without his share of blame, for he too often either abandons the poor brute to its fate, or calls in the aid of the pig-butcher or some ignorant empiric. ”

“ In the breeding of swine, as much as in that of any other live stock, it is important to pay great attention not only to the breed, but also to the choice of individuals. The sow should produce a great number of young ones, and she must be well fed to enable her to support them. Some sows bring forth ten, twelve or even fifteen pigs at a birth, but eight or nine is the usual number, and sows which produce fewer than this must be rejected. It is, however, probable that fecundity depends also on the boar; he should therefore be chosen from a race which multiplies quickly. ”

“ The establishment of agricultural societies and cattle-shows formed the commencement of a new era in the breeding of all domesticated animals, and especially of swine, which had, previously to that epoch, been very much neglected. There cannot be a doubt but that the competition, the assembling together of breeders from all counties and even from abroad, the comparison of the different animals brought together, and the conclusions drawn in many minds, tend materially to the elucidation and advancement of the science of breeding. ”

“ The animal economy consist of parts or organs, differing from each other in structure and function, yet all so intimately connected together, and so mutually dependent upon each other, that the cooperation of the whole is necessary to a state of perfect health; and if any one part suffer injury, the neighboring organs sympathize with it to a greater or less extent, and the working of the whole system is impaired. ”

“ Nor does it appear that a return to their native wilds restores to them their original appearance; for, in whatever country pigs have escaped from the control of man, and bred in the woods and wildernesses, there does not appear to be a single instance recorded by any naturalist in which they have resumed the habits and form of the wild boar. They become fierce, wild, gaunt, and grisly, and live upon roots and fruits; but they are still merely degenerated swine, and they still associate together in herds, nor "walk the glade in savage solitary grandeur" like their grim ancestors. ”

“ To the acute sense of the hog are epicures indebted for the truffles which form such a delicious sauce, for they are the actual finders. A pig is turned into a field and suffered to pursue his own course and watched. He stops and begins to grub up the earth, the man hurries up, drives him away, and secures the truffle, which is invariably growing under that spot, and the poor pig goes off to sniff out another, and another, only now and then being allowed by way of encouragement to reap the fruits of his research. ”

“ He is fond of a good cleanly bed; and often, when this is not provided for him, it is curious to see the degree of sagacity with which he will forage for himself. "A hog is the cleanliest of all creatures, and will never dung or stale in his sty if he can get forth," says a quaint old writer of the sixteenth century, and we are very much of his opinion. But it is so much the habit to believe that this animal may be kept in any state of filth and neglect, that "pig" and "pig-sty" are terms usually regarded as synonymous with all that is dirty and disgusting. ”

“ Agricultural writers seem to be very much divided in their opinion's as to the relative advantages of breeding or buying, but all allow that the keeping of swine is one of the most profitable parts of the business of a farm. Whoever determines upon breeding must make up his mind in the first place what is the shape and what the qualities he wishes to obtain, and then steadily bear this in mind as he pursues his object ”

“ He regards the wild boar as the model of the species erroneously, for it can only be looked upon as formed on the model best adapted to the haunts and habits of a wild animal, the welfare of which requires either the instinct of a cunning concealment or the possession of strength or swiftness. Now concealment in a pigsty is of little avail when the day of terror comes, and the obesity of a well-fed porker is, and must ever continue, entirely inconsistent either with speed of foot or vigor of limb ”

“ There is nothing so nutritious, so eminently and in every way adapted for the purpose of fattening, as are the various kinds of grain; the only drawback is that they are too expensive to be used to any great extent for this purpose, otherwise no animal should be considered as properly fattened unless some kind of grain had been given during the latter part of the time; as nothing tends more to create a firmness as well as delicacy in the flesh. It has been calculated that for every bushel, half of peas, and half of barley, that a hog eats, it gains from nine to ten or eleven pounds of flesh. ”

“ To show in how short a time a pig can be rendered a mass of fat, and upon what sort and quantity of food. The better aim would be, to show how many pigs could be well fattened in a given time upon a stipulated quantity of food—what breeds fattened the most kindly, and would be found the most profitable. ”

“ Pigs are chiefly castrated with a view to fattening them; and doubtless castration has the required effect, and therefore is less objectionable when performed on the pig, than when the horse or dog is subjected to it; for at the same time that it increases the quiescent qualities of the animal, it diminishes his courage, spirits, and nobler attributes, and even affects his form. The tusks of a castrated boar never grow like those of the natural animal, but always have a dwarfed, stunted appearance. ”

“ Vancouver, in his ' Survey of Essex,' makes the following judicious observations relative to the management and value of hogs:—There is no animal in the whole economy of good husbandry that requires more attention as to breed, number, and supply of food, or will better requite the care and trouble of the farmer, than a well-managed and proper stock of hogs. These things, however, are too much overlooked, or rather disregarded, by farmers in general, though all are ready to agree that an overstock in other respects must ever prove fatal to the interests of the farmer. ”

“ A good breeding sow will produce two if not three litters in a year, but two should be the outside number; for where she is suffered to have more, the pigs are not so fine or so many in number, nor can she suckle them so well. How many years they would continue to breed is scarcely known, as it is generally considered to be most advantageous to spay them in their second, or at any rate early in their third year, and then fatten them for the butcher, especially where there is always a stock of young sows to replace them ”

“ To a certain extent, indeed, the hog is omnivorous, and may be reared on the refuse of the butchers' slaughter-houses; but such food is not wholesome, nor is it natural; for though this animal be omnivorous, it is not essentially carnivorous. Vegetable productions, as roots and grain, beech-mast, and acorns, constitute the staple of its natural diet; hence, the refuse of the dairy farm is more congenial to the health of the animal, to say nothing of the quality of its flesh. All animals eat with a keen relish the hog amongst the rest ”

“ He may allow the sty or the yard to be covered with filth of every description, as disgraceful to himself as it is injurious to the animals. In this case the hog is the sufferer, for naturally it delights in clean straw, luxuriating in it with evident pleasure, its twinkling little eyes and low grunt expressing its feelings of contentment. In fact, the hog, so far from being the filthiest, is one of the cleanliest of our domestic quadrupeds, and is unwilling to soil the straw bed of his domicile if any thing like liberty be allowed him. ”

“ It is reported that, on Hannah More being asked what was the use of cattle-shows, she replied, "To induce people to make beef and mutton so fat that nobody can eat it." This certainly is the abuse of them, and in no class of animals is it carried to such an extent as in swine. The greedy propensities of the poor animal are worked upon; he is shut up, often in darkness, and fed and suffered to gorge himself until he can scarcely move or breathe, and often dies of suffocation, or is obliged to be killed, from the simple exertion of being brought to the show in the most easy and careful manner. ”

“ Nature designed the hog to fulfil many important functions in a forest country. By his burrowing after roots and such like, he turns up and destroys the larvæ of innumerable insects that would otherwise injure the trees as well as their fruit. He destroys the slug, snail, snake, and adder, and thus not only rids the forest of these injurious and unpleasant inhabitants, but also makes them subservient to his own nourishment, and thus to the benefit of mankind. ”

“ However, if the charge of gluttony be proved against the pig fattening in his sty, it may be equally proved against the ox fattening in his stall. When old, or when oppressed by fat, the hog, it must be confessed, is sluggish and indolent; when young, however, it is lively and energetic, and disposed to indulge in sportive gambols, which, for any thing we can see, are quite as amusing as those of lambs.
Many extraordinary examples of the docility and intelligence of the too much despised hog are on record. ”

“ The senses of smell, taste, and hearing, are possessed by the hog in great perfection. It is a common saying that pigs can smell the coming storm; certain it is that they are very sensitive of approaching changes of weather. They become agitated, hurry under shelter, and during the continuance of the storm utter screams, run about with straw in their mouths, or carry it to their sty as if to add to their comfort and defence. ”

“ The huntsman, jäger, goes out with an ugly but useful animal, not unlike a shepherd's dog, but smaller, which is in German language called "a sow-finder." The business of this creature is to seek the hog, and so well trained is he that no other animal will turn him from that particular scent. On meeting with the object of his search he gives tongue incessantly, and with active but cautious irritation pursues the boar till he is at bay ”

“ It is not to be wondered at, that a structure so delicately organised as the one we have been describing should be subject to disease. In the hog it is peculiarly so; many of the most serious maladies to which he is subject, have their seat in the skin: it were a point well worthy of study to inquire into the reason of this fact, but as the present work is devoted to practice rather than theory, we must leave it to abler hands, and pass onwards to a consideration of some of the most prevalent diseases of the skin in swine. ”

“ The intestines of the hog bear a stronger resemblance to those of the human being than we find in any other animal. They are sixteen times the length of the body of the animal, and the proportions of the small intestines to the large are as three to one. They are composed of four coats or layers. The outer or peritoneal one is formed of that membrane which invests and retains in its proper position every portion of the contents of the belly. The second layer is muscular, and by its action propels the contents of the stomach gradually onward's. ”