Pig's foot

“ Crouching low, he crept up toward the thicket, led by his discriminating nose. His huge paws made no more sound than the gliding of a shadow. Peering in through the tangle of twigs and leafage, he was able to make out some black creature asleep. He paused suspiciously. The pig of his remembrance was white and much smaller than the animal he saw before him. Still, his nose assured him that this was pig all right. His appetite hushed his prudence, and, crashing into the thicket, he hurled himself upon the slumbering form. ”

“ SYMPTOMS: The pigs affected generally appear in good condition and seem
to be doing well, but suddenly they become paralyzed in the hind
quarters, owing to the weakened condition of the bones, which sometimes
fracture without receiving injury or any additional weight to that of
the pig itself. The bones of the snout, back, limbs and feet bend and
become deformed. The pigs grow weak, poor and stunted and perhaps the
best treatment is to destroy them.
PREVENTIVE TREATMENT: Careful feeding of good, wholesome food. This
disease is very seldom seen where hogs are frequently fed corn. ”

“ They are the city scavengers, these pigs, ugly brutes they are; having for the most part scanty brown backs, like the lids of old horse-hair trunks, spotted with unwholesome black blotches; they have long, gaunt legs too, and such peaked snouts that if one of them could be persuaded, to sit for his profile, nobody would recognize it for a pig's likeness; they are never attended upon, or fed, or driven, or caught, but are thrown upon their own resources in early life, and become preternaturally knowing in consequence; every pig knows where he lives much better than any body could tell him. ”

“ When he reaches the trough, he lets the corn fall near it on the ground, and when the young swine approach to eat it, he suddenly seizes one by the tail, pops him into the trough, and then capers about the yard, seemingly delighted with the frolic. The noise of the pig soon brings the men to his assistance, who know from experience what is the matter, while the horse indulges in all kinds of antics, and then quietly returns to the stable. ”

“ The bones and joints appear to be unequal to the performance of their duties, the pig staggers and stumbles when it attempts to move, whilst sometimes the back is [Pg 167] affected, when the pig is stated to be suffering from "swayback." As a rule treatment is inadvisable as recovery is doubtful. The first loss by knocking the pig on the head is generally the least. ”

“ And the dirt! And the pigs themselves! They were positively uncanny. There was something almost human about them. They were all heads and no bodies. It was just as though the other half of the wits of the half-witted boy who looked after them had distributed itself among the whole herd. I could have wept when I thought how my purse and my swill-tub had been emptied to keep such puny monstrosities in the land of the living.
I had my pig taken out and weighed. He turned the scale at forty-eight pounds.
A week later I went and weighed him again; he had shrunk to forty.
I am a man of action. ”

“ By beating the dry hide with a stick it was made sufficiently pliable to bear making it into moccasins; of which I made for myself three pair, wearing one, and carrying the others on my back.
One day as I lay in a pine thicket, several pigs which appeared to be wild, having no marks on their ears, came near me, and one of them approached so close without seeing me, that I knocked it down with a stone, and succeeded in killing it. This pig was very fat, and would have weighed thirty if not forty pounds. ”

“ Women are washing in open spaces, and long lines of whitened clothes are extended from tree to tree, fluttering and gambolling in the breeze. A pig, in a sty even more extemporary than the shanties, is grunting and poking his snout through the clefts of his habitation. ”

“ One day a big live pig was brought in from the utan over the shoulder of a strong man, its legs tied together, and as a compliment to me the brute was tethered to a pole by one leg, while the dogs, about fifty, barked at and harassed it. ”

“ Though the hoof of the pig is as a general rule cloven, there are several remarkable exceptions, as in some of the pigs in the United States, Norway, Illyria, Sardinia, etc., in which the hoof is entire and uncleft.
Few domestic animals are so profitable or so useful to man as the much-maligned pig, and no other yields him a more varied or more luxurious repast. ”

“ The earliest horse had five toes, and even the most recent fossil horse had three toes, of which the two lateral ones are still represented in the modern animal by the two splint bones. Yet if our horse develops an extra toe it is pronounced a monstrosity. A more genuine monstrosity is the solid-hoofed pig, in which two toes have been merged into one. Another of the same kind is the solid shank bone of the ox, which consists of two bones united into one, but which are still found apart in the early fetus. ”

“ Every morning I hear the blast of a horn, when, proceeding from almost every door in the street, behold a pig! The pigs generally proceed of their own accord; but shortly after they have passed, there comes a little bare-headed, bare-footed, stunted child about eleven years old. This little attendant of the old pig-driver facetiously called at Langen-Schwalbach the 'Schwein-General, knows every house from which a pig ought to have proceeded: she can tell by the door being open or shut, or even by footmarks, whether the creature has joined the herd, or is still snoring in its sty. ”

“ The head, too, hung near,—but without its fine wig,
And was now to be seen as the head of a pig.
Many times has the butcher thought of his good luck,
But he'll never again capture such a gay buck.
If pigs will walk upright, and strut with fine canes,
Stalking in towns, 'stead of roaming in lanes,
Misfortunes they'll meet with, no doubt, such as Jack's,
Getting shots through their ears, and kicks on their backs.
Piggy left a good sty,
And went out, like a guy ”

“ For most of my life up to then had been greatly infested by pigs; and though they were superior pigs, beautifully kept, housed and fed far better, shameful to relate, than the peasants of that place, on the days when the wind blew from where they were to where we were, clean them and air them as one might there did come blowing over us a great volume of unmistakeable pig. Eclipsing the lilies. Smothering the roses. Also, on still days we could hear their voices, and the calm of many a summer evening was rent asunder by their squeals. ”

“ The African pig is more noted for his speed than for the rashers he offers when his race is run; he is tough, and grunts vapidly; his tail corrugates rather than curls; he eschews jewellery—his nose is free ”

“ Pigskin is one of the strongest leathers, having a hard, resisting surface and a good, tough fibre. In the grain, the holes which were left when bristles were removed are plainly visible, giving the leather a distinctive appearance, which can be imitated successfully, but which is much less often imitated than the grain of morocco. If there be doubt of the genuineness of pig, soak a piece of the leather until it has absorbed a quantity of water, and then stretch it. ”

“ But only the male pigs are esteemed, the females are of account only as a necessary instrument [96] for propagating the species, and nobody takes care of them; so they run wild, and have to look out for themselves. They are much happier than the males, which are tied all their lives to a pole under a little roof; they are carefully fed, but this, their only pleasure, is spoilt by constant and terrific toothache, caused by cruel man, who has a horrible custom of knocking out the upper eye-teeth of the male pig. ”

“ It meets the flying body of the pig, not directly, but with a tremendous sideway blow; there is a heavy, dull sound, a squeal, choked suddenly as for want of breath, and hurled obliquely from its original course, the luckless and now almost inanimate creature falls in a dead heap, some yards beyond the saurian’s head. ”

“ When he poured the children's supper into the trough and slammed down the lid he stood and watched Mrs. Pig's youngsters as they scrambled to the trough and stuck—each of them—a nose into a hole.
All at once Farmer Green noticed something queer. "Hullo!" he cried to his son Johnnie. "There's an empty hole here. We've lost a pig!" ”

“ Very few men have ever left a powder-magazine on fire in quicker time than did Pig Head leave his hiding-place, and none could have made more noise in the process. The Chieftain stuck to him lovingly, and the Chieftain's son, sack and all, seemed determined never to leave him; and Pig Head was nearly demented with pain as he leapt out, caracoling wildly, into the light of day, and into the arms of—only the laird, the head stalker, four gillies, and two collies. ”

“ Of course this pig got into the garden, and was whipped by the farmer, and bitten by the dog, and had all sorts of unpleasant things happen to him, till he was glad to get back again to the sty.
"Now I'll tell you a pig story," said Birdie, with a very wise look.
"Once there was a big mother-pig, and she had lots of children-pigs. One was spotted, and his name was Spotty; one's tail curled, and he was Curly; another was white, and he was Whitey; another was Browny; and another was Greeny." ”

“ It has been said of the common pig, that it is an animal “manufactured by man, and he makes it take such shapes as suit his wants best.” By careful feeding and breeding the tusks are lost, the bristles decrease, the head and legs diminish, the body and haunches greatly develop. Fed and sheltered, the pig is mild and lazy. Turned loose in the woods, for several generations, the snout and legs lengthen, the body grows thinner, and many of the characteristics of the boar return. ”

“ He takes hold of the pig's tail and gives it a hard pull as if trying to drag him backward and the stubborn brute at once rushes forward into his cradle.
The pig will eat almost anything. By nature he is a plant feeder and in his wild state will roam the forest feeding on plants, fruits, and roots of all kinds. His hard snout helps him to dig into the ground in search of favorite roots and his keen sense of smell aids him in finding them. ”

“ Master Pig will be obliged to go into the sty, and very likely get the whip for his pains; like a wayward child that gets chid for disobedience. I hope there are very few disobedient young ladies and gentlemen, like the perverse pig. The pig is a stupid animal: but I have heard of a learned pig that could tell his letters, pointing to them with his snout; but most swine are dirty in their ways, and not at all particular—little caring so long as they can eat, grunt, and sleep. The pig will often lie in the dirtiest corner of his house, and stand in its trough of food. ”

“ Many pigs were running about the village--small in size, lean and long legged, usually black, with coarse bristles--also two or three dogs, similar to those seen at Brierly Island. One young woman was seen carrying about in her arms and fondling a very young pig--an incident which afforded us as much amusement as a lady's lap-dog, with one end of a ribbon round its neck and the other attached to a wasp-waisted damsel, would have caused among these utilitarian savages. ”

“ It is his owner more than himself that is to blame. If he had his own way he would be clean enough. Like all thick-skinned animals the pig loves to wallow in the mire and cover himself with mud to protect him against insects. But left to himself he will keep his sleeping place clean. Those who know how to keep pigs soon learn this and supply the animals with dry and clean places to sleep in.
A Fat Berkshire Hog. A Monarch of the Sty
Pork, or the flesh of the pig, has long been used as meat. ”

“ Let a man get the head of the animal firmly between his knees, without, however, pinching it, while another secures the hinder parts. Then let the first take hold of the pig's head from below, raise it a little, and incline it slightly towards the right, at the same time separating the lips on the left side so as to form a hole into which the fluid may be gradually poured, not more being introduced into the mouth at a time than can be swallowed at once. ”

“ It is said that when one of his pigs or sheep breaks its leg, a farmer of Rhenish Bavaria or Hesse will bind up the leg of a chair with bandages and splints in due form. For some days thereafter no one may sit on that chair, move it, or knock up against it; for to do so would pain the injured pig or sheep and hinder the cure. ”

“ How is one to carry a pig except by its tail and ears? One must either throw the creature on its back and lift it up by its four cloven feet—a process hardly feasible, since a pig’s centre of gravity is so near the ground that it is all but impossible to topple him over. Or else—and this is what the people of Longres found themselves disgustedly [27] compelled to do—one must throw one’s arms round the animal and carry it clasped to one’s bosom as though it were a baby, at the risk of being bitten in the ear and with the certainty of stinking like a hog for the rest of the day. ”

“ Those large, coarse-boned pigs with hair of a white colour and skins more or less mottled with [Pg 24] blue are gradually giving place to pigs with finer hair, skin, bone, and quality of meat. The coarse lop ears are being reduced in size and thickness, whilst the pig itself is becoming less gaunt and its early maturity considerably increased by crossing with the better quality Large White and the quickly maturing Middle White. ”