Chapter IX: Part 9

The hog has fourteen _molar_ teeth in each jaw, six _incisors_, and two _canines_; these latter are curved upward, and commonly denominated _tushes_. The molar teeth are all slightly different in structure, and increase in size from first to last; they bear no slight resemblance to those of the human being. The incisors are so fantastic in form that they cannot well be described, and their destined functions are by no means clear. Those in the lower jaw are long, round, and nearly straight; of those in the upper jaw, four closely resemble the corresponding teeth in the horse; while the two corner incisors bear something of the shape of those of the dog. These latter are placed so near the tushes as often to obstruct their growth, and it is sometimes necessary to draw them, in order to relieve the animal and enable him to feed.

The hog is born with two molars on each side of the jaw; by the time he is three or four months old, he is provided with his incisive milk-teeth and the tushes; the supernumerary molars protrude between the fifth and seventh month, as does the first back molar; the second back molar is cut at about the age of ten months; and the third, generally, not until the animal is three years old. The upper corner teeth are shed at about the age of six or eight months; and the lower ones at about seven, nine, or ten months old, and replaced by the permanent ones. The milk tushes are also shed and replaced between six and ten months old. The age of twenty months, and from that to two years, is denoted by the shedding and replacement of the middle incisors, or _pincers_, in both jaws, and the formation of a black circle at the base of each of the tushes. At about two years and a half or three years of age, the adult middle teeth in both jaws protrude, and the pincers are becoming black and rounded at the ends.

After three years, the age may be computed by the growth of the tushes; at about four years, or rather before, the upper tushes begin to raise the lip; at five, they protrude through the lips; and at six years, the tushes of the lower jaw begin to show themselves out of the mouth, and assume a spiral form. These acquire a prodigious length in old animals, and particularly in uncastrated boars; and as they increase in size, they become curved backward and outward, and at length are so crooked as to interfere with the motion of the jaws to such a degree that it is necessary to cut off those projecting teeth, which is done with the file, or with nippers.

BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT

BREEDING

In the selection of a boar and sow for breeding, much more attention and consideration are requisite than is generally imagined. It is as easy, with a very little judgment and management, to procure a good as an inferior breed; and the former is much more remunerative, in proportion to the outlay, than the latter can possibly ever be.

The object of the farmer or breeder is to produce and retain such an animal as will be best adapted to the purpose he has in view, whether that is the consumption of certain things which could not otherwise be so well disposed of, the converting into hams, bacon, and pork, or the raising of sucking-pigs and porkers for the market. Almost all farmers keep one or more pigs to devour the offal and refuse, which would otherwise be wasted. This is, however, a matter totally distinct from breeding swine. In the former case, the animal or animals are purchased young for a small price, each person buying as many as he considers he shall have food enough for, and then sold to the butcher, or killed, when in proper condition; and thus a certain degree of profit is realized. In the latter, many contingencies must be taken into account: the available means of feeding them; whether or not the food may be more profitably disposed of; the facilities afforded by railroads, the vicinity of towns, or large markets, etc., for disposing of them.

In the breeding of swine, as much as that of any other livestock, 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.

If a bacon and a late market be objects, the large and heavy varieties should be selected, care being taken that the breed has the character of possessing those qualities most likely to insure a heavy return--growth, and facility of taking fat. Good one-year bacon-hogs being in great demand, they may be known by their long bodies, low bellies, and short legs. With these qualities are usually coupled long, pendulous ears, which attract purchasers. If, however, hogs are to be sold at all seasons to the butchers, the animals must attain their full growth and be ready for killing before they are a year old. This quality is particularly prominent in the Chinese breed; but among our ordinary varieties, hogs are often met with better adapted for this purpose than for producing large quantities of bacon and lard. The Berkshire crossed with Chinese is an excellent porker.

The sow should be chosen from a breed of proper size and shape, sound and free from blemishes and defects. In every case--whether the object be pork or bacon--the _points_ to be looked for in the _sow_ are a small, lively head; a broad and deep chest; round ribs; capacious barrel; a haunch falling almost to the hough; deep and broad loin; ample hips; and considerable length of body, in proportion to its height. One qualification should ever be kept in view, and, perhaps, should be the first point to which the attention should be directed--that is, smallness of bone. She should have at least twelve teats; for it is observed that each pig selects a teat for himself and keeps to it, so that a pig not having one belonging to him would be starved. A good sow should produce a great number of pigs, all of equal vigor. She must be very careful of them, and not crush them by her weight; above all, she must not be addicted to eating the after-birth, and, what may often follow, her own young. If a sow is tainted with those bad habits, or if she has difficult labors, or brings forth dead pigs, she must be spayed forthwith. It is, therefore, well to bring up several young sows at once, so as to keep those only which are free from defects. Breeding sows and boars should never be raised from defective animals. Sows that have very low bellies, almost touching the ground, seldom produce large or fine litters. A good-sized sow is generally considered more likely to prove a good breeder and nurse, and to farrow more easily and safely than a small, delicate animal.

The ancients considered the distinguishing marks of a good _boar_ to be a small head, short legs, a long body, large thighs and neck, and this latter part thickly covered with strong, erect bristles. The most experienced modern breeders prefer an animal with a long, cylindrical body; small bones; well-developed muscles; a wide chest, which denotes strength of constitution; a broad, straight back; short head and fine snout; brilliant eyes; a short, thick neck; broad, well-developed shoulders; a loose, mellow skin; fine, bright, long hair, and few bristles; and small legs and hips. Some give the preference to long, flapping ears; but experience seems to demonstrate that those animals are best which have short, erect, fine ears. The boar should always be vigorous and masculine in appearance.

Few domesticated animals suffer so much from in-and-in breeding as swine. Where this system is pursued, the number of young ones is decreased at every litter, until the sows become, in a manner, barren. This practice also undoubtedly contributes to their liability to hereditary diseases, such as scrofula, epilepsy, and rheumatism; and when those possessing any such diseases are coupled, the ruin of the flock is easily and speedily effected, since they are propagated by either parent, and always most certainly and in most aggravated form, when occurring in both. As soon as the slightest degeneracy is observed, the breed should be crossed from time to time, keeping sight, however, while so doing, of the end in view. The Chinese will generally be found the best which can be used for this purpose; since a single cross, and even two, with one of these animals, will seldom do harm, but often effect considerable improvements. The best formed of the progeny resulting from this cross must be selected as breeders, and with them the old original stock crossed back again. Selection, with judicious and cautious admixture, is the true secret of forming and improving the breed. Repeated and indiscriminate crosses are as injurious as an obstinate adherence to one particular breed, and as much to be avoided.

The following rules for the selection of the best stock of hogs will apply to all breeds:

_Fertility._ In a breeding sow, this quality is essential, and it is one which is inherited. Besides this, she should be a careful mother. A young, untried sow will generally display in her tendencies those which have predominated in the race from which she has descended. Both boar and sow should be sound, healthy, and in fair, but not over fat, condition.

_Form._ Where a farmer has an excellent breed, but with certain defects, or too long in the limb, or too heavy in the bone, the sire to be chosen, whether of a pure or of a cross breed, should exhibit the opposite qualities, even to an extreme; and be, moreover, one of a strain noted for early and rapid fattening. If in perfect health, young stock selected for breeding will be lively, animated, hold up the head, and move freely and nimbly.

_Bristles._ These should be fine and scanty, so as to show the skin smooth and glossy; coarse, wirey, rough bristles usually accompany heavy bones, large, spreading hoofs, and flapping ears, and thus become one of the indications of a thick-skinned and low breed.

_Color._ Different breeds of high excellence have their own colors; white, black, parti-colored, black and white, sandy, mottled with large marks of black, are the most prevalent. A black skin, with short, scanty bristles, and small stature, demonstrate the prevalence of the Neapolitan strain, or the black Chinese, or, perhaps, an admixture of both. Many prefer white; and in sucking-pigs, destined for the table, and for porkers, this color has its advantages, and the skin looks more attractive; it is, however, generally thought that the skin of black hogs is thinner than that of white, and less subject to eruptive diseases.

The influence of a first impregnation upon subsequent progeny by other males is at times curiously illustrated. This has been noticed in respect of the sow. A sow of the black and white breed, in one instance, became pregnant by a boar of the wild breed of a deep chestnut color. The pigs produced were duly mixed, the color of the boar being very predominant in some. The sow being afterwards put to a boar of the same breed as herself, some of the produce were still stained or marked with the chestnut color which prevailed in the first litter; and the same occurred after a third impregnation, the boar being then of the same kind as herself. What adds to the force of this case is, that in the course of many years' observation, the breed in question was never known to produce progeny having the slightest tinge of chestnut color.

A sow is capable of conceiving at the age of six or seven months; but it is always better not to let her commence breeding too early, as it tends to weaken her. From ten to twelve months--and the latter is preferable--is about the best age. The boar should be, at least, a twelvemonth old--some even recommend eighteen months, at least--before he is employed for the purpose of propagating his species. If, however, the sow has attained her second year, and the boar his third, a vigorous and numerous offspring is more likely to result. The boar and sow retain their ability to breed for almost five years; that is, until the former is upward of eight years old, and the latter seven. It is not advisable, however, to use a boar after he has passed his fifth year, nor a sow after her fourth, unless she has proved a peculiarly valuable breeder--in which case she might produce two or three more litters.

A boar left on the pasture, at liberty with the sows, might suffice for thirty or forty of them; but as he is commonly shut up, and allowed access at stated times only, so that the young ones may be born at nearly the same time, it is usual to allow him to serve from six to ten--on no account should he serve more. The best plan is, to shut up the boar and sow in a sty together; for, when turned in among several females, he is apt to ride them so often that he exhausts himself without effect. The breeding boar should be fed well and kept in high condition, but not fat. Full grown boars being often savage and difficult to tame, and prone to attack men and animals, should be deprived of their tusks.

Whenever it is practicable, it should always be so arranged that the animals shall farrow early in the spring, and at the latter end of summer, or quite the beginning of autumn. In the former case, the young pigs will have the run of the early pastures, which will be a benefit to them, and a saving to their owners; and there will also be more whey, milk, and other dairy produce which can be spared for them by the time they are ready to be weaned. In the second case, there will be sufficient time for the young to have grown and acquired strength before the cold weather comes on, which is always very injurious to sucking-pigs.

POINTS OF A GOOD HOG.

It may be not amiss to group together what is deemed desirable under this head. No one should be led away by mere name in his selection of a hog. It may be called a Berkshire, or a Suffolk, or any other breed most in estimation, and yet, in reality, may possess none of this valuable blood. The only sure way to avoid imposition is, to make _name_ always secondary to _points_. If a hog is found possessing such points of form as are calculated to insure early maturity and faculty of taking on flesh, one needs to care but little by what name he is called; since no mere name can bestow value upon an animal deficient in the qualities already indicated.

The true Berkshire--that possessing a dash of the Chinese and Neapolitan varieties--comes, perhaps, nearer to the desired standard than any other.

The chief points which characterize such a hog are the following:--In the first place, sufficient depth of carcass, and such an elongation of body as will insure a sufficient lateral expansion. The loin and breast should be broad. The breadth of the former denotes good room for the play of the lungs, and, as a consequence, a free and healthy circulation, essential to the thriving or fattening of any animal. The bone should be small, and the joints fine--nothing is more indicative of high breeding than this; and the legs should be no longer than, when fully fat, would just prevent the animal's belly from trailing upon the ground. The leg is the least profitable portion of the hog, and no more of it is required than is absolutely necessary for the support of the rest. The feet should be firm and sound; the toes should lie well together, and press straightly upon the ground; the claws, also, should be even, upright and healthy.

The form of the head is sometimes deemed of little or no consequence, it being generally, perhaps, supposed that a good hog may have an ugly head; but the head of all animals is one of the very principal points in which pure or impure breeding will be most obviously indicated. A high-bred animal will invariably be found to arrive more speedily at maturity, to take flesh more easily, and at an earlier period, and, altogether, to turn out more profitably than one of questionable or impure stock. Such being the case, the head of the hog is a point by no means to be overlooked. The description of head most likely to promise--or, rather to be the accompaniment of--high breeding, is one not carrying heavy bones, not too flat on the forehead, or possessing a snout too elongated; the snout should be short, and the forehead rather convex, curving upward; and the ear, while pendulous, should incline somewhat forward, and at the same time be light and thin. The carriage of the pig should also be noticed. If this be dull, heavy, and dejected, one may reasonably suspect ill health, if not some concealed disorder actually existing, or just about to break forth; and there cannot be a more unfavorable symptom than a hung-down, slouching head. Of course, a fat hog for slaughter and a sow heavy with young, have not much sprightliness of deportment.

Color is, likewise, not to be disregarded. Those colors are preferable which are characteristic of the most esteemed breeds. If the hair is scant, black is desirable, as denoting connection with the Neapolitan; if too bare of hair, a too intimate alliance with that variety may be apprehended, and a consequent want of hardihood, which--however unimportant, if pork be the object--renders such animals a hazardous speculation for store purposes, on account of their extreme susceptibility of cold, and consequent liability to disease. If white, and not too small, they are valuable as exhibiting connection with the Chinese. If light, or sandy, or red with black marks, the favorite Berkshire is detected; and so on, with reference to every possible variety of hue.

TREATMENT DURING PREGNANCY.

Sows with pigs 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 and crush her young, and, moreover, 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 is even among others, her young would be in great danger; and this sty should be perfectly clean and comfortably littered, but not so thickly as to admit of the young being able to bury themselves in the straw.

As the time of her farrowing approaches, she should be well supplied with food, especially if she be a young sow, and this her first litter, and also carefully watched, in order to prevent her devouring the after-birth, and thus engendering a morbid appetite which will next induce her to fall upon her own young. A sow that has once done this can never afterward be depended upon. Hunger, thirst, or irritation of any kind, will often induce this unnatural conduct, which is another reason why a sow about to farrow should have a sty to herself, and be carefully attended to, and have all her wants supplied.

ABORTION.

This is by no means of so common occurrence in the case of the sow as in many other of the domesticated animals. Various causes tend to produce it: insufficiency of food, eating too much succulent vegetable food, or unwholesome, unsubstantial diet; blows and falls; and the animal's habit of rubbing itself against hard bodies, for the purpose of allaying the irritation produced by the vermin or cutaneous eruptions to which it is subject. Reiterated copulation does not appear to produce abortion in the sow; at least to the extent it does in other animals.

The symptoms indicative of approaching abortion are similar to those of parturition, but more intense. There are, generally, restlessness, irritation, and shivering; and the cries of the animal evince the presence of severe labor-pains. Sometimes the rectum, vagina, or uterus, becomes relaxed, and one or the other protrudes, and often becomes inverted at the moment of the expulsion of the f[oe]tus, preceded by the placenta, which presents itself foremost.

Nothing can be done, at the last hour, to prevent abortion; but, from the first, every predisposing cause should be removed. The treatment will depend upon circumstances. Where the animal is young, vigorous, and in high condition, bleeding will be beneficial--not a copious blood-letting, but small quantities taken at different times; purgatives may also be administered. If, when abortion has taken place, the whole of the litter was not born, emollient injections may be resorted to with considerable benefit; otherwise, the after treatment should be made the same as in parturition, and the animal should be kept warm, quiet, and clean, and allowed a certain degree of liberty. Whenever one sow has aborted, the causes likely to have produced this accident should be sought, and an endeavor made, by removing them, to secure the rest of the inmates of the piggery from a similar mishap.

In cases of abortion, the f[oe]tus is seldom born alive, and often has been dead for some days; where this is the case--which may be readily detected by a peculiarly unpleasant putrid exhalation, and the discharge of a fetid liquid from the vagina--the parts should be washed with a diluted solution of chloride of lime, in the proportion of one part of chloride to three parts of water, and a portion of this lotion gently injected into the uterus, if the animal will submit to it. Mild doses of Epsom salts, tincture of gentian, and Jamaica ginger, will also act beneficially in such cases, and, with attention to diet, soon restores the animal.

PARTURITION.

The period of gestation varies according to age, constitution, food, and the peculiarities of the individual breed. The most usual period during which the sow carries her young is, according to some, three months, three weeks, and three days, or one hundred and eight days; according to others, four lunar months, or sixteen weeks, or about one hundred and thirteen days. It may safely be said to range from one hundred and nine to one hundred and forty-three days.

The sow produces from eight to thirteen young at a litter, and sometimes even more. Young and weakly sows not only produce fewer pigs, but farrow earlier than those of maturer age and sounder condition; and besides, as might be expected, their offspring are deficient in vigor, oftentimes, indeed, puny and feeble. Extraordinary fecundity is not however, desirable, for nourishment cannot be afforded to more than twelve, the sow's number of teats. The supernumerary pigs must therefore suffer; if but one, it is, of course, the smallest and weakest; a too numerous litter are all, indeed, generally undersized and weakly, and seldom or never prove profitable; a litter not exceeding ten will usually be found to turn out most advantageously. On account of the discrepancy between the number farrowed by different sows, it is a good plan, if it can be managed, to have more than one breeding at the same time, in order that the number to be suckled by each may be equalized. The sow seldom recognizes the presence of a strange little one, if it has been introduced among the others during her absence, and has lain for half an hour or so among her own offspring in their sty.

The approach of the period of farrowing is marked by the immense size of the belly, by a depression of the back, and by the distention of the teats. The animal manifests symptoms of acute suffering, and wanders restlessly about, collecting straw, and carrying it to her sty, grunting piteously meanwhile. As soon as this is observed, she should be persuaded into a separate sty, and carefully watched. On no account should several sows be permitted to farrow in the same place at the same time, as they will inevitably irritate each other, or devour their own or one another's young.

The young ones should be taken away as soon as they are born, and deposited in a warm spot; for the sow being a clumsy animal, is not unlikely in her struggles to overlie them; nor should they be returned to her, until all is over, and the after-birth has been removed, which should always be done the moment it passes from her; for young sows, especially, will invariably devour it, if permitted, and then, as the young are wet with a similar fluid, and smell the same they will eat them also, one after another. Some advise washing the backs of young pigs with a decoction of aloes, colocynth, or some other nauseous substance, as a remedy for this; but the simplest and easiest one is to remove the little ones until all is over, and the mother begins to recover herself and seek about for them, when they should be put near her. Some also recommend strapping up the sow's mouth for the first three or four days, only releasing it to admit of her taking her meals.

Some sows are apt to lie upon and crush their young. This may best be avoided by not keeping her too fat or heavy, and by not leaving too many young upon her. The straw forming the bed should likewise be short, and not in too great quantity, lest the pigs get huddled up under it, and the sow unconsciously overlie them in that condition.

It does not always happen that the parturition is effected with ease. Cases of false presentation, of enlarged f[oe]tus, and of debility in the mother, often render it difficult and dangerous. The womb will occasionally become protruded and inverted, in consequence of the forcing pains of difficult parturition, and even the bladder has been known to come away. These parts must be returned as soon as may be; and if the womb has come in contact with the dung or litter, and acquired any dirt, it must first be washed in lukewarm water, and then returned, and confined in its place by means of a suture passed through the lips of the orifice. The easiest and perhaps the best way, however, is not to return the protruded parts at all, but merely tie a ligature round them and leave them to slough off, which they will do in the course of a few days, without effusion of blood, or farther injury to the animal. No sow that has once suffered from protrusion of the womb should be allowed to breed again.

TREATMENT WHILE SUCKLING.

Much depends upon this; as many a fine sow and promising litter have been ruined for want of proper and judicious care at this period. Immediately after farrowing, many sows incline to be feverish; where this is the case, a light and sparing diet only should be given them for the first day or two, as gruel, oatmeal porridge, whey, and the like. Others, again, are very much debilitated, and require strengthening; for them, strong soup, bread steeped in wine, or in a mixture of brandy and sweet spirits of nitre, administered in small quantities, will often prove highly beneficial.

The rations must gradually be increased and given more frequently; and they must be composed of wholesome, nutritious, and succulent substances. All kinds of roots--carrots, turnips, potatoes, and beet-roots--well steamed or boiled, but never raw, may be given; bran, barley, and oatmeal, bran-flour, Indian corn, whey, sour, skim, and butter-milk, are all well adapted for this period; and, should the animal appear to require it, grain well bruised and macerated may be added. Whenever it is possible, the sow should be turned out for an hour each day, to graze in a meadow or clover-field, as the fresh air, exercise, and herbage, will do her immense good. The young pigs must be shut up for the first ten days or fortnight, after which they will be able to follow her, and take their share of the benefit.

The food should be given regularly at certain hours; small and often-repeated meals are far preferable to large ones, since indigestion, or any disarrangement of the functions of the stomach vitiates the milk, and produces diarrh[oe]a and other similar affections in the young. The mother should always be well fed, but not over-fed; the better and more carefully she is fed, the more abundant and nutritious will her milk be, the better will the sucking-pigs thrive, and the less will she be reduced by suckling them.

When a sow is weakly, and has not a sufficiency of milk, the young pigs must be taught to feed as early as possible. A kind of gruel, made of skim-milk and bran, or oatmeal, is a good thing for this purpose, or potatoes, boiled and then mashed in milk or whey, with or without the addition of a little bran or oatmeal. Toward the period when the pigs are to be weaned, the sow must be less plentifully fed, otherwise the secretion of milk will be as great as ever; it will, besides, accumulate, and there will be hardness, and perhaps inflammation of the teats. If necessary, a dose of physic may be given to assist in carrying off the milk; but, in general, a little judicious management in the feeding and weaning will be all that is required.

TREATMENT OF YOUNG PIGS.

For the first ten days, or a fortnight, the mother will generally be able to support her litter without assistance, unless, as has been already observed, she is weakly, or her young are too numerous; in either of which cases they must be fed from the first. When the young pigs are about a fortnight old, warm milk should be given to them. In another week, this may be thickened with some species of farina; and afterward, as they gain strength and increase in size, boiled roots and vegetables may be added. As soon as they begin to eat, an open frame or railing should be placed in the sty under which the little pigs can run, and on the other side of this should be the small troughs containing their food; for it never answers to let them eat out of the same trough with their mother, because the food set before her is generally too strong and stimulating for them, even if they should secure any of it, which is, to say the least, extremely doubtful. Those intended to be killed for sucking-pigs should not be above four weeks old; most kill them for this purpose on the twenty-first or twenty-second day. The others, excepting those kept for breeding, should be castrated at the same time.

CASTRATION AND SPAYING.

Pigs are chiefly castrated with a view to fattening them; and, doubtless, this operation has the desired effect--for at the same time that it increases the quiescent qualities of the animal, it diminishes also 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. The operation, if possible, should be performed in the spring or autumn, as the temperature is the more uniform, and care should be taken that the animal is in perfect health. Those which are fat and plethoric should be prepared by bleeding, cooling diet and quiet. Pigs are castrated at all ages, from a fortnight to three, six and eight weeks, and even four months old.

There are various modes of performing this operation. If the pig is not more than six weeks old, an incision is made at the bottom of the scrotum, the testicle pushed out, and the cord cut, without any precautionary means whatever. When the animal is older, there is reason to fear that hemorrhage, to a greater or less extent, will supervene; consequently, it will be advisable to pass a ligature round the cord a little above the spot where the division is to take place.

By another mode--to be practised only on very young animals--a portion of the base of the scrotum is cut off, the testicles forced out, and the cord sawn through with a somewhat serrated but blunt instrument. If there is any hemorrhage, it is arrested by putting ashes in the wound. The animal is then dismissed and nothing further done with him.

On animals two and three years old, the operation is some times performed in the following manner: An assistant holds the pig, pressing the back of the animal against his chest and belly, keeping the head elevated, and grasping all the four legs together; or, which is the preferable way, one assistant holds the animal against his chest, while another kneels down and secures the four legs. The operator then grasps the scrotum with his left hand, makes one horizontal incision across its base, opening both divisions of the bag at the same time. The testicles are then pressed out with his finger and thumb, and removed with a blunt knife, which lacerates the part without bruising it and rendering it painful. Laceration only is requisite in order to prevent the subsequent hemorrhage which would occur, if the cord were simply severed by a sharp instrument. The wound is then closed by pushing the edges gently together with the fingers, and it speedily heals. Some break the spermatic cord without tearing it; they twist it, and then pull it gently and finally until it gives way.

In other cases, a waxed cord is passed as tightly as possible round the scrotum, above the epididymus, which completely stops the circulation, and in a few days the scrotum and testicles will drop off. This operation should never be performed on pigs of more than six weeks of age, and the spermatic should always, first of all, be measured. It, moreover requires great nicety and skill; otherwise, accidents will occur, and considerable pain and inflammation be caused. Too thick a cord, a knot not tied sufficiently tight, or a portion of the testicle included in the ligature, will prevent its success.

The most fatal consequence of castration is tetanus, or lockjaw, induced by the shock communicated to the nervous system by the torture of the operation.

SPAYING.

This operation consists in removing the ovaries, and sometimes a portion of the uterus, more or less considerable, of the female. The animal is laid upon its left side, and firmly held by one or two assistants; an incision is then made into the flank, the forefinger of the right hand introduced into it, and gently moved about until it encounters and hooks hold of the right ovary, which it draws through the opening; a ligature is then passed round this one, and the left ovary felt for in like manner. The operator then severs these two ovaries, either by cutting or tearing, and returns the womb and its appurtenances to their proper position. This being done, he closes the wound with two or three stitches, sometimes rubs a little oil over it, and releases the animal. All goes on well, for the healing power of the pig is very great.

The after-treatment is very simple. The animals should be well littered with clean straw, in styes weather-tight and thoroughly ventilated; their diet should be cared for; some milk or whey, with barley-meal is an excellent article; it is well to confine them for a few days, as they should be prevented from getting into cold water or mud until the wound is perfectly healed, and also from creeping through fences.

The best age for spaying a sow is about six weeks; indeed, as a general rule, the younger the animal is when either operation is performed the quicker it recovers. Some persons, however, have two or three litters from their sows before they operate upon them; where this is the case, the result is more to be feared, as the parts have become more susceptible, and are, consequently, more liable to take on inflammation.

WEANING.

Some farmers wean the pigs a few hours after birth, and turn the sow at once to the boar. The best mode, however, is to turn the boar into the hog-yard about a week after parturition, at which time the sow should be removed a few hours daily from her young. It does not injure either the sow or her pigs if she takes the boar while suckling; but some sows will not do so until the drying of their milk.

The age at which pigs may be weaned to the greatest advantage is when they are about eight or ten weeks old; many, however, wean them as early as six weeks, but they seldom turn out as well. They should not be taken from the sow at once, but gradually weaned. At first they should be removed from her for a certain number of hours each day, and accustomed to be impelled by hunger to eat from the trough; then they may be turned out for an hour without her, and afterwards shut up while she also is turned out by herself. Subsequently, they must only be allowed to suck a certain number of times in twenty-four hours; perhaps six times at first, then four, then three, and, at last, only once; and meanwhile they must be proportionably better and more plentifully fed, and the mother's diet in a like manner diminished. Some advise that the whole litter should be weaned at once; this is not best, unless one or two of the pigs are much weaker and smaller than the others; in such case, if the sow remain in tolerable condition, they might be suffered to suck for a week longer; but this should be the exception, and not a general rule.

Pigs are more easily weaned than almost any other animals, because they learn to feed sooner; but attention must, nevertheless, be paid to them, if they are to grow up strong, healthy animals. Their styes must be warm, dry, clean, well-ventilated, and weather-tight. They should have the run of a grass meadow or enclosure for an hour or two every fine day, in spring and summer, or be turned into the farm-yard among the cattle in the winter, as fresh air and exercise tend to prevent them from becoming rickety or crooked in the legs.

The most nutritious and succulent food that circumstances will permit should be furnished them. Newly-weaned pigs require five or six meals in the twenty-four hours. In about ten days, one may be omitted; in another week, a second; and then they should do with three _regular_ meals each day. A little sulphur mingled with the food, or a small quantity of Epsom or Glauber salts dissolved in the water, will frequently prove beneficial. A plentiful supply of clear, cold water should always be within their reach; the food left in the trough after the animals have finished eating should be removed, and the trough thoroughly rinsed out before any more is put into it. Strict attention should also be paid to cleanliness. The boars and sows should be kept apart from the period of weaning.

The question, which is more profitable, to breed swine, or to buy young pigs and fatten them, can best be determined by those interested; since they know best what resources they can command, and what chance of profits each of these separate branches offers.

RINGING.

This operation is performed to counteract the propensity which swine have of digging and furrowing up the earth. The ring is passed through what appears to be a prolongation of the septum, between the supplemental, or snout-bone, and the nasal. The animal is thus unable to obtain sufficient purchase to use his snout with any effect, without causing the ring to press so painfully upon the part that he is forced to desist. The ring, however, is apt to break, or it wears out in process of time, and has to be replaced.

The snout should be perforated at weaning-time, after the animal has recovered from castration or spaying; and it will be necessary to renew the operation as it becomes of large growth. It is too generally neglected at first; but no pigs, young or old, should be suffered to run at large without this precaution. The sow's ring should be ascertained to be of sufficient strength previously to her taking the boar, on account of the risk of abortion, if the operation is renewed while she is with pig. Care must be taken by the operator not to go too close to the bone, and that the ring turn easily.

A far better mode of proceeding is, when the pig is young, to cut through the cartilaginous and ligamentous prolongations, by which the supplementary bone is united to the proper nasals. The divided edges of the cartilage will never re-unite, and the snout always remains powerless.

FEEDING AND FATTENING.

Roots and fruits are the natural food of the hog, in a wild as well as in a domesticated state; and it is evident that, however omnivorous it may occasionally appear, its palate is by no means insensible to the difference in eatables, since, whenever it finds variety, it will select the best with as much cleverness as other quadrupeds. Indeed, the hog is more nice in the selection of his vegetable diet than any of the other domesticated herbivorous animals. To a certain extent he is omnivorous, and may be reared on the refuse of slaughter-houses; but such food is not wholesome, nor is it natural; for, though he is omnivorous, he is not essentially carnivorous. The refuse of the dairy-farm is more congenial to his health, to say nothing of the quality of its flesh.

Swine are generally fattened for pork at from six to nine months old; and for bacon, at from a year to two years. Eighteen months is generally considered the proper age for a good bacon hog. The feeding will always, in a great measure, depend upon the circumstances of the owner--upon the kind of food which he has at his disposal, and can best spare--and the purpose for which the animal is intended. It will also, in some degree, be regulated by the season; it being possible to feed pigs very differently in the summer from what they are fed in the winter.

The refuse wash and grains, and other residue of breweries and distilleries, may be given to swine with advantage, and seem to induce a tendency to lay on flesh. They should not, however, be given in too large quantities, nor unmixed with other and more substantial food; since, although they give flesh rapidly when fed on it, the meat is not firm, and never makes good bacon. Hogs eat acorns and beech-mast greedily, and so far thrive on this food that it is an easy matter to fatten them afterwards. Apples and pumpkins are likewise valuable for this purpose.

There is nothing so nutritious, so eminently and in every way adapted for the purpose of fattening, as are the various kinds of grain--nothing that tends more to create firmness as well as delicacy in the flesh. Indian corn is equal, if not superior, to any kind of grain for fattening purposes, and can be given in its natural state, as pigs are so fond of it that they will eat up every kernel. The pork and bacon of animals that have been thus fed are peculiarly firm and solid. Animal food tends to make swine savage and feverish, and often lays the foundation of serious inflammation of the intestines. Weekly washing with soap and a brush adds wonderfully to the thriving condition of a hog.

In the rich corn regions of our States, upon that grain beginning to ripen, as it does in August, the fields are fenced off into suitable lots, and large herds are successively turned into them, to consume the grain at their leisure. They waste nothing except the stalks, which in that land of plenty are considered of little value, and they are still useful as manure for succeeding crops; and whatever grain is left by them, leaner droves which follow will readily glean. Peas, early buckwheat, and apples, may be fed on the ground in the same way.

There is an improvement in the character of the grain from a few months' keeping, which is fully equivalent to the interest of the money and the cost of storage. If fattened early in the season, hogs will consume less food to make an equal amount of flesh than in colder weather; they will require less attention; and, generally, early pork will command the highest price in market.

It is most economical to provide swine with a fine clover pasture, to run in during the spring and summer; and they ought also to have access to the orchard, to pick up all the unripe and superfluous fruit that falls. They should also have the wash of the house and the dairy, to which add meal, and let it sour in large tubs or barrels. Not less than one-third, and perhaps more, of the whole grain fed to hogs, is saved by grinding and cooking, or souring. Care must, however, be taken that the souring be not carried so far as to injure the food by putrefaction. A mixture of meal and water, with the addition of yeast or such remains of a former fermentation as adhere to the sides or bottom of the vessel, and exposure to a temperature between sixty-eight and seventy-seven degrees Fahrenheit, will produce immediate fermentation.

In this process there are five stages: the _saccharine_, by which the starch and gum of the vegetables, in their natural condition, are converted into sugar; the _vinous_, which changes the sugar into alcohol; the _mucilaginous_, sometimes taking the place of the vinous, and occurring where the sugar solution, or fermenting principle, is weak, producing a slimy, glutinous product; the _acetic_, forming vinegar, from the vinous or alcoholic stage; and the _putrefactive_, which destroys all the nutritive principles and converts them into a poison. The precise points in fermentation, when the food becomes most profitable for feeding, has not as yet been satisfactorily determined; but that it should stop short of the putrefactive, and probably the full maturity of the acetic, is certain.

The roots for fattening ought to be washed, and steamed or boiled; and when not intended to be fermented, the meal may be scalded with the roots. A small quantity of salt should be added. Potatoes are the best roots for swine; then parsnips; orange or red carrots, white or Belgian; sugar-beets; mangel-wurtzels; ruta-bagas; and then white turnips, in the order mentioned. The nutritive properties of turnips are diffused through so large a bulk that it is doubtful if they can ever be fed to fattening swine with advantage; and they will barely sustain life when fed to them uncooked.

There is a great loss in feeding roots to fattening swine, without cooking. When unprepared grain is fed, it should be on a full stomach, to prevent imperfect mastication, and consequent loss of the food. It is better, indeed, to have it always before them. The animal machine is an expensive one to keep in motion; and it should be the object of the farmer to put his food in the most available condition for its immediate conversion into fat and muscle.

The following injunctions should be rigidly observed, if one would secure the greatest results:

1. Avoid _foul feeding_.

2. Do not omit adding _salt_ in moderate quantities to the mess given.

3. Feed at _regular intervals_.

4. _Cleanse_ the troughs previous to feeding.

5. Do not _over-feed_; give only as much as will be consumed at the meal.

6. _Vary_ the food. Variety will create, or, at all events, increase appetite, and it is most conducive to health. Let the variations be governed by the condition of the _dung_ cast, which should be of a medium consistence, and of a grayish-brown color; if _hard_, increase the quantity of bran and succulent roots; if too _liquid_, diminish, or dispense with bran, and make the mess firmer; add a portion of corn.

7. Feed the stock _separately_, in classes, according to their relative conditions. Keep sows with young by themselves; store-hogs by themselves; and bacon-hogs and porkers by themselves. It is not advisable to keep the store-hogs too high in flesh, since high feeding is calculated to retard development of form and bulk. It is better to feed pigs intended to be put up for bacon _loosely_ and not too abundantly, until they have attained their full stature; they can then be brought into the highest possible condition in a surprisingly short space of time.

8. Keep the swine _clean_, dry, and warm. Cleanliness, dryness, and warmth are _essential_, and as imperative as feeding; for an inferior description of food will, by their aid, succeed far better than the highest feeding will without them.

PIGGERIES.

Few items conduce more to the thriving and well-being of swine than airy, spacious, well-constructed styes, and above all, cleanliness. They were formerly too often housed in damp, dirty, close, and imperfectly-built sheds, which was a fruitful source of disease and of unthrifty animals. Any place was once thought good enough to keep a pig in.

In large establishments, where numerous pigs are kept, there should be divisions appropriated to all the different kinds; the boars, the breeding sows, the newly weaned, and the fattening pigs should all be kept separate; and in the divisions assigned to the second and last of these classes, it is best to have a distinct apartment for each animal, all opening into a yard or inclosure of limited extent. As pigs require warmth, these buildings should face the south, and be kept weather-tight and well drained. Good ventilation is also important; for it is idle to expect animals to make good flesh and retain their health, unless they have a sufficiency of pure air. The blood requires this to give it vitality and free it from impurities, as much as the stomach requires wholesome and strengthening food; and when it does not have it, it becomes vitiated, and impairs all the animal functions. Bad smells and exhalations, moreover, injure the flavor of the meat.

Damp and cold floors should be guarded against, as they tend to induce cramp and diarrh[oe]a; and the roof should be so contrived as to carry off the wet from the pigs. The walls of a well-constructed sty should be of solid masonry; the roof sloping, and furnished with spouts to carry off the rain; the floors either slightly inclined toward a gutter made to carry off the rain, or else raised from the ground on beams or joists, and perforated so that all urine and moisture shall drain off. Bricks and tiles, sometimes used for flooring, are objectionable, because, however well covered with straw, they still strike cold. Wood is far superior in this respect, as well as because it admits of those clefts or perforations being made, which serve not only to drain off all moisture, but also to admit fresh air.

The manure proceeding from the pig-sty has often been much undervalued, and for this reason, that the litter is supposed to form the principal portion of it; whereas it constitutes the least valuable part, and, indeed, it can scarcely be regarded as manure at all--at least by itself--where the requisite attention is paid to the cleanliness of the animals and of their dwellings. The urine and the dung are valuable, being, from the very nature of the food of the animals, exceedingly rich and oleaginous, and materially beneficial to cold soils and grass-lands. The manure from the sty should always be collected as carefully as that from the stable or cow-house, and husbanded in the same way.