In many countries pork is the favorite meat. We find it so in Germany and France. In Ireland every peasant raises his pig, which makes its home in the same hut with him and thinks itself one of the family. In the end the man often has to sell his pig to help him out of debt, and looks on the porker as "the gintleman that pays the rent."
But the pig is not eaten all over the world. The Jews and Mohammedans will not eat it, and look upon it as an unclean animal. As there are nearly two hundred millions of these people on the earth, there are at least that many who do not eat pork. But aside from these, pork is eaten by the great mass of the people of the earth.
The pig is not an American animal. All our pigs, and they are many millions in number, came from animals brought from Europe. We have here the peccary, a kind of little pig, very savage and dangerous, as it goes in herds and attacks every man or other animal it meets. But it has never been tamed, and we owe our pigs to the Spanish and other discoverers.
Our swine have grown mighty in numbers, and we pay the Old World for its gift of the pig by sending it back every year many millions of dollars' worth of pork, bacon, hams, lard, and other pig products. The best foreign breeds have been brought here and other breeds have been produced here, so that the American pig is hard to beat. This country is the great corn country of the world and great part of its corn is fed to the pigs of the West, so that we sell much of our corn in Europe in the form of pork.
Of the many breeds of pigs, that of China is one of the best. The Chinese are as kind to their pigs as the Irish and they have an animal worth being good to, one that has been sent abroad to many other countries. It is noted for its small size, fine head and snout, large hams and shoulders, compact body, fine bone, hair and skin and sweet, delicate meat. We have it in some of the best American breeds.
If it be asked what the pig is used for, we should say that there is no part of it that is not used for some purpose. We eat it under the names of pork, bacon, ham and lard; its skin is made into leather, which is much used for saddles; the bristles are used for brush-making. In fact, when we think of all its uses, there is little left but the squeal and in our days even that may be used in the phonograph.
The Razor-back Hog of the South. Compare this lean Beast with the Fat Berkshire Hog given above
We might look upon the pig as a stupid animal, that lives only to eat and to be eaten, but this is not the case. It is in fact, a rather smart fellow in its way and can be taught to do many tricks. If you have ever seen what are called "learned pigs" you will agree with this.
The pig can do tricks without being taught. We have told how cats and some other animals can open latches and gate pegs. This the pig can do as well as any of them. We are told of one pig that was taught to point game like a pointer dog, and did this so well that she was more useful than a dog.