NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HOG.
"The hog," says Professor Low, "is subject to remarkable changes of form and characters, according to the situations in which he is placed. When these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a breed or variety is formed; and there is none of the domestic animals which more easily receives the characters we desire to impress upon it. This arises from its rapid powers of increase, and the constancy with which the characters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny. There is no kind of live stock that can be so easily improved by the breeder, and so quickly rendered suitable for the purposes required.
"The body is large in proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the limbs are short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from coarseness; the chest is broad, and the trunk round. Possessing these characters, the hog never fails to arrive at early maturity, and with a smaller consumption of food than when he possesses a different conformation.
"The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all the European varieties, and of the Chinese breed, was formerly a native of the British Islands, and very common in the forests until the time of the civil wars in that country."
We are told, that the wild hog "is now spread over the temperate and warmer parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown, with black spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse hairs and bristles, intersected with soft wool, and with coarser and longer bristles upon the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He is a very bold and powerful creature, and becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From the form of his teeth, he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and delights in roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him to discover beneath the surface. He also feeds on animal substances, such as worms and larvæ, which he grubs up from the earth, the eggs of birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, and occasionally carrion; he even attacks venomous snakes with impunity. In the natural state, the female produces a litter but once a year;[21] and in much smaller numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries her young about four months.
"In the wild state, the hog has been known to live more than thirty years; but when domesticated, he is usually slaughtered before he is two years old. When the wild hog is tamed, it undergoes the following amongst other changes in its conformation: the ears become less movable, not being required to collect distant sounds; the formidable tusks of the male diminish, not being necessary for self-defence; the muscles of the neck become less developed, from not being so much exercised as in the natural state; the head becomes more inclined, the back and loins are lengthened, the body rendered more capacious, the limbs shorter and less muscular; and anatomy proves that the stomach and intestinal canals have also become proportionately extended along with the form of the body. The habits and instincts of the animal change; it becomes diurnal in its habits, not choosing the night for its search of food; is more insatiate in its appetite, and the tendency to obesity increases.
"The male, forsaking its solitary habits, becomes gregarious, and the female produces her young more frequently, and in larger numbers. With its diminished strength, and its want of active motion, the animal loses its desire for liberty.
"The true hog does not appear to be indigenous to America, but was taken over by the early voyagers from the old world, and it is now spread and multiplied throughout the continent.
"The first settlers of North America and the United States carried with them the swine of the parent country, and a few of the breeds still retain traces of the old English character. From its nature and habits, the hog was the most profitable and useful of all the animals bred by the early settlers in the distant clearings. It was his surest resource during the first years of toil and hardship."