Their widely-extended foreign commerce afforded the Americans opportunity of procuring the varieties from China, Africa, and other countries. The large consumption of pork in the United States, and the facilities for disposing of it abroad, will probably cause more attention to be paid to the principles of breeding, rearing, feeding, &c. The American farmers are doing good service in this department, and any attempt on their part to improve the quality of pork ought to meet with a corresponding encouragement from the community. We have no doubt that many stock-raisers find their profits increase in proportion to the care bestowed in rearing. Here is an example: A Mr. Hallock, of the town of Coxsackie, has a sow which raised forty pigs within a year, which sold for $275,—none of them being kept over nine months. Mr. Little, of Poland, Ohio, states, in the Cultivator, that he has "a barrow three years old, a full-blood Berkshire, which will now weigh nearly 1000 pounds, live weight. He was weighed on the 3d of October, and then brought down 880; since which he has improved rapidly, and will doubtless reach the above figures. I have had this breed for seven years pure,—descended from hogs brought from Albany and Buffalo, and a boar imported by Mr. Fahnestock, of Pittsburg, Pa., from England, (the latter a very large animal.) The stock have all been large and very profitable—weighing, at seven to ten months old, from 250 to 300 pounds. Several individuals have weighed over 400, and the sire of this present one reached 750. This is, however, much the largest I have yet raised."
FOOTNOTES:
[21] In the domesticated state, the sow is often permitted to have two and even three litters in a year. This custom is very pernicious; it debilitates the mother, overworks all parts of the living machinery, and being in direct opposition to the laws of their being, their progeny must degenerate. Then, again, let the reader take into consideration the fact that members of the same litter impregnate each other, in the same ratio, and he cannot but come to a conclusion that we have long since arrived at—that these practices are among the chief causes of deterioration.
GENERALITIES.
Dr. Gunther observes, that "the robust constitution of the pig causes it to be less liable to fall sick than oxen and sheep. It would be still less liable to disease, if persons manifested more judgment in the choice of the animals to be reared, and if more care were shown in the matter. With reference to the latter point, it is very true that the voracity of the pig urges it to eat every thing it meets; but to keep it in a state of health, it is, notwithstanding, necessary to restrict its regimen to certain rules. The animal which it is proposed to fatten should remain under the roof, and receive good food there, whilst the others may be sent out for the greater part of the year, care being taken to avoid fields that are damp and marshy, and that the pigs be preserved from the dew. It is also of importance that they should not be driven too hard during warm days.
"There are two other points which deserve to be taken into consideration, if we wish swine to thrive: these are, daily exercise in the open air whenever the weather permits, and cleanliness in the sty. Constant confinement throws them into what may be called a morbid state, which renders their flesh less wholesome for man. The manner in which the animal evinces its joy when set at liberty proves sufficiently how disagreeable confinement is to it. A very general prejudice prevails, viz., that dung and filth do not injure swine; this opinion, however, is absurd."
GENERAL DEBILITY, OR EMACIATION.
The falling off in flesh, or wasting away, of swine is in most cases owing to derangement in the digestive organs. The cure consists in restoring the tone of these organs. We commence the treatment by putting the animal on a boiled diet, consisting of bran, meal, or any wholesome vegetable production. The following tonic and diffusible stimulant will complete the cure:—