"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 larvae, 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."
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."