The hog is an animal for which we have no especial liking, be he either
a tender suckling, nosing and tugging at the well-filled udder of his
dam, or a well-proportioned porker, basking in all the plenitude of
swinish luxury; albeit, in the use of his flesh, we affect not the Jew,
but liking it moderately well, in its various preparations, as a
substantial and savory article of diet. Still, the hog is an important
item of our agricultural economy, and his production and proper
treatment is a valuable study to all who rear him as a creature either
of profit or convenience. In the western and southern states, a mild
climate permits him to be easily reared and fed off for market, with
little heed to shelter or protection; while in the north, he requires
care and covering during winter. Not only this; in all places the hog is
an unruly, mischievous creature, and has no business really in any other
place than where he can he controlled, and kept at a moment's call.
But, as tastes and customs differ essentially, with regard to his
training and destiny, to such as agree with us in opinion, that his
proper place is in the sty, particularly when feeding for pork, a plan
of piggery is given, such as may be economical in construction, and
convenient in its arrangement, both for the swine itself, and him who
has charge of him.
The design here given, is for a building, 36 feet long, and 24 feet
wide, with twelve-feet posts; the lower, or living room for the swine,
9 feet high, and a storage chamber above, for the grain and other food
required for his keeping. The roof has a pitch of 40deg from a
horizontal line, spreading over the sides and gables at least 20 inches,
and coarsely bracketed. The entrance front projects 6 feet from the main
building, by 12 feet in length. Over its main door, in the gable, is a
door with a hoisting beam and tackle above it, to take in the grain, and
a floor over the whole area receives it. A window is in each gable end.
A ventilator passes up through this chamber and the roof, to let off the
steam from the cooking vats below, and the foul air emitted by the
swine, by the side of which is the furnace-chimney, giving it, on the
whole, as respectable an appearance as a pigsty need pretend to.
[Illustration: PIGGERY.]