GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE COMMON HOG.
765. THE HOG belongs to the order _Mammalia_, the genus _Sus scrofa_,
and the species _Pachydermata_, or thick-skinned; and its generic
characters are, a small head, with long flexible snout truncated; 42
teeth, divided into 4 upper incisors, converging, 6 lower incisors,
projecting, 2 upper and 2 lower canine, or tusks,--the former short, the
latter projecting, formidable, and sharp, and 14 molars in each jaw;
cloven feet furnished with 4 toes, and tail, small, short, and twisted;
while, in some varieties, this appendage is altogether wanting.
766. FROM THE NUMBER AND POSITION OF THE TEETH, physiologists are
enabled to define the nature and functions of the animal; and from those
of the _Sus_, or hog, it is evident that he is as much a _grinder_ as a
_biter_, or can live as well on vegetable as on animal food; though a
mixture of both is plainly indicated as the character of food most
conducive to the integrity and health of its physical system.
767. THUS THE PIG TRIBE, though not a ruminating mammal, as might be
inferred from the number of its molar teeth, is yet a link between the
_herbivorous_ and the _carnivorous_ tribes, and is consequently what is
known as an _omnivorous_ quadruped; or, in other words, capable of
converting any kind of aliment into nutriment.
768. THOUGH THE HOOF IN THE HOG is, as a general rule, cloven, there are
several remarkable exceptions, as in the species native to Norway,
Illyria, Sardinia, and _formerly_ to the Berkshire variety of the
British domesticated pig, in which the hoof is entire and _un_cleft.
769. WHATEVER DIFFERENCE IN ITS PHYSICAL NATURE, climate and soil may
produce in this animal, his functional characteristics are the same in
whatever part of the world he may be found; and whether in the trackless
forests of South America, the coral isles of Polynesia, the jungles of
India, or the spicy brakes of Sumatra, he is everywhere known for his
gluttony, laziness, and indifference to the character and quality of his
food. And though he occasionally shows an epicure's relish for a
succulent plant or a luscious carrot, which he will discuss with all his
salivary organs keenly excited, he will, the next moment, turn with
equal gusto to some carrion offal that might excite the forbearance of
the unscrupulous cormorant. It is this coarse and repulsive mode of
feeding that has, in every country and language, obtained for him the
opprobrium of being "an unclean animal."
770. IN THE MOSAICAL LAW, the pig is condemned as an unclean beast, and
consequently interdicted to the Israelites, as unfit for human food.
"And the swine, though he divideth the hoof and be cloven-footed, yet he
cheweth not the cud. He is unclean to you."--Lev. xi. 7. Strict,
however, as the law was respecting the cud-chewing and hoof-divided
animals, the Jews, with their usual perversity and violation of the
divine commands, seem afterwards to have ignored the prohibition; for,
unless they ate pork, it is difficult to conceive for what purpose they
kept troves of swine, as from the circumstance recorded in Matthew
xviii. 32, when Jesus was in Galilee, and the devils, cast out of the
two men, were permitted to enter the herd of swine that were feeding on
the hills in the neighbourhood of the Sea of Tiberias, it is very
evident they did. There is only one interpretation by which we can
account for a prohibition that debarred the Jews from so many foods
which we regard as nutritious luxuries, that, being fat and the texture
more hard of digestion than other meats, they were likely, in a hot dry
climate, where vigorous exercise could seldom be taken, to produce
disease, and especially cutaneous affections; indeed, in this light, as
a code of sanitary ethics, the book of Leviticus is the most admirable
system of moral government ever conceived for man's benefit.
771. SETTING HIS COARSE FEEDING AND SLOVENLY HABITS OUT OF THE QUESTION,
there is no domestic animal so profitable or so useful to man as the
much-maligned pig, or any that yields him a more varied or more
luxurious repast. The prolific powers of the pig are extraordinary, even
under the restraint of domestication; but when left to run wild in
favourable situations, as in the islands of the South Pacific, the
result, in a few years, from two animals put on shore and left
undisturbed, is truly surprising; for they breed so fast, and have such
numerous litters, that unless killed off in vast numbers both for the
use of the inhabitants and as fresh provisions for ships' crews, they
would degenerate into vermin. In this country the pig has usually two
litters, or farrows, in a year, the breeding seasons being April and
October; and the period the female goes with her young is about four
months,--16 weeks or 122 days. The number produced at each litter
depends upon the character of the breed; 12 being the average number in
the small variety, and 10 in the large; in the mixed breeds, however,
the average is between 10 and 15, and in some instances has reached as
many as 20. But however few, or however many, young pigs there may be to
the farrow, there is always one who is the dwarf of the family circle, a
poor, little, shrivelled, half-starved anatomy, with a small melancholy
voice, a staggering gait, a woe-begone countenance, and a thread of a
tail, whose existence the complacent mother ignores, his plethoric
brothers and sisters repudiate, and for whose emaciated jaws there is
never a spare or supplemental teat, till one of the favoured
gormandizers, overtaken by momentary oblivion, drops the lacteal
fountain, and gives the little squeaking straggler the chance of a
momentary mouthful. This miserable little object, which may be seen
bringing up the rear of every litter, is called the Tony pig, or the
_Anthony_; so named, it is presumed, from being the one always assigned
to the Church, when tithe was taken in kind; and as St. Anthony was the
patron of husbandry, his name was given in a sort of bitter derision to
the starveling that constituted his dues; for whether there are ten or
fifteen farrows to the litter, the Anthony is always the last of the
family to come into the world.
772. FROM THE GROSSNESS OF HIS FEEDING, the large amount of aliment he
consumes, his gluttonous way of eating it, from his slothful habits,
laziness, and indulgence in sleep, the pig is particularly liable to
disease, and especially indigestion, heartburn, and affections of the
skin.
773. TO COUNTERACT THE CONSEQUENCE OF A VIOLATION OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS,
a powerful monitor in the brain of the pig teaches him to seek for
relief and medicine. To open the pores of his skin, blocked up with mud,
and excite perspiration, he resorts to a tree, a stump, or his
trough--anything rough and angular, and using it as a curry-comb to his
body, obtains the luxury of a scratch and the benefit of cuticular
evaporation; he next proceeds with his long supple snout to grub up
antiscorbutic roots, cooling salads of mallow and dandelion, and,
greatest treat of all, he stumbles on a piece of chalk or a mouthful of
delicious cinder, which, he knows by instinct, is the most sovereign
remedy in the world for that hot, unpleasant sensation he has had all
the morning at his stomach.
774. IT IS A REMARKABLE FACT that, though every one who keeps a pig
knows how prone he is to disease, how that disease injures the quality
of the meat, and how eagerly he pounces on a bit of coal or cinder, or
any coarse dry substance that will adulterate the rich food on which he
lives, and by affording soda to his system, correct the vitiated fluids
of his body,--yet very few have the judgment to act on what they see,
and by supplying the pig with a few shovelfuls of cinders in his sty,
save the necessity of his rooting for what is so needful to his health.
Instead of this, however, and without supplying the animal with what its
instinct craves for, his nostril is bored with a red-hot iron, and a
ring clinched in his nose to prevent rooting for what he feels to be
absolutely necessary for his health; and ignoring the fact that, in a
domestic state at least, the pig lives on the richest of all
food,--scraps of cooked animal substances, boiled vegetables, bread, and
other items, given in that concentrated essence of aliment for a
quadruped called wash, and that he eats to repletion, takes no exercise,
and finally sleeps all the twenty-four hours he is not eating, and then,
when the animal at last seeks for those medicinal aids which would
obviate the evil of such a forcing diet, his keeper, instead of meeting
his animal instinct by human reason, and giving him what he seeks, has
the inhumanity to torture him by a ring, that, keeping up a perpetual
"raw" in the pig's snout, prevents his digging for those corrective
drugs which would remove the evils of his artificial existence.
775. THOUGH SUBJECT TO SO MANY DISEASES, no domestic animal is more
easily kept in health, cleanliness, and comfort, and this without the
necessity of "ringing," or any excessive desire of the hog to roam,
break through his sty, or plough up his _pound_. Whatever the kind of
food may be on which the pig is being fed or fattened, a teaspoonful or
more of salt should always be given in his mess of food, and a little
heap of well-burnt cinders, with occasional bits of chalk, should always
be kept by the side of his trough, as well as a vessel of clean water:
his pound, or the front part of his sty, should be totally free from
straw, the brick flooring being every day swept out and sprinkled with a
layer of sand. His lair, or sleeping apartment, should be well sheltered
by roof and sides from cold, wet, and all changes of weather, and the
bed made up of a good supply of clean straw, sufficiently deep to enable
the pig to burrow his unprotected body beneath it. All the refuse of the
garden, in the shape of roots, leaves, and stalks, should be placed in a
corner of his pound or feeding-chamber, for the delectation of his
leisure moments; and once a week, on the family washing-day, a pail of
warm soap-suds should be taken into his sty, and, by means of a
scrubbing-brush and soap, his back, shoulders, and flanks should be well
cleaned, a pail of clean warm water being thrown over his body at the
conclusion, before he is allowed to retreat to his clean straw to dry
himself. By this means, the excessive nutrition of his aliment will be
corrected, a more perfect digestion insured, and, by opening the pores
of the skin, a more vigorous state of health acquired than could have
been obtained under any other system.
776. WE HAVE ALREADY SAID that no other animal yields man so _many_
kinds and varieties of luxurious food as is supplied to him by the flesh
of the hog differently prepared; for almost every part of the animal,
either fresh, salted, or dried, is used for food; and even those viscera
not so employed are of the utmost utility in a domestic point of view.
777. THOUGH DESTITUTE OF THE HIDE, HORNS, AND HOOFS, constituting the
offal of most domestic animals, the pig is not behind the other mammalia
in its usefulness to man. Its skin, especially that of the boar, from
its extreme closeness of texture, when tanned, is employed for the seats
of saddles, to cover powder, shot, and drinking-flasks; and the hair,
according to its colour, flexibility, and stubbornness, is manufactured
into tooth, nail, and hairbrushes,--others into hat, clothes, and
shoe-brushes; while the longer and finer qualities are made into long
and short brooms and painters' brushes; and a still more rigid
description, under the name of "bristles," are used by the shoemaker as
needles for the passage of his wax-end. Besides so many benefits and
useful services conferred on man by this valuable animal, his fat, in a
commercial sense, is quite as important as his flesh, and brings a price
equal to the best joints in the carcase. This fat is rendered, or melted
out of the caul, or membrane in which it is contained, by boiling water,
and, while liquid, run into prepared bladders, when, under the name of
_lard_, it becomes an article of extensive trade and value.
778. OF THE NUMEROUS VARIETIES OF THE DOMESTICATED HOG, the following
list of breeds may be accepted as the best, presenting severally all
those qualities aimed at in the rearing of domestic stock, as affecting
both the breeder and the consumer. _Native_--Berkshire, Essex, York, and
Cumberland; _Foreign_--the Chinese. Before, however, proceeding with the
consideration of the different orders, in the series we have placed
them, it will be necessary to make a few remarks relative to the pig
generally. In the first place, the _Black Pig_ is regarded by breeders
as the best and most eligible animal, not only from the fineness and
delicacy of the skin, but because it is less affected by the heat in
summer, and far less subject to cuticular disease than either the white
or brindled hog, but more particularly from its kindlier nature and
greater aptitude to fatten.
779. THE GREAT QUALITY FIRST SOUGHT FOR IN A HOG is a capacious stomach,
and next, a healthy power of digestion; for the greater the quantity he
can eat, and the more rapidly he can digest what he has eaten, the more
quickly will he fatten; and the faster he can be made to increase in
flesh, without a material increase of bone, the better is the breed
considered, and the more valuable the animal. In the usual order of
nature, the development of flesh and enlargement of bone proceed
together; but here the object is to outstrip the growth of the bones by
the quicker development of their fleshy covering.
780. THE CHIEF POINTS SOUGHT FOR IN THE CHOICE OF A HOG are breadth of
chest, depth of carcase, width of loin, chine, and ribs, compactness of
form, docility, cheerfulness, and general beauty of appearance. The head
in a well-bred hog must not be too long, the forehead narrow and convex,
cheeks full, snout fine, mouth small, eyes small and quick, ears short,
thin, and sharp, pendulous, and pointing forwards; neck full and broad,
particularly on the top, where it should join very broad shoulders; the
ribs, loin, and haunch should be in a uniform line, and the tail well
set, neither too high nor too low; at the same time the back is to be
straight or slightly curved, the chest deep, broad, and prominent, the
legs short and thick; the belly, when well fattened, should nearly touch
the ground, the hair be long, thin, fine, and having few bristles, and
whatever the colour, uniform, either white, black, or blue; but not
spotted, speckled, brindled, or sandy. Such are the features and
requisites that, among breeders and judges, constitute the _beau idéal_
of a perfect pig.
[Illustration: BERKSHIRE SOW.]
781. THE BERKSHIRE PIG IS THE BEST KNOWN AND MOST ESTEEMED of all our
English domestic breeds, and so highly is it regarded, that even the
varieties of the stock are in as great estimation as the parent breed
itself. The characteristics of the Berkshire hog are that it has a tawny
colour, spotted with black, large ears hanging over the eyes, a thick,
close, and well-made body, legs short and small in the bone; feeds up to
a great weight, fattens quickly, and is good either for pork or bacon.
The New or Improved Berkshire possesses all the above qualities, but is
infinitely more prone to fatten, while the objectionable colour has been
entirely done away with, being now either all white or completely black.
[Illustration: ESSEX SOW.]
782. NEXT TO THE FORMER, THE ESSEX takes place in public estimation,
always competing, and often successfully, with the Berkshire. The
peculiar characters of the Essex breed are that it is tip-eared, has a
long sharp head, is roach-backed, with a long flat body, standing high
on the legs; is rather bare of hair, is a quick feeder, has an enormous
capacity of stomach and belly, and an appetite to match its receiving
capability. Its colour is white, or else black and white, and it has a
restless habit and an unquiet disposition. The present valuable stock
has sprung from a cross between the common native animal and either the
White Chinese or Black Neapolitan breeds.
[Illustration: YORKSHIRE SOW.]
783. THE YORKSHIRE, CALLED ALSO THE OLD LINCOLNSHIRE, was at one time
the largest stock of the pig family in England, and perhaps, at that
time, the worst. It was long-legged, weak in the loins, with coarse
white curly hair, and flabby flesh. Now, however, it has undergone as
great a change as any breed in the kingdom, and by judicious crossing
has become the most valuable we possess, being a very well-formed pig
throughout, with a good head, a pleasant docile countenance, with
moderate-sized drooping ears, a broad back, slightly curved, large chine
and loins, with deep sides, full chest, and well covered with long
thickly-set white hairs. Besides these qualities of form, he is a quick
grower, feeds fast, and will easily make from 20 to 25 stone before
completing his first year. The quality of the meat is also uncommonly
good, the fat and lean being laid on in almost equal proportions. So
capable is this species of development, both in flesh and stature, that
examples of the Yorkshire breed have been exhibited weighing as much as
a Scotch ox.
[Illustration: CUMBERLAND SOW.]
784. THOUGH ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY IN ENGLAND can boast some local variety
or other of this useful animal, obtained from the native stock by
crossing with some of the foreign kinds, Cumberland and the north-west
parts of the kingdom have been celebrated for a small breed of white
pigs, with a thick, compact, and well-made body, short in the legs, the
head and back well formed, ears slouching and a little downwards, and on
the whole, a hardy, profitable animal, and one well disposed to fatten.
785. THERE IS NO VARIETY OF THIS USEFUL ANIMAL that presents such
peculiar features as the species known to us as the Chinese pig; and as
it is the general belief that to this animal and the Neapolitan hog we
are indebted for that remarkable improvement which has taken place in
the breeds of the English pig, it is necessary to be minute in the
description of this, in all respects, singular animal. The Chinese, in
the first place, consists of many varieties, and presents as many forms
of body as differences of colour; the best kind, however, has a
beautiful white skin of singular thinness and delicacy; the hair too is
perfectly white, and thinly set over the body, with here and there a few
bristles. He has a broad snout, short head, eyes bright and fiery, very
small fine pink ears, wide cheeks, high chine, with a neck of such
immense thickness, that when the animal is fat it looks like an
elongated carcase,--a mass of fat, without shape or form, like a feather
pillow. The belly is dependent, and almost trailing on the ground, the
legs very short, and the tail so small as to be little more than a
rudiment. It has a ravenous appetite, and will eat anything that the
wonderful assimilating powers of its stomach can digest; and to that
capability, there seems no limit in the whole range of animal or
vegetable nature. The consequence of this perfect and singularly rapid
digestion is an unprecedented proneness to obesity, a process of
fattening that, once commenced, goes on with such rapid development,
that, in a short time, it loses all form, depositing such an amount of
fat, that it in fact ceases to have any refuse part or offal, and,
beyond the hair on its back and the callous extremity of the snout, _the
whole carcase is eatable_.
[Illustration: CHINESE SOW.]
786. WHEN JUDICIOUSLY FED ON VEGETABLE DIET, and this obese tendency
checked, the flesh of the Chinese pig is extremely delicate and
delicious; but when left to gorge almost exclusively on animal food, it
becomes oily, coarse, and unpleasant. Perhaps there is no other instance
in nature where the effect of rapid and perfect digestion is so well
shown as in this animal, which thrives on _everything_, and turns to the
benefit of its physical economy, food of the most _opposite nature_, and
of the most unwholesome and _offensive_ character. When fully fattened,
the thin cuticle, that is one of its characteristics, cracks, from the
adipose distension beneath, exposing the fatty mass, which discharges a
liquid oil from the adjacent tissues. The great fault in this breed is
the remarkably small quantity of lean laid down, to the immense
proportion of fat. Some idea of the growth of this species may be
inferred from the fact of their attaining to 18 stone before two years,
and when further advanced, as much as 40 stone. In its pure state,
except for roasters, the Chinese pig is too disproportionate for the
English market; but when crossed with some of our lean stock, the breed
becomes almost invaluable.
[Illustration: WESTPHALIAN BOAR.]
787. THE WILD BOAR is a much more cleanly and sagacious animal than the
domesticated hog; he is longer in the snout, has his ears shorter and
his tusks considerably longer, very frequently measuring as much as 10
inches. They are extremely sharp, and are bent in an upward circle.
Unlike his domestic brother, who roots up here and there, or wherever
his fancy takes, the wild boar ploughs the ground in continuous lines or
furrows. The boar, when selected as the parent of a stock, should have a
small head, be deep and broad in the chest; the chine should be arched,
the ribs and barrel well rounded, with the haunches falling full down
nearly to the hock; and he should always be more compact and smaller
than the female. The colour of the wild boar is always of a uniform hue,
and generally of an iron grey; shading off into a black. The hair of the
boar is of considerable length, especially about the head and mane; he
stands, in general, from 20 to 30 inches in height at the shoulders,
though instances have occurred where he has reached 42 inches. The young
are of a pale yellowish tint, irregularly brindled with light brown. The
boar of Germany is a large and formidable animal, and the hunting of
him, with a small species of mastiff, is still a national sport. From
living almost exclusively on acorns and nuts, his flesh is held in great
esteem, and in Westphalia his legs are made into hams by a process
which, it is said, enhances the flavour and quality of the meat in a
remarkable degree.
788. THERE ARE TWO POINTS to be taken into consideration by all breeders
of pigs--to what ultimate use is the flesh to be put; for, if meant to
be eaten fresh, or simply salted, the _small_ breed of pigs is host
suited for the purpose; if for hams or bacon, the large variety of the
animal is necessary. Pigs are usually weaned between six and eight weeks
after birth, after which they are fed on soft food, such as mashed
potatoes in skimmed or butter-milk. The general period at which the
small hogs are killed for the market is from 12 to 16 weeks; from 4 to 5
mouths, they are called store pigs, and are turned out to graze till the
animal has acquired its full stature. As soon as this point has been
reached, the pig should be forced to maturity as quickly as possible; he
should therefore be taken from the fields and farm-yard, and shut up on
boiled potatoes, buttermilk, and peas-meal, after a time to be followed
by grains, oil-cake, wash, barley, and Indian meal; supplying his sty at
the same time with plenty of water, cinders, and a quantity of salt in
every mess of food presented to him.
789. THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PIGS IN GREAT BRITAIN is supposed to exceed
20 millions; and, considering the third of the number as worth £2
apiece, and the remaining two-thirds as of the relative value of _10s_.
each, would give a marketable estimate of over £20,000,000 for this
animal alone.
790. THE BEST AND MOST HUMANE MODE OF KILLING ALL LARGE HOGS is to
strike them down like a bullock, with the pointed end of a poleaxe, on
the forehead, which has the effect of killing the animal at once; all
the butcher has then to do, is to open the aorta and great arteries, and
laying the animal's neck over a trough, let out the blood as quickly as
possible. The carcase is then to be scalded, either on a board or by
immersion in a tub of very hot water, and all the hair and dirt rapidly
scraped off, till the skin is made perfectly white, when it is hung up,
opened, and dressed, as it is called, in the usual way. It is then
allowed to cool, a sheet being thrown around the carcase, to prevent the
air from discolouring the newly-cleaned skin. When meant for bacon, the
hair is singed instead of being scalded off.
791. IN THE COUNTRY, where for ordinary consumption the pork killed for
sale is usually both larger and fatter than that supplied to the London
consumer, it is customary to remove the skin and fat down to the lean,
and, salting that, roast what remains of the joint. Pork goes further,
and is consequently a more economical food than other meats, simply
because the texture is closer, and there is less waste in the cooking,
either in roasting or boiling.
792. IN FRESH PORK, the leg is the most economical family joint, and the
loin the richest.
793. COMPARATIVELY SPEAKING, very little difference exists between the
weight of the live and dead pig, and this, simply because there is
neither the head nor the hide to be removed. It has been proved that
pork loses in cooking 13-1/2, per cent. of its weight. A salted hand
weighing 4 lbs. 5 oz. lost in the cooking 11 oz.; after cooking, the
meat weighing only 3 lbs. 1 oz., and the bone 9 oz. The original cost
was 7-1/2d. a pound; but by this deduction, the cost rose to 9d. per
pound with the bone, and 10-1/4d. without it.
794. PORK, TO BE PRESERVED, is cured in several ways,--either by
covering it with salt, or immersing it in ready-made brine, where it is
kept till required; or it is only partially salted, and then hung up to
dry, when the meat is called white bacon; or, after salting, it is hung
in wood smoke till the flesh is impregnated with the aroma from the
wood. The Wiltshire bacon, which is regarded as the finest in the
kingdom, is prepared by laying the sides of a hog in large wooden
troughs, and then rubbing into the flesh quantities of powdered
bay-salt, made hot in a frying-pan. This process is repeated for four
days; they are then left for three weeks, merely turning the flitches
every other day. After that time they are hung up to dry. The hogs
usually killed for purposes of bacon in England average from 18 to 20
stone; on the other hand, the hogs killed in the country for farm-house
purposes, seldom weigh less than 26 stone. The legs of boars, hogs, and,
in Germany, those of bears, are prepared differently, and called hams.
795. THE PRACTICE IN VOGUE FORMERLY in this country was to cut out the
hams and cure them separately; then to remove the ribs, which were
roasted as "spare-ribs," and, curing the remainder of the side, call it
a "gammon of bacon."
Small pork to cut for table in joints, is cut up, in most places
throughout the kingdom, as represented in the engraving. The sale is
divided with nine ribs to the fore quarter; and the following is an
enumeration of the joints in the two respective quarters:--
1. The leg.
HIND QUARTER 2. The loin.
3. The spring, or belly.
4. The hand.
FORE QUARTER 5. The fore-loin.
6. The cheek.
[Illustration: SIDE OF A PIG, SHOWING THE SEVERAL JOINTS.]
The weight of the several joints of a good pork pig of four stone may be
as follows; viz.:--
The leg 8 lbs.
The loin and spring 7 lbs.
The hand 6 lbs.
The chine 7 lbs.
The cheek from 2 to 3 lbs.
Of a bacon pig, the legs are reserved for curing, and when cured are
called hams: when the meat is separated from the shoulder-blade and
bones and cured, it is called bacon. The bones, with part of the meat
left on them, are divided into spare-ribs, griskins, and chines.