we ourselves know those who act upon the plan, and find it a source of profit and comfort. It would not, however, do for the idle or the improvident; it demands industry, order, and fore-thought, and that assistance, which, while the man is going on with his regular work, his wife or some part of his family can render.
"Exclusive of bacon, hams, &c., great is the demand for fresh pork throughout our island—much greater, indeed, than formerly, and this is in some measure owing to the improvement of our breeds; our porkers are small-sized, with fine-grained delicate flesh, and firm fat, sufficiently but not superabundantly laid on, and the skin is thin and clear; the limbs are round and fine-boned. Such is the country-fed pork to be seen in London and in other towns. Formerly such pork was never sent to market, and in some counties it is still unknown. We allude to the more northern of the midland counties, and those still farther north. A relative farming in Derbyshire, and on a visit to the author, expressed his surprise at the smallness and delicacy of the dairy-fed pork placed upon our table. His idea of fresh pork was limited to spare-ribs, and griskins of bacon hogs; and he deemed the destruction of young porkers for food utter folly. He forgot, perhaps never reflected that these younglings, by quick returns and good profits, remunerated the farmer, miller, or dairy man far more than they would have done if kept to be bacon hogs and fed up to the proper pitch.
"We have sufficiently demonstrated the value of the pig as one of the flesh-producing animals which man has reclaimed. Throughout the whole of Europe, and the greater portion of America, the flesh of the hog, fresh, salted, or cured, is in constant demand; nor less so the lard, which is required by the cook, by the apothecary, and by the perfumer.
"No part of the hog, as we have said, is useless; not even its bristles or its skin.
"The bristles of our fine-bred races are perhaps of no value—they are generally short, slender, and thinly set; but in the coarser breeds, they are long and strong, firm and elastic. The export of bristles alone from Russia and Prussia into our country, forms no inconsiderable item. We need not detail their various uses.
"With respect to the hide of this animal, it is, when tanned, of a peculiar texture, and very tough. It is used for making pocketbooks, and for some ornamental purposes, but chiefly for covering saddles. The numerous little variegations in it, and which constitute its beauty, are the orifices whence the bristles have been removed." —Martin.
The establishment of agricultural societies and cattle-shows formed the commencement of a new era in the breeding of all domesticated animals, and especially of swine, which had, previously to that epoch, been very much neglected. There cannot be a doubt but that the
