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Rural economy for cottage farmers, by Martin Doyle
Rural economy for cottage farmers by Martin Doyle Author:William Hickey Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SWINE. Pigs constitute an important live stock, not only to the farmer, but also to the cottager, if he be possessed of a field or garden. If he do not keep a... more » cow, a pig is necessary to him, in order to create manure ; and if he rlo keep one, the rearing and fattening of pigs will still be very beneficial to him. The wild boar, from which all our European varieties have sprung, was formerly a native of this coun. try, and preserved in the royal forests for the chaw. Of our domesticated varieties, we are disposed to give preference to the Berkshire breed, although the Hampshire, Suffolk, and some other improved kinds have also admirable qualities. The Berkshire combines all the proportions desirable in a pig, whether it be required for pork at an early age, or for bacon ot light or heavy weight. This breed is easily kept in good condition, and has an early tendency to flesh: one of this sort is recorded to have measured, from the nose to the tail, 3 yards 8 molten, to have stood 4i feet high, and to have weighed 1215 lbs. But size, even approximating to such an enormous standard, is not characteristic of the Berkshire kind, as of the Yorkshire and old Irish breed, so well known in a portion of the county of Kilkenny—the barony of Iverk. The gigantic hams and firkins which were prized formerly, are no longer in such demand as those of small or moderate size, such as the Berkshire supply, the average weight of those animals at twelve months old, being about eight score pounds. The true Berkshire pig is black, or black and white, short-legged, full and round in the loins, rather fine in the hair, the ears small and erect, and the snout not lengthy. This description of animal forms astriking contrast with the long-sided, convex-backed, lob-eared, long-legged, shambling brute w...« less