THE " NEW " PIG.
THE Agricultural Returns for 1897, encouraging in other respects, disclose a very sad falling-off in the pig popu- lation of the United Kingdom. There is a decrease of -more than half a million, and though it is maintained that the figures do not include those kept on " occupations " of less than half an acre, and should not be taken to heart too 'seriously by the great number of persons interested in pigs, either as objects of pleasure or profit, there is no doubt that they are temporarily under a cloud. In the phrase of the market, "pigs are quiet," and unless the price of grain drops -they are likely to remain so for some time.
Nothing could be more timely, in this partial eclipse of an animal so long and justly prized, than the appearance of Mr. Saunders Spencer's treatise on modern pigs,* which not only does fall justice to their many admirable qualities, but also gives a very interesting account of their recent history and development, and treats their idiosyncrasies, whether in health or disease, with a sober and serious sympathy which is highly practical and, incidentally, most entertaining. The history and improvement of our famous breeds of cattle is a grander theme; it deals with archaic types, ancestral herds, and the efforts and expenditure of great landed proprietors. The story of our pigs runs on a humbler level. The peasant, and not the great proprietor, has raised the modern pig to its present perfection. Its recent development limits its interest to the naturalist. There is a lack of individuality in the appearance of different herds of British pigs. Any stranger who visits the Smithfield Cattle Show is struck with the great variety of shape, colour, and size in the cattle "classes." No one would compare the common Devons with the shaggy Highlanders, or either with the white-faced Herefords or
• the Kerry cows. To appreciate the differences of pigs one must be "in the fancy," except in the case of a few breeds -which retain traces of colour or form due to ancient envixon ment. Thus Mr. Spencer mentions with disapproval an aquatic and detrimental pig which formerly haunted the Fens and the valley of the Ouse. Some of these may still be found "in those parts of the Fens far removed from railways or the beneficial influence of a good herd of pure-bred pigs." The " Tamwortha " are the offspring of what are commonly believed to be the original forest pigs which Garth the swine- herd fed for Cedric the Saxon. They hailed originally from -the "Ivanhoe" country near Sherwood Forest, whither they were sent in droves in autumn from the country round, just as they were in the New Forest. These pigs were rufous, sandy, or mahogany coloured animals, just matching the dead leaves of beech and oak in autumn and early winter. In the beginning of the century the Forest was rapidly enclosed, and the farmers found that the independent pig, who expected his autumn holiday regularly, and "saw that he got it," by ,breaking out of his sty and taking to the woods, was rather troublesome. So they crossed him most appropriately with • the Neapolitan pig, who is the laziest of all pigs, and produced -the Tamworth, a " golden " pig, resembling the forest swine in shape and colour, but having the love for the dolce far niente inherited from his Neapolitan ancestors. Berkshire pigs, the " large white pigs," originally bred in Yorkshire, middle whites, and small whites, complete the Pedigree List, and it is interest- ing to note that though few in number, they are unequalled in quality. England has provided Berkshire pigs for the model farms of the Austrian Government in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has exported Tamworths and "large whites" to Argentina, Illinois, and the Sandwich Islands, and reclaimed by intermixture many relapsed and imper- -feet breeds of pigs in Germany and Austria,
In England, daring recent years, the great ham question has much enhanced the difficulties of breeders. To produce an animal from whose body good bacon can be made, and -whose legs are perfect for hams, has been found almost beyond the resources of art. Even Mr. Saunders Spencer admits that to adumbrate the proportions of the "perfect pig" is beyond the scope of his imagination, and to hope to produce one in the concrete is to strive after the unattainable. The omission of all the half-acre plots from the Agricultural Returns casts a slur on a very highly esteemed and numerous , class,—the "backyard" pigs. There are, it is believed, more
'Pigs: Their Breeds and Management. By Saunders Spencer- London: Tinton and Co. pigskept in cottage gardens and backyards in the North than in farms. But after making every allowance for omissions, the United Kingdom makes a poor figure compared with the United States. One year with another, we rear three million pigs. In the maize-growing States of the Union the present number is estimated at forty millions, and this is thirteen millions less than the highest figure reached by the pig population of the States. The number of pigs kept by the colliers and artisans of the North fluctuates with the price of coal and yarn. In good times every collier keeps a live animal of some sort, and though dogs, guinea-pigs, cage-birds, and homing-pigeons are attractive, his "fancy animal" is usually a pig. He admires this on Sunday afternoons, and groups of friends go round to smoke their pipes and compare pigs, and bet on their ultimate weight. They have private pig shows, with subscription prizes. Each animal is judged in its own sty, and it is interesting to know that the evolution of an almost perfect pig was due to the innate sagacity of the Yorkshire pit. hand. The sties in which these animals live are very rough affairs, often made of a few boards nailed over railway- sleepers ; but it is interesting to learn that when the author was acting as a peripatetic judge at the colliers' show he found young pigs as blooming and healthy as possible, and that, small though the collier's backyard is, he always con- trives that his pig-sty shall be thoroughly ventilated and look towards the south. Architects of costly home-farms often house the unhappy pigs under north walls, and condemn them to rheumatism, cold, and sunlessness. Yorkshire pro- duces not only the best pork, but has long been famous for the best cured hams in the world. But elsewhere it is curious to note the dislike of the farming class to any form of mann- facture other than that of raw material. One-fourth of the English pigs are kept in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. Yet Mr. Saunders Spencer doubts whether there is a bacon- curing factory in Suffolk, and relates the failure of one established in Norfolk. In the former case the people would not rear the precise kind of animal wanted; in the latter the dealers made a ring and pat up prices beyond the margin of profit. Our Illinois is Somersetshire and Wiltshire, and our little Chicago the "sausage town" of Caine. As almost every one who has a country house, large or small, is "interested," to use the City phrase, in pigs, whether he be squire, parson, farmer, labourer, gardener, policeman, or postman (we believe the village schoolmasters are the only class who scorn to keep a pig), the methods of the Caine factories ought to be more widely known than they are. The animals, in lots of not lees than ten, can be sent by rail directly to the factory without extra charge if the paid distance be less than one hundred miles. There they are weighed and classified, and the price calculated directly, with a bonus of 2s. 6d. on each pig which comes up to a certain standard of merit. This canon of perfection was evolved at Caine, the result of a wide experience of the needs of the curers, and the shortcomings of " fashionable " pigs. Since then it has become a standard—the rule of Pigdom—to which all its members must conform, or become pork instead of bacon, and end their lives as failures. Mr. Spencer suggests one further interesting question in connection with his sub- ject, but he does not pursue it. "When wages are lower, the price of pigs is higher," he remarks, "because the farm labourers and artisans consume a greater quantity of pork and less beef and mutton." What would Cobbett, who saw the maximum of a labourer's wellbeing in a plentiful supply of pork, bread, and beer, say to this advance, by which that sound, and then all too scarce, fare now takes the second or third place in the scale of the workman's diet P "Salt pork," which was for centuries the staple food of the mariners of England, is almost erased from the bill-of-fare on passenger ships, and is only served twice a week to the bluejackets in the Navy. Before long mere salted pig will be as antiquated as stock fish or "poor John." It only holds its -place as a humble necessary of life among American back woodsmen. Even they have recently "struck" against the quality of that supplied from Chicago, and demanded a more " matured " article for winter diet.
But the English-reared pig is no longer the poor man's food-animal. On the contrary, it is a luxury. New Zealand mutton, La Plata beef, Columbian salmon, and Australian rabbits are the cheap form of fresh meat, and by many classes, notably respectable domestic servants, home-grown pork is preferred to any of these. It is dearer actually and relatively, for more is eaten at a meat Nearly all the fresh pig sold in this country may be considered to be the flesh of highly bred and highly fed animals. But the English bacon and English hams are the product of highly skilled manu- facture. It is not long since bacon was considered only fit for ploughmen. It never appeared at a gentleman's breakfast- table ; even in farmhouses it was only eaten as a domestic duty. This was no prejudice. The pigs were bad, and the bacon worse. It was salt, strong, and often rancid. Now it is more difficult to buy bad bacon or ill-cured hams than it was formerly to buy them of good quality. The best is found on the breakfast-tables of all classes, while the Bradenham and Yorkshire hams figure on their merits in City banquets.
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