The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-07-19
Pigs and Pork.

Embellishments or bad quality OF the
meat, but an Objectionable character
acquired through bad treatment and
feeding and the grossest want of care
The rich oleaginous quality of pork is
not in itself an objection, on the con-
trary, it's chief value consists in this.
The requirements of animal life call for
a very large supply of carbonaceous
elements in the food; and it matters not
whether these are provided in the shape
of fat, starch or sugar. In one or the
other of these forms the carbon used up
in maintaining respiration and animal
heat must be provided. 1t is this most
valuable quality in pork that has made
it the principal animal food of the ma
jority of the human race who eat flesh
meat, if not of the whole race, savage
and civilized. The objections against
pork, urged by overzealous sanitarians,
to some extent, perhaps well founded,
are based upon the frequently diseased
condition of the animals, induced by i'm
proper food and care But, even if we
should admit the force of their reason
ing, a serious dilemma would exist, be-
cause the pig is not alone subject to all
| the parasitic and blood diseases common
among domestic animals, but only shares
them with the OK, the sheep, the calf, rab-
bits, poultry, deer, grouse, cartridges,
and nearly all fish. The measle of the
swine, which is the larval condition of a
tape-worm which infests humanity, has
its related species in the OK, calf, sheep,
and rabbit. The domestic fowl is as
gross feeder as any hog, and fish are
not surpassed by any portion of the ami
NAL creation in their grossness of vorac-
ity. To assume that pork is not health
full food because the pig is infested with
internal parasites would be to condemn
all animal food, and to object because
our swine are decimated by virulent and
poisonous blood diseases, simply blames
their keepers for objectionable neglect
by which these diseases are engendered
and spread abroad.
The truth is that the pig is too valua-
BILE an animal to be treated with neglect
that is prevalent among farmers and
those who make special business of
! breeding and keeping them; and pork
and pork products are too valuable an
addition to our general wealth and con-
venience to be neglected. The ease with
which swine may be kept; their ready
adaptation to all circumstances; their
wonderful hardness under unfavorable
surroundings, and their extreme prolific
ness are, among others, the reasons both
why pigs are neglected and why they do
not disappear entirely through the gen.
eral maltreatment.
By exercising few rules, and by reg
ular rigid adherence to these through
which their exercise will become very
easy, pigs may be kept in perfect health
and with great profit. This we say with
j. great elaboration, Notwithstanding the
recent statement of well known breeder
of swine and writer. on swine keeping,
that 8" this remark is often made flip
PANTY by persons who know nothing of
what they write" There is no excuse
for the loss of whole herds of swine by
!. pestilence, just as we now know there
was no good reason for these recurring
so-called 50 visitations of Providence :"
by which thousands of persons were
formerly swept away by "plagues :"
choleras, and putrid fevers. Sanitary
laws enforced with vigor have changed
all that, and drainage and clean, whole
some living have almost entirely pre-
vented these fatal diseases in their cpl
denaic form But it is almost too plain
thing to state that sanitary conditions,
clean, wholesome living, and thorough
drainage are not frequently met about
farms, barn yards, stables and pig-pens !;
nor even in pastures SO seldom fresh
and green.' There are farms, however,
upon which the arrangements and
methods needed for perfect healthful-
ness of the live stock are provided and
practiced, and the entire freedom of the
animals there kept from disease, pesti-
lence, and death is proof enough that
good sanitary conditions are of avail to
secure health and profit in stock-keep-
ing. 1t is profitable to be clean, and
cleanliness should include clean lodging
and clean feeding. If these were always
provided in their fullest and most liberal
sense, there would be no occasion to be-
wall the loss of much property, nor to
guard so carefully against all possible
taints in the pork we might eat. The
pig is universal scavenger as he is now
kept, and one of the most disgusting Of
fees, to our thinking, that he has to
perform is the working over the manure
from OCneT IdTm du1DndiS, SO dS 10 pro-
cure portion of their living from the
filthy mass. That is, to say the least, a
very questionable piece of "farm econ
omy," that is recommended by some
persons as tending to profitable pork
growing. 1t may be cheap, but it is
nasty, and not profitable. One day.
!; work with manure-fork on the heap
would do more service than score of
hogs in week. The pig should be
fed, and not allowed to forage in filth
for his food. The food should be the