Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-08-27
Less PIg.Pen and More rIg.pnslnro.

MERE blubber is not desirable food In
orr climate. As pigs are now bred and
fattened they are little more than ami
mated lard. Everybody has been try
ing for years to see how fat they could
make their pigs, and how much they
could make them weigh in the shortest
possible time. This universal system of
stuffing has resulted in breeding out
muscle Qean meaD, and thickening up
the fatty portions, which are merely the
deposits Of the oil contained in the food.
To facilitate this fattening (oil deposit
ing) process, absolute rest is required.
Therefore to subserve their purpose pigs
are confined in close quarters, with no
exercise except stomach exercise. This
organ is brought by the nature of the
case into morbid condition, when it is
expected to consume and digest without
limit. Pigs are stuffed TO the very verge
of breaking down of their digestive func.
tions, and often beyond It. In the lat
ter case they are speedily slaughtered
before they run down. Usually pigs are
confined in foul pens, where they are
compelled to lie in their filth, and
breathe air poisonous with the fumes of
decay. The whole system is wrong, re-
sulting in distasteful,h not unwholesomo
food. The effect of this system OF
care and breeding pigs with the
feeding of rich and concentrated food to
promote rapid growth, has been to
change the nature, or rather the physi-
cal construction, of the animal from a
muscular to blubberous condition.
Exercise and slow growth conduce to
muscular development, as muscles are
formed where and when required. This
is a universal law in the animal king
dom, illustrated by the blacksmith's
arm, the race horse, and it could be
shown in perfect demonstration by con-
fining one pig in the way pigs are usu-
ally fed, and taking another of the same
litter and training it to extended exer-
else, or by simply allowing it to roam at
will in a field during its growth. The
pig thus allowed to roam would when
fattened possess double the amount of
muscle Clean meaO over one kept in a
close pen. The recognition of this prin-
ciple put in practical use can in time
change the characterof pigs so as to make
them more palatable. Everybody COM
plains nowadays of pork being too fat,
and yet everybody almost persists in
growing pigs in the very way to make
them too fat. Pig meat is naturally
healthy food, and calculated for the wants
of labOring people, as it furnishes long
digestion and plenty of nutrition, which
are what they require. The modern
improvements in breeding have resulted
in making heavy weights in a short time,
and in rounding and thickening the
bodies, but the sO-called improvement
has reduced the demand and the value
of pigs for food. do not mean to be
understood thatfewer hogs are grown,
or a less number exported but do
mean and know that in proportion to
the inhabitants in this country a much
less quantity of pork is eaten than form
erly, and it is simply because of its over
fatness.
There are two ways to remedy this
evil; one is to enlarge the pig-pen to a
pig-pasture; the others is to grow pigs
of the more muscular breeds, or to Sc
lect breeding stock from those of any
breed which give evidence of more de-
velopment in this direction than OF fat.
Chunky hogs should be avoided, as
chunkiness means fat. II is singular
what follies farmers, who should be the
most sensible of people, will pursue.
They have been daft so long on pug
nosed and fat-cheeked pigs that they
have nearly expelled the pork barrel
from every mans cellar, and one of the
most profitable animals from the farm.
Northern farmers under the delusion of
pug-noses and fat-cheeks have ridiculed
the "rail-splitters" of the South, whereas
the truth is the Southern planter had
more sagacity and practical sense than
the admirer Of improved stock, for the
former has well nigh bred himself out
of staple article of food, and a staple
source of profitable income, while the
latter has kept up the reputation of his
bacon, and maintained his supply of
wholesome living. AS have suggest
ed, we want more pig-pastures and few
er pig-pens. Growing pigs should have
more range, so that there may be per-
feet development of body, bone, and
muscle. They want less concentrated
food and more of light nature, such as
grass, corn-stalks, and roots, to keep
them growing but not fat. Under this
treatment there would be more length
of body and larger frames, which may
be rounded up in the autumn by richer
food. A continuous system of rearing
and feeding in this manner would pro-
duce breeds of hogs not so heavy per-
haps in weight, but more desirable as
pigs are generally managed.-COl. n
d. Curtis, IN N. Y. Tribune.