The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1881-03-30
THE AMERICAN HOG.

The great trouble with the American
hog seems TO be that he has been too ex-
tensively improved of late years. The hog
of to-day differs from the hog of the recent
past in many regards. This fact is presented
very clearly by an Iowa writer who has de-
voted special attention to the study of the
hog. He says:
The hog of a former day (say twenty-hv years
ago) was at once ugly and hardy. The hog of
to-day Is handsome, helpless and imbecile.
Among the once hardy hogs about per cent.
might die of accident and disease. Among the
present race Of improved 81 hogs 20 per cent.
mortality is nearer than s. A learned State
Commission has been around. and the summary
of their elaborate report is Prevention is better
than cure" Quacks and specifics abound. but
hogs obstinate and persist in dying.
The hog problem has been. and is, from
given amount of feed 10 make the greatest
amount of fat. and in the shortest time" In
pursuing this idea people have 'gone the whole
hog" and coming events seem likely to compel q
limit 10 this idea and make US look little to
first principles.
A blacksmith arm is his first development. A
letter-carriers leg. professors brain, an Alder
mans stomach, are severally theirs. By parity OF
reasoning the development OF the hog Is as the
Alderman-alI toward stomach and fat. But the
comparison is incomplete unless we fatten the
Alderman when he is sixteen. and make family
man of him then. The Alderman would play
OUT as does the hog and his progeny, and be Of
no account
The former hog had more muscle and less fat
than the present hog-had more vitality-had
fewer diseases, but, OH fatal objection, the feed
haa for cofta ,.Nf,,, =
The present hog fattens, but is seldom healthy.
The sluggish blood. propelled by heart smaller
than it should be. enables him to live along. His
lungs are so delicate that one logging" kills
him: his liver is discolOred and spotted he has
kidney worms; his bones are soft and easily
broken; his intestines are full of wind; he has
catarrh. trichina. cholera, etc. The improved
hog (?) is fast degenerating-an what next?
Sure enough, what next? A hog scare
that has spread until it his reached the
center of Continental Europe, and is en-
gaging the attention Of the most renowned
diplomats of the world. At rough guess
there are now in the United States 10000
600 ogs-"handsomc, helpless and imbe-
from pig to adult, S. each. total of
S2OO,OOO,OOO, which may be in
creased by a few weeks of cul-
ture to $i0O,0O00OO. 1t is these facts
that give such great importance to the
American hog. The ugly and hardy" hog
has disappeared. He could run like deer
and fight like bull dog. He was known as
the ''shad back"-so thin at two years of age
that farmers had to build their rail fences close
to keep him from raiding the corn fields.
They were sometimes called 'third row
hogs" owing to the length of their shouts,
which, it is claimed, were sufficiently
elongated to reach the third row of corn
stalks. This old-time hog has disappeared
has been civilized and improved until with
luxury has come disease. The Iowa writer
tells of his decline and fall. 1t is calamity,
and may necessitate backward movement
in hog culture in the West