The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-11-09
THE RAZoR-BACK.
The Wild Racer OF the Tennessee
Mountains


From the American zgriculturist.
Whoever places the horse or the dog next
TO human being In the scale Of intelligence
and sagacity has never made the acouaint-
ance OF the Tennessee hog, the genuine
razor-back. One who knows the pig only
as the fat, sleepy, grunty occupant of the
the sly has no idea Of the spirit and wisdom,
the daring and enterprise of the species,
whea born and reared among the rugged
mountain regions Of the Cumberlands. In
contrast with the close pen which is all the
world his northern cousin ever knows,
freedom is the very air his pigship breathes
from the time when he opens his narrow
speculative eyes, in the beechen shade Of
the hills, until the unlucky day when he
Is cornered be human craft and numbers
and reduced to bacon. His education begins
IN infancy, guided by his mother, who
shows him the way into all the best gar
dens, orchards aud cornfields. He is a
shifty fellow as the recommend given
by a Cumberland Valley farmer to a recent
northern settler Of the porker he was about
TO sell nIm- He has allus shirked for his
self" The purchaser gave one thought TO
his own garden patch; but not enough, for
his summer was spent in deYising barriers
over which, or under which, or through
which 1t was pasUime for that hog to make
his way, ard the mans anger was finally
lost in admiration of the sagacity OF the
animal. Whose feats of agility and ingenuity
enabled him to maintain his own healthy
condition; and also to treat his friends, for
he is not wholly selfish.
have seen him plant his long snout I'M
der gate, and raise il more and more.
until he had wormed himself half way
through, then hold it, resting on
his strong ''razor-back" until the
drove of half a dozen or more fol-
lowers under his charge, had squirlnsd
through, then, with an expressive grant he
would lead raid on the corn-deld. where
forest Of stalks, from ~ to II feet high, had
been left supposedly bare, to decay during
the short, wet winter. Piggy Knows, how
ever, that now and then an ear has been
overlooked; and he enters the rows, cooking
his head, now on this side, now on that,
squirting up at the top Of each tall stalk,
until he sees an ear at the top; then quickly
be straddles the bottom of the stalk, and
rides it down. within his reach. Quickly
1t is devoGred and another sought out and
captured. until the field is cleaned; when he
rallies his troops and guides them into pas
lures new. Gates and bars are laughing
stock TO him. Barbed wire is an agreeable
irritant to his rhinoceros-like hide: and the
hopeless farmer is often at his wits end,
until the time whom friendly autumn strews
the mountain-sides with mast" which
proves more attractive TO these ubiquitous
monarchs than are the cultivated gardens.
The Tennessee hog knows that the laws
OF his native State protect him, while the
human would-oe masters of the soil must
look out for themselves; and he acts accord
ingly. An unpleasant thing to meet is a
drove of these pets, when out of temper
They will turn in a body and chase man
and dog till both are glad to mount out of
reach on fallen tree; and there they will
hold them at bay, with backs erect, in q
sharp line of bristles-w whence their name
and with gruntings which cannot be de-
scribed, gnashing their long, savage teeth,
remind one forcibly of the wild boar,
whence sprang their ancestry.