The Pioche weekly record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1877-1900, 1896-01-23
WHY HOGS GET FAT.

yt,t,- tho domestic hog so handsomely
,.esY,onds 10 liberal feeding, until ne
literally lards the lean earth, may MOI
be a burning question Just now, put
il is one that is interestingly treated
nv DIR. Louis Robinson, in a paper on
syVild Traits in Tame Animals" (North
American Review, December), from
which we quote the following
I.rI'ba wild boar of Europe is a scrag-
-, liant who would need vast deal
III civilizing before his gaunt anu SIN
ew-v frame could be cushioned over
with the proper thickness anu it aii, =,
of adipose tissue. Very I2any year
ago breeders found that the European
Tips were much improved by being
crossed with the Chinese. THESE are OF
a different race altogether, and are not
fouud wild anywhere at the present
day. The careful Mongollans nave
lrent and improved them Tor untold
centuries and this doubtless accounts
CO... their sIperiority from the farmers
point of view.
enormous amount of fat when tood Is
nIentifuI dates back far beyond the
| beginning of the Chinese Empire. anu
| u,hat is more ii was most necessary
babit Of the pig's wild ancestors in any
| hut hot climates: for in all probability
| t1a nos, which did not get fat in the
| Sau would perish during a hard winter.
| one would not think That there was
much resemblance between rat pork
| and honey, yet analysts tel US thal
! they are chemically very similar. In
10Th cases they were, in the first place,
| stores laid up for winter use by their
| rasnactiye owners, which man. the
arch-plunderer, has appropriated for
his own purposes. There was this diff
! ference. however, that whereas the bees
accumulated their savings In JOIN
|
stock baf% the pig illeu i4A9 "D0"
"Throughout the spring and summel
in northern and central Europe, tn
Wild hog, by diligently grubbing TO
roofs and whatever else he could ma
manged to make bare living. Blu
when autumn came, ana the acorn
and beech-mast fell, he reVeled II
- Moreover, at this season
nianv of his enemies. such as the bears
u.ere feasting or the ripe berries an
nuts SO that he was left in compare
five peace. The result was that, IN IN
: few weeks between the fall of the mas
! and the first severe weather, ne me
: ant amazingly. Then came the winter
91ring which he had to face the colo
! "a ind what food he could beneat
~ snow or on the hard-frozen Sroun(
Reward the end of winter the mos
r | trI,ing, time came. The earth was Stl
= hard with frost, and every nut or acoI
Il i'm the forest mad Deeh pleheu up
y tha thousands of hungry searcher
. The The pig was no longer fat; his inwal
store had well-nigh been consumed.
q was always an anxious question WI
9 Nh, whether he would save his baco
. untn the breaking of the frost:
: .'You will see. then, that the no
"a ,,,bich had within his own private bar
= y dollars worth of savings, in the for
g. 81 lard. when his fellows We're inst
IA Ua,,t would in an exceptionally pr
Of tracted and severe winter be one oil {
Sc few to survive. He would natural
ne transmit his fattening tendencies 70
" descendants, and SO II comes apo
ed that. in the present day, no amman
ed handsomely responds to liberal feedi
ce as the domestic pig"