The usual colour of the Wild Boar is rusty black,
or brown, more or less brindled. The females
and young associate in herds, but the old boars are
for the most part solitary, and very savage.
The domestic Hog, though perfectly useless during life, is perhaps the most important of those which are reared for the value of their flesh as human food. None is so productive; the sow bearing two litters in the year, and having from eight to twelve, or even more young ones at a birth. None converts a given quantity of corn or other nutritious food so soon into fat, or can be made fat on so great a variety of food.
There are several very valuable breeds of Swine in this country, produced by judicious crossings. The largest animals are not the best. Fertility, a capacity of fattening with rapidity and with the least expense, the smallness of the bones, and the firmness and sweetness of the flesh, with its readiness to receive salt,—are objects of higher importance than mere bulk. The small pigs of the Chinese breed are remarkable for productiveness, and the rapidity with which they fatten without enlarging their bone. The Chinese hog is short in the head, with wide cheeks, the ears are erect, the chine is high, and the legs are so short that the belly almost touches the ground. The cross from this variety has been very advantageous to the English breeds.
The Suffolk pig approaches nearest to the
Chinese; it is usually white, with the ears pointed and rather forward. It is of a short and compact form, broad in the chest and in the loins. The pigs are very delicate, and at twelve or fifteen months they make excellent bacon.
