easily kept in health, cleanliness, and comfort, and this without the
necessity of "ringing," or any excessive desire of the hog to roam,
break through his sty, or plough up his _pound_. Whatever the kind of
food may be on which the pig is being fed or fattened, a teaspoonful or
more of salt should always be given in his mess of food, and a little
heap of well-burnt cinders, with occasional bits of chalk, should always
be kept by the side of his trough, as well as a vessel of clean water:
his pound, or the front part of his sty, should be totally free from
straw, the brick flooring being every day swept out and sprinkled with a
layer of sand. His lair, or sleeping apartment, should be well sheltered
by roof and sides from cold, wet, and all changes of weather, and the
bed made up of a good supply of clean straw, sufficiently deep to enable
the pig to burrow his unprotected body beneath it. All the refuse of the
garden, in the shape of roots, leaves, and stalks, should be placed in a
corner of his pound or feeding-chamber, for the delectation of his
leisure moments; and once a week, on the family washing-day, a pail of
warm soap-suds should be taken into his sty, and, by means of a
scrubbing-brush and soap, his back, shoulders, and flanks should be well
cleaned, a pail of clean warm water being thrown over his body at the
conclusion, before he is allowed to retreat to his clean straw to dry
himself. By this means, the excessive nutrition of his aliment will be
corrected, a more perfect digestion insured, and, by opening the pores
of the skin, a more vigorous state of health acquired than could have
been obtained under any other system.