Domestic animals: by Jacques D. H. (Daniel Harrison) 1825-1877

Author:Jacques, D. H. (Daniel Harrison), 1825-1877
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Domestic animals. [from old catalog], Bees. [from old catalog]
Publisher: New York, Fowler and Wells
Published: 1858-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

Where oft the twine, from Ambush warm and dry, Bolt out and ■camper headlong to their aty.—BbomJWd.

I.-NATUBAL HISTOBY. HE hog (Suida *us of Iinn&us), according to Cuvier, belongs to u the class M&mmalic^ order Paehydermata, genus Suida or #ttf."

Professor Low remarks, that " the hog is subject to remarkable changes of form and characters, according to the situation in which he is placed. When these characters assume a certain degree of permanence, a breed or variety is formed; and there is no one of the domes-lie animals which more easily receives the characters we desire to impress upon it This arises from its rapid powers of increase, and the constancy with which the characters of the parents are reproduced in the progeny.

There is no kind of livestock that can be so easily improved by the breeder and so quickly rendered suited to the purposes required; and the same characters of external form indicate in the hog a disposition to arrive at early maturity of muscle and fat as in the ox and the sheep. The body is long in proportion to the limbs, or, in other words, the limbs are short in proportion to the body; the extremities are free from coarseness; the chest is broad and the trunk round. Possessing these characteristics, the hog never fails to arrive at early maturity, and with a smaller consumption of food than when he possesses a different conformation."

The wild boar, which was undoubtedly the progenitor of all the European varieties, and also of the Chinese breed, was for-

merly a native of the British Islands, and very common in the forests until the time of the civil wars in England.

The wild hog is now spread over the temperate and warmer parts of the old continent and its adjacent islands. His color varies with age and climate, but is generally a dusky brown with black spots and streaks. His skin is covered with coarse nairs or bristles, intersected with soft wool, and with coarser and longer bristles upon the neck and spine, which he erects when in anger. He is a very bold and powerful creature, and becomes more fierce and indocile with age. From the form of his teeth he is chiefly herbivorous in his habits, and delights in roots, which his acute sense of smell and touch enables him to discover beneath the surface. He also feeds upon animal substances, such as worms and larv» which he grubs up from the groundj the eggs of birds, small reptiles, the young of animals, and occasionally carrion; he even attacks venomous snakes with impunity.

The female produces a litter but once a year, and in much smaller numbers than when domesticated. She usually carries her young for four months or sixteen weeks.

In a wild state the hog has been known to live more than thirty years; but when domesticated he is usually slaughtered for bacon before he is two years old, and boars killed for brawn seldom reach to the age of five. When the wild hog is tamed, it undergoes the following among other changes in its conformation.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.