t which the present disastrous
war will have upon the pig-breeding industry, we have deemed it
expedient to refer as briefly as possible to the present conditions of
feeding, etc., which may or may not prove to be of a temporary character
or which may become permanent in a more or less modified manner.

One of the results of the scarcity and high market value of the
different articles which have been commonly used in the feeding of pigs
is drawing greatly increased attention to the original conditions under
which pigs were kept, i.e. when they were in a wild state or when they
were allowed their partial freedom for the purpose of getting their own
living to a greater or lesser extent.

We are aware that a claim has been made by an enthusiastic convert to
pig-keeping that in allowing his pigs their liberty to roam over grass
fields and in woods he is practising quite a novel course of procedure,
but the old hands merely smile and admire the enthusiasm which is more
nearly allied with youth than old age. The practice may not have been
generally followed of late years, but in the middle of the last century
it was to the writer's knowledge common in certain of the Eastern
Counties, particularly in Suffolk and portions of Essex and
Cambridgeshire, where a considerable acreage of grass and especially
clovers was grazed by pigs, having a greater or lesser quantity of other
food as the pigs were intended for breeding or fattening purposes.

Generally speaking, some shelter of a temporary character was provided
failing that furnished by trees, and straw stacks, etc., but our
American cousins have gone one better in that they have introduced small
movable houses which can be transported on wheels and can be utilised
for a sow and her pigs, or for a number of stores. In the former course,
an enclosure sufficiently large for the sow to graze therein is fenced
in so that each sow can be kept separate until the pigs are old enough
to prevent others from robbing them of their birthright. The chief
difficulty attending this system is not experienced in the United States
to the extent it is in this country, since the general custom there is
to allow each sow to farrow a litter of pigs in the spring and then to
fatten off both sow and pigs, save those reserved for breeding purposes
next year. This plan, which appears to be wasteful, also handicaps the
owner who desires to improve his pig stock, since an opportunity is
denied him of dis