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ON TIIE LIVE-STOCK

pig. On such farms, they are almost always confined trtthe straw-yards, or to a fold-yard beside their styes.—Ano-ther bad property in swine, is their habit of digging into thesoil ; for which, the most effectual preventive is to cut thetwo strong tendons of their snout, by a slight incision with asharp knife, about an inch and a half from the nose. Thismay be done with little pain, and no prejudice to the animal,when about two or three months old. The common practiceof restraining them by rings fixed in the snout, is painfuland troublesome; they must be replaced as often as theygive way, and that happens so frequently, that rings affordbut little security against this nuisance.

3. Styes or swine houses, a particular description of whicliwill be found in another part of this Report, (See vol. i,p. 151), are set down in different situations, according to thenumbers kept, and the manner of feeding them. The cot-tager erects a little hut contiguous to his dwelling, and manysmall farmers also choose to lodge them near the kitchen. Ifswine are kept chiefly in the straw-yard, their houses are so si-tuated as to give ready access by a door which opens into it.The gentleman-farmer erects a range of low buildings on thatside of his farm-offices which is least exposed to view', andincloses and subdivides a small yard for their use. Whereswine husbandry is carried on in all its branches, there mustbe separate houses for sows heavy with young, and such asare nursing, for pigs newly weaned, for rearing and for fat-tening stock.

4. The distempers of swine are neither numerous nor oftenfatal. The mange or itch is the most common one, and maybe removed by washing the skin of the animal with soap andwater, or by the application of the ointment formerly recom-mended for curing the scab in sheep. The measles, or some-thing resembling the leprosy, at times affects hogs. Theybecome drowsy, small bluish spots appear on the tongueand other parts, and the roots of the bristles have the colourof blood. The disease is seldom fatal, and may be eured, itis said, by gentle doses of antimony.