THE NECESSITY FOR PIGS.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."1 SIE,—I venture to express the hope that we shall have a little more common-sense shown in regard to the rearing of pigs than some Ministers have shown in their recent speeches. There are some people who write and speak on agricultural questions as if the pig were a " pampered luxury," whilst he is in reality the very backbone of all agriculture. We are also told by some literary theorists that the payment of part of their wages in bacon and potatoes is an objectionable custom in the case of confined or yearly labourers which should be stopped at once by legislation. I assert without fear of contradiction from any practical farmer or labourer that in the universal opinion of all those who have any knowledge of agriculture the pig is the most important and most economical source of food which we produce; and I further assert that, so far from the labourers resenting any of their wages being given in bacon and potatoes, it will be very difficult to engage any confined labourers this year unless they are guar- anteed by their employers the usual amount of bacon. But at the present time it is very difficult to see how pigs are to be kept by farmers or by agricultural labourers who usually feed and kill their own pigs, whilst if the labourers are not forthcoming what is the use of ploughing up more grassland when there will not be the requisite labour to cultivate even present arable land for corn ? This question of feeding pigs, both for farmers and cottagers, is a far more important and far-reaching problem than is generally known, and is not one to be dealt with by those who have no real knowledge of the subject. We are warned of a great shortage in beef and mutton; if so, surely this is not the time to reduce the supply of bacon, but every means should be taken to
encourage its production. I presided over a meeting of the Council of the Lincolnshire Agricultural Society on February 8th, and the opinion was unanimously held by those present that there would be more difficulty over the question of supplying the usual amount of bacon than the actual wages at the hirings to be held
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