THE UNDESIRABLE PIG.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3327, 8 January 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE UNDESIRABLE PIG.

A Kansas paper has the following characteristically Yankee condemnation of a profitless hog;—“The razor-back is a breed of hogs raised in the south before the *ar, and still to be found in some localities. lie is built ou the Swiss-cottage style of architecture. His ears lay back with a devil-may-care air. His tail has no curl, but hangs limp as a dish-rag. The highest point of his corrugated back is lOin above the root of the tail. He ignores the slow, stately walk of the Berkshire, and goes m a lively 2.10 trot. He always travels as if he were trying to catch a train which had just whistled for the station, and he had a quarter of a mile to go. The toroughbred razor-back prowls around the woods, living on acorns, nuts, and roots, and, if necessary, can climb a tree like a monkey. The razor-back might be valuable to a farmyard but for an ‘if.’ He is so industrious that occasionally he crowds under a gate and assists in harvesting his owner’s crop, he will turn in and assist his neighbour, often working at night rather than see the crop spoil for want of attention. He never knew the luxury of a sty. Ho wouldn’t get fat if he could, and is only fit to kill on the day of eternity. Crossing the razor-back with the blue-blood stock makes no improvement. The only successful way is to cross him with a locomotive going 30 miles an hour. He then becomes an imported thoroughbred, and the railroad company pays for him at the rate of 50 cents a pound. The ham of a razor-back is almost as juicy as the bam of an iron fire-dog, but not quite as good eating as sassafras bark. A man who is an authority on razor backs says a razor back is the only bird of prey that is amphibious _ in its habits, and can lift a hinges without ruffling a feaclier.”