s nest and was
rearing a family. I have heard that this same thing happened in the
country of the Veneti."

"Usually," resumed Scrofa, "the fecundity of a sow may be learned from
her first litter, for in later litters she does not vary much from the
number of pigs in the first.

"In the matter of rearing young swine, which we call _porculatio_ it
is customary to leave pigs with the sow for two months, and then when
they are able to feed themselves to separate them. Pigs born in the
winter are apt to be runts on account of the cold and because the sow
refuses to suckle them, partly by reason of her lack of milk at that
season and partly to protect her teats from the teeth of the hungry
pigs.

"Each sow should suckle her pigs in her own stye, because a sow will
not drive strange pigs away from her, and it results that if the
litters are mingled the breed deteriorates. The year is naturally
divided for the sow into two parts, because they breed twice a year,
being heavy in pig for four months and suckling for two. The stye
should be built about three feet deep and a little more in width and
such a height from the ground as will permit a pregnant sow to get out
without straining herself, as that might cause her to abort. A good
measure of the proper height from the ground is what is necessary to
enable the swineherd to keep watch that no little pigs are crushed by
the sow, and to clean out the bedding easily. There should be a door
to the stye with the lower sill elevated a foot and a palm high so as
to prevent the pigs from following the sow when she goes out. As often
as the swineherd cleans out the stye he should strew the floor with
sand, or some thing else to absorb moisture.

"When a sow has had her pigs she should be fed liberally to enable her
to make milk: for this the ration is usually two pounds of boiled
barley, indeed some feed this both at morning and at night if other
feed is lacking. When pigs are taken from their dam they are sometimes
called _delici_ or weanlings being then no longer _lactantes_ or
sucklings.

"Pigs are considered to be clean ten days after birth, and for that
reason were then called by the ancients sacred, as being then first
fit for sacrifice: and so in the _Menaechmi_ of Plautus, when a
character thinking some one in Epidamnus to be out of his wits and
seeking to purify him, asks: 'How much are sacred pigs here.'

"If the farm affords them, pigs should be fed grape husks and sta