He never fattened a pig (meaning for sale), but sold the young porkers directly they were large enough to fetch a sovereign a-piece, and kept the money.
The same system was carried on throughout the farm.

The one he then occupied was of small extent, and he did a very large proportion of the work himself.

He did not purchase stock at all in the modern sense; he grew them.

If he went to a sale he bought one or two despicable-looking cattle at the lowest price, drove them home, and let them gradually gather condition.

The grass they ate grew almost as they ate it--in his own words, 'They cut their own victuals'-- _i.e._ with their teeth.