Vol. XV. Xo. 360. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS 



Gl 



THE CURING OP BACON AND HAMS. 



The production of pork and bacon is now receiving 

 -attention in the West Indies. In the last issue of this 

 Journal we published a recipe for dry-salting bacon 

 and hams. We now reproduce from Mr. Thomas 

 Aliens' 'Profitable Pig Breeding and Feeding' a few 

 recipes for the curing of bacon and hams. (Jn another 

 page in this issue will be found a general article on the 

 preservation of meat. 



A two-year old smoked ham from a 12-score dairy-fed 

 jroung pig, cured after the following old-fashioned Suffolk 

 recipe, would find a ready sale. The recipe can be used for 

 tongues as well as for bacon and hams. Take 3 lb. of coarse 

 dark sugar, H lb. of common .salt, 1 lb. of bay salt, 3 oz. 

 of saltpetre, 3 oz. of black pepper. Mi.x the above together. 

 Rub the meat well the first day. fiaste and turn every day 

 for the first week and every other day the following three 

 •weeks, making one month in all. J^et the meat drain after 

 iienioval from the pickle, and be well dried before smoking. 

 The above quantities are for two large hams, two cheeks, or 

 the equivalent in bacon. The proportions are, of course, 

 adaptable to larger operations. 



A. W. Fulton in his 'Home Pork-making' gives the 

 following directions for the treatment of hams and shoulders: 

 'To each 100 It., of meat use Ih lb. of fine salt, U lb. of 

 granulated sugar, and i oz. of saltpetre. Weigh the meat 

 and the ingredients in the above proportions, rub the moat 

 thoroughly with this mixture, and pack closely in a tierce. 

 Fill the tierce with water, and roll every seven days until 

 «ured, which in a temperature of 40° to 50° would require 

 about fifty days for a medium ham. Large hams take about 

 ten days more for the curing. When wanted for smoking 

 wash the hams in water or soak for twelve hours. Hang in 

 the smoke-house and smoke slowly for forty-eight hours, and 

 you will have a very good ham.' 



Another method of pickling preparatory to smoking 

 includes the use of molasses, as follows: 'To 4 quarts of fine 

 .salt and "2 oz. of pulverized saltpetre add sutficient molasses to 

 make a pasty mixture: 2 B). of brown sugar will do as well 

 as the molasses. The ham.s, having hung in a dry, cool place for 

 three or four days after cutting up, are to be covered all over 

 with the mixture, more thickly on the flesh side, and laid 

 skin side down for three or four days. In the mean time 

 make a pickle of the following proportions, the quantities 

 here named being for 100 lb.: coarse .salt, 71b.; brown sugar, 

 5 B).; saltpetre, 2 oz.; pearl ash or potash, i oz., soft water, 

 4 gallons. Heat gradually, and as the scum rises, remove it. 

 Oontinue to do this as long as any scum rises, and when it 

 ceases allow the pickle to cool. When the hams have 

 remained the proper time iiumersed in the mixture, cover the 

 bottom of a sweet, clean barrel with salt about i-inch deep. 

 Pack in the hams as closely as possible, cover them with the 

 pickle, and place over them weights to keep them down. 

 Siuall hams of l.'» !b. and less, also .shoulders, should remain 

 in the pickle for five weeks; larger ones will re(juire from six 

 to eight weeks, according to size. Net them dry well before 

 smoking.' 



THE WORKING AND MAINTENANCE OF 



STEAM BOILERS. 



Residents in the West Indies who are connected with 

 sugar factories, will be interested in a short article appearing 

 in yature for December 2-3, 191.5, on the working and 

 maintenance of steam boilers. It is stated that lack of 

 proper attention to minor defects, which .should be remedied 

 as soon as detected, may greatly increase the fuel bill and 

 shorten the life of a boiler. Reference is made to mechanical 

 stokers as being of special interest, and it is stated that 

 while scale and, to a certain extent, grease, may be tolerated 

 in hand-fired boilers, every effort should be made to remove 

 the.se injurious substances if increased economy is aimed at, 

 by the adoption of mechanical stokers. 



'From an economical point of view it is more important 

 to keep the boiler heating surfaces free from tarry matter 

 than to remove the scale from the interior surfaces: the wear 

 and tear question, however, demands that the inside of 

 a boiler should be kept clean. Scale and grease hinder the 

 heat which enters the plate from passing into the water. 

 The radiating power of incandescent fuels, or fiames, increases 

 as the fourth power of the temperature, hence the br)ilers 

 which have worked satisfactorily but inefficiently, with 

 a comparatively low furnaced temperature, even thougli the 

 plate may be covered with scale or grease, are likely to be 

 troubled if the furnace temperature, and with it the efficiency, 

 are increased. It is not strictly true to say that scale and 

 grease reduce the efficiency of a boiler: they merely make 

 it unprofitable to adopt an efficient .system of combustion. 



'Slow bulging of the furnaces luay be caused by the 

 deposition of scales of ciystals from any boiler water con- 

 taining more than 4 per cent, of soluble salts. It is more 

 than probable that plates which on one side are exposed 

 to an intense heat, are on the other side covered chietty with 

 bulibles, and sprays of burst bubbles, which leave their dis- 

 solved salts on the boiler plate while the water is evaporat- 

 ing. If the intense heat and rapid evaporation can be 

 maintained, crusts of salt will form here and there cm heating 

 surface. Sometimes they will be washed away, but some- 

 times they will remain sufficiently long to cause overheating. 

 As soon as the little bulging has been eflFected the .salt crust 

 will doubtless break off', but as bulges are exposed to the 

 flames more than other parts, salt crusts are likely to reform 

 in them, and gradually the bulge grows larger and larger 

 until it is detected. As soon as the fire is drawn, the salt 

 crusts are dissolved away, and the bulges are said to be due 

 to mysterious causes. This danger is naturally greatest with 

 boilers having a bad circulation.' 



BulUtin No. o, (ieneral Series, Department of Agricul- 

 ture, Mauritius, deals with the fibre industry of that Colony. 

 Fibre plants in Mauritius are locally called 'aloes', and two 

 varieties occur, namely, the 'Creole aloe' — Fturraea'jigantra, 

 var. Willemetiani — and the 'aloe Malgache', furcraea 

 gii/antea. The Creole aloe which is the Mauritian form of 

 F. gigantea differs from the specific form by possessing 

 more spines along the lower portions of the leaf edges, by 

 having a terminal spike to the leaf, and by possessing a well 

 defined constricted leaf base. The leaves are usually less 

 pulpy than those of /''. gigavtea and are, on the average, 

 shorter in length. The colour of the leaves of the Creole 

 aloe is almost yellowish green. 



