240 [Senate 



pieces, and made into what is termed navy or India pork; lighter hogs 

 are cut into 4 lb. pieces. After being split through the middle, each 

 half of the carcass is laid upon the cutting block and again divided 

 through the whole length, including ham and shoulder. These quar- 

 ters are weighed and divided into 4 or 6 lb. pieces, according to the 

 size of the hog and kind of package intended. It requires care and 

 skill to cut the pieces in a neat and sizeable manner, but it requires 

 only a short practice to do it well. The salt is well rubbed into each 

 parcel. The meat is then put into a large tub, and freely salted, but 

 no brine added. It remains in this state for several days, depending 

 upon the weather. When taken out, it is washed in strong brine — 

 thoroughly tried, to see that it is not tainted, and then properly wiped 

 and packed ; if 4 lb. pieces, into barrels, 50 pieces to a barrel ; if 6 

 lb. pieces, in tierces, 50 to a tierce. Great care must be taken to- 

 have the package hold out weight. The barrel must not have less 

 than 200 lbs-, and the tierce 300. It is usual to put an extra piece 

 in each package. While packing, saltpetre must be added, at the 

 ,rate of a common wine-glass full to each 100 Jbs. After heading up, 

 the barrel or tierce must be filled with strong, pure brine, and there 

 must be a good capping of coarse salt put on, before the head is put 

 in. The barrel must be full bound, with a good iron hoop on each 

 end, and a tierce must have three iron and eight wooden hoops on 

 each end. A barrel of prime mess pork should contain from 25 to 

 30 pieces, cut from the ribs, loins, chines and belly pieces, all lying' 

 between the ham and shoulder, forming what is called the broadside 

 or middle ; 3 hands and 2 hind leg pieces, or 3 hind leg pieces and 

 2 hands, and 15 or twenty pieces cut from other parts of the hog — 

 except no part of the head — that should never be packed. Bacon 

 mess is where the fu'l proportion of prime mess is withheld. The 

 same rule is to be observed in packing a tierce, as a barrel, — and in 

 either case, the number of prime mess pieces should be marked upon 

 the head. 



Tierce middles^ are what, with us, is called the broadside ; being all 

 that part of the hog between the ham and shoulder. It is clear when 

 the bone has been taken out, or it is hone middles when the ribs re- 

 main in. The middles are curt^d in the same manner as the pork, 

 and packed in tierces holding as near 300 lbs. as possible, hooped and 

 ironed in the same manner as India tierces. The number of pieces in 

 each tierce should be marked on the head. Middles would pay the 

 best to be sent out clear from bone, like our clear mess pork. 



Beef. 



Beef is rarely packed in barrels. It is usually put in tierces. It 

 is cut into 8 lb. pieces, and the process of curing and packing is pre- 

 cisely the same as in pork except more saltpetre is added when pack- 

 ed. In all cases the saltpetre should be finely pulverised and put in- 

 to the package in small quantities ; as the meat is put in, the usual 

 quantity is a wine-glass full to the 100 lbs. 



A tierce of prime India beef, should contain 42 pieces, 8 lbs. each, 

 and must, therefore, contain not less than 336 lbs. of meat. It should 



