Ch. XLI.] ON EXPERIMENTS. 523 



Each lot had four bolls of beans, but the males had seventy bushels 

 and the females only fifty-five bushels of potatoes ; the cost, together 

 with the fuel and labour of preparation of which was — 



For the He Pigs ... £8 2s. 

 — She Pigs ... G 9 



Mr. Dudgeon also put up two males and two females, which he caused to 

 be fed on raw and boiled food indiscriminately, as it happened to be left 

 over after serving the other two lots. Two of this lot were of a very 

 peculiar breed, being a cross of the wild boar with a common sow : they 

 were marked exactly like a zebra, but did not take on fat so readily as the 

 other pigs ; hence they were not so profitable, but their pork had a pecu- 

 liarly rich and delicate flavour. He says, " that he, every eight or ten 

 days, made repeated observations on the appearance of all the animals, 

 and he states generally, that the lot of males fed exclusively upon boiled 

 meat did thrive throughout in a superior manner to the others, and even to 

 those who had an occasional mixture of raw and boiled meat." 



Tliese experiments, indeed, appear conclusive in favour of steamed food 

 in the feeding of young porkers, and some experienced breeders recom- 

 mend that every vegetable substance that can be collected for store-pigs 

 should be boiled up together, and given three times a day lukewarm : 

 agreeably to which system pea and bean haulm, turnip-tops, and even 

 weeds, if not poisonous, are found to sufficiently answer the purpose ; but 

 comparative trials of raw and prepared food for grown bacon-hogs would 

 still be very desirable. 



BACON AND HAM. 



The fat of the hog — of which bacon is chiefly composed — diff'ers from 

 that of every other quadruped, not only in its consistence and quality, 

 but in its mode of distribution over the animal's body. " The fat of 

 man" — as Buffon observes — " and of those animals which have no suet, 

 as the dog and liorse, being pretty equally mixed with the flesh, while 

 the suet of the sheep, goat, and deer is found only at its extremities ; 

 but the fat of the hog covers the animal all over, and forms a thick, 

 distinct, and continued layer between the flesh and the skin." 



The pork, when intended for home consumption, is in most fiirm-houses 

 merely well salted, and, when cut into pieces, deposited in kits ; after which 

 it is covered with brine made sufficiently strong to swim an egg, and sim- 

 mered over a gentle fire until the impurities which rise are skimmed off". 

 This, when cold, is poured upon the meat, which sometimes remains in that 

 state so long as two or three years before it is used ; at which age, it is said, 

 the fat is more firm, of better flavour, and wastes less when boiled than with 

 less keeping * ; but, when intended for market, the flesh of the large hogs 

 is cured for bacon in the following manner, as described by Henderson. 



" The animal should be left fasting for full twenty-four hours before killed, 

 and, after the carcass has hung all night, it should be laid on its back upon 

 a strong table. The head should then be cut off close by the ears, and the 

 hinder feet so far below the houghs as not to disfigure the hams, and leave 

 room sufficient to hang them up by ; after which the carcass is divided into 

 equal halves, up the middle of the back-bone, with a cleaning-knife, and, 

 if necessary, a hand-mallet. Then cut the ham from the side, by the 

 second joint of the back-bone — which will appear on dividing the carcass ; 

 and dress the ham by paring a little off the flank, or shinny part, so as 



* Middlesex Report, 2nd edit., p. 486, 



