454 THE PIGS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



in boiling ; yet, thongh so evident, the practice lias not hitherto 

 been introduced with the white sorts, possibly because the 

 appearance would be less attractive. Were a proof required of 

 the superior quality of Berkshire bacon, we should find it in the 

 fact that Wiltshire smoked bacon realises from ^d. to Id. a 

 pound more than Yorkshire cured, and the reason is not only 

 on account of its delicate flavour, but because it is found 

 to go further; nothing else is so suitable for rashers. Mr. 

 Thos. Eowlandson describes the process of singeing in his essay 

 on the Breeding and Management of Pigs, which will be found 

 in the 11th volume of the " Eoyal Agricultural Society of 

 England's Journal." On a large scale, as in the curing estab- 

 lishments of Wiltshire and the south of Ireland, a number of 

 pigs are dealt with at the same time. First knocked on the 

 head, the carcasses are dragged to a spot where the blood can 

 be collected ; the throats are then cut, and whilst bleeding a 

 man covers the carcasses with wheat or rye straw ; experience 

 soon teaches the quantity, which varies according to tho 

 strength of the coat. Then fire is applied in the direction 

 of the wind, and to the uninitiated it would appear as though 

 piggy was being sacrificed ; but nothing more than the hair is 

 burnt and the skin scorched. When one side is done, the pigs 

 are turned over and the process repeated. The ashes are next 

 brushed off with a strong brush, and the carcasses are hauled 

 up by ropes and pulleys on to hooks. Here the skin is care- 

 fully scraped, warm water being thrown over the carcass, and 

 the viscera are removed, cold water being applied to finish 

 the process. In twenty-four hours the carcass is properly 

 set, and amputation then proceeded with. The description 

 by Mr. Eowlandson is so excellent that we venture to repro- 

 duce it. 



The heads are first separated ; the operator then takes a 

 knife, and makes a clean cut from the tail, along the centre of 

 the backbone to the termination of the neck, baring the whole 

 of the vertebrae ; he now takes a sharp cleaver, and, beginning 

 at one side of the vertebrae, commences separating them from 

 the ribs at the points of their attachment. The other side is 

 then cloven in the same manner ; by this means the vertebrae are 

 cut clean out. He then cuts the ham about three inches above 



