322 THE FARMERY. [Chap. Ill- 



34S. Smoke-llousfs— How to Cnild aiid how to Fsc Thfin.— ^Vc lay it down 

 as an axiom, that tlic best s^niokc-Iiouse ever built is a log cabin, witli tlie 

 cracks all open. In sueli a building von can not confine tlic smoke so as 

 to smother the meat and spoil it, as it easily can be and often is in a very 

 ti^Iit room. It is not generally understood how ninch the excellence of 

 bacon depends on the manner in which it may be smoked. Indeed, we look 

 npou this part of the process as more important than a good receipt for 

 jiickling. A ham lliat is well pickled may be sjjoiled in smoking it, and 

 then no skill in cookery will take away its dark color and strong, rancid 

 laste. To make good hams, there must be a free circulation of atmosphere, 

 to that the smoke never shall become heated. A smoke never should bo 

 made in a damji, foggy, or rainy day. 



In building a smoke-house tiie farmer is more apt to regard external 

 appearances than the object for which it is intended. It may be very strong 

 and neat, but if it be built on wrong principles, it will never give satisfac- 

 tion, and the good wife will be always wondering how it is that her bacon 

 is not equal to that which she cats away from home. Kow, there is no 

 bacon in this country superior to that produced in Maryland, where the 

 smoke-houses are certainly rather primitive in their construction. They 

 are usually made of logs, rudely plastered with clay on the outside, and 

 thatched with straw. The hams are hung upon hooks driven into the 

 rafiers. The fire of chips — covered with saw-dust in order to prevent a 

 blaze — is in the middle of the floor — ground floor, generally ; and the smoke, 

 after having done its duty, escapes through the innumerable cracks and 

 openings in tlie wall and thatch. Such a building is not very ornamental, 

 but it is much more eflicient than tiiose we frequently see constructed of 

 brick or stone, with tight roof, a close-fitting door, and but one small aper- 

 ture for the escajie of tlio smoke. The great secret in the art of smoking 

 hams is to dry them in smoke, but not by heat. "When they are kept close 

 to the fire, they invariably acquire a disagreeable flavor, and often become 

 soft and greasy. The smoke should not be allowed to reach them until 

 nearly or quite cool, and to cfl'ect this some farmers have the fire outside of 

 the building, perhaps twenty or thirty feet distant, and conduct the smoke 

 to the interior through a narrow covered trench. By its passage through 

 the trench, it is cooled and purified, and there is no danger of its giving an 

 unpleasant taste to the meat. A still better plan is practiced by the people 

 of "Westphalia, whicii, as all the world knows, is celebrated for its bacon. 

 Tiic smoking is performed in extensive chambers, in the uppermost stories 

 of high buildings. Some are four or five stories above the ground, and the 

 smoke is conveyed to thena by tubes from pipes in the cellars. The vapor 

 is condensed, and the heat absorbed by the tubes, so that the smoke is both 

 dry and cool when it comes in contact with the meat. Many of the farm- 

 houses in Pennsylvania have a somewhat similar arrangement. A room is 

 partitioned off" in the garret, next to the kitclien chimney, and the hams are 

 hung front the rafters overhead. Near the floor is a small opening in the 



