THE FARMER AT HOME. 31 



burned. The great difference between animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances lies in this, the former contains azote, and the latter is desti- 

 tute of it. Owing to its feeble affinity for other substances, the num- 

 ber of compounds into which azote enters is small, and its influence 

 on agriculture, with the exception of its effect when combined with 

 animal matter, is proportion ably limited. 



BACON. The flesh of swine that has been subjected to the 

 process of smoking over a wood fire, is termed bacon ; but the parts 

 to which this term is most usually applied, and which are usually 

 chosen for bacon, are the hams, the shoulders, and the cheeks. The 

 kinds most celebrated, are the Westphalia, principally brought from 

 Hamburg ; the Hampshire, from England ; and, in the United States, 

 the Virginia, or southern ham generally. It is not known that there 

 is anything peculiar in the feeding or pickling the Hamburg hams, 

 but their superiority is attributed to the manner in which they are 

 smoked. This is performed in large chambers in the third or fourth 

 stories of buildings, to which the smoke is conducted in tubes from fires 

 of oak or maple chips in the cellars of the buildings. In passing this 

 distance, the vapor which smoke usually holds is deposited, and the 

 hams are perfectly dry and cool during the whole process. 



The Hampshire bacon is made from pork not scalded in dressing, 

 but deprived of the hair by quick fires of straw or other combustible 

 materials. This singeing is repeated two or three times, as the case 

 may require, when the hog is cut up, pickled, and carefully smoked. 

 These hams are particularly hard and fine, which is attributed to the 

 skin not having been softened by scalding. 



Virginia, or southern hams, are supposed to owe much of their 

 superior flavor to the animals being allowed to run at large the most 

 of the time of feeding, to their being much in the woods, and wild, 

 giving more firmness to the muscles, and to their feeding much on 

 acorns and other products of the forests. Virginia hams are usually 

 small, the hogs themselves rarely weighing over two hundred, and 

 the pickling and smoking is performed in the best manner. The 

 great defects in smoking commonly are, the hams are kept too near 

 the fire, and the condensation of the vapor keeps them wet. Drying 

 while smoking is indispensable to good bacon. 



BACON FOSSIL. A singular fossil was discovered not many 

 years since, bearing this name. Some workmen, in sinking a pole, 

 in a parish of Devon, on arriving at a depth of ten feet from the sur- 

 face, struck upon a spongy substance of a brown color. They soon 

 found pieces of bone and solid fat of the same hue. At length, the 

 entire body of a hog was extricated, reduced to the color and substance 

 of an Egyptian mummy. The flesh w r as six inches thick, and the 

 hair upon it very long and elastic. On proceeding in the work, a 

 considerable number of hogs, of various sizes, were found in different 

 positions, in some places two or three together, in others single ; thr 



