1020 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



and the full grown hogs are for the most part converted into ham and bacon. The demand 

 for porkers, which for London in particular is very great, and which continues almost 

 throughout the year, is chiefly supplied from the dairies within reach of that metropolis. 



Skct. IV. Of curing Pork and Bacon. 



6576. The curing or pickling of pork is carried on to a considerable extent at many of 

 our sea-ports. The carcase is cut in pieces, and packed in casks or kits, made for the 

 purpose, containing from one to two hundred weight. Salt is dissolved in water till the 

 mixture be strong enough to swim an egg ; it is then boiled, and, when cold, poured 

 upon the pork : when the end of the cask is fixed in, the article is ready for being sent to 

 market. Henderson, a late writer, has given particular directions for the curing of bacon, 

 founded upon a long course of experience, which, therefore, deserves to be more 

 generally known. 



6577. The curing of bacon is thus described by Henderson, after much expe- 

 rience. After the carcase has hung all night, lay it upon a strong table, or bench, upon 

 its back ; cut off the head close by the ears, and cut the hinder feet so far below the hough 

 as will not disfigure the hams, and leave plenty of room to hang them by ; then take a 

 cleaving knife, and, if necessary, a hand mallet, and divide the carcase up the middle of 

 the back bone, laying it in two equal halves : then cut the ham from the side by the 

 second joint of the back bone, which will appear on dividing the carcase ; then dress the 

 ham, by paring a little otF the flank or skinny part, so as to shape it with a half round 

 point, clearing off any top fat that may appear ; the curer will next take off the sharp 

 edge along the back-bone with his knife and mallet, and slice off the first rib next the 

 shoulder, where he will perceive a bloody vein, which he must take out, for if it is left in, 

 that part is apt to spoil. The corners must be squared off where the ham was cut out. 



6578. In killing a number of swine, what sides you may have dressed the first day, lay upon some flags or 

 boards, piling them up across each other, and giving each pitch a powdering of saltpetre, and [then cover- 

 ing it with salt : proceed in the same manner with the hams, by themselves, and do not omit giving them 

 a little saltpetre, as it opens the pores of the flesh to receive the salt, and, besides, gives the ham a pleasant 

 flavor, and makes it more juicy. Let them lie in this state about a week, then turn those on the top 

 undermost, giving them a fresh salting : after lying two or three weeks longer, they may be hung up to 

 dry in some chimney, or smoke house ; or, if the curer chooses, he may turn them over again without 

 ^giving them any more salt, in which state they may lie for a month or two without catching any harm, 

 until he has convenience for drying them. Henderson practised for many years the custom of carting his 

 flitches and hams through the country to farm houses, and used to hang them in their chimnies, and other 

 parts of the house to dry, some seasons, to the amount of five hundred carcases: this plan he soon found 

 was attended with a number of inconveniences, and therefore he invented a smoking house. 



6579. Henderson's smoking house is about twelve feet square, and the walls about seven feet high : 

 one of these huts require six joists across, one close to each wall, the other four laid asunder, at 

 proper distances. To receive fire rows of flitches, they must be laid in the top of the wall ; a piece of 

 wood strong enough to bear the weight of one flitch of bacon, must be fixed across the belly end of the 

 flitch, by two strings, as the neck end must hang downwards : the piece of wood must be longer than the 

 flitch is wide, so tliat each end may rest upon a beam ; they may be put so near to each other as not to 

 touch ; the width of it will hold twenty-four flitches in a row, and there will be five rows, which will con- 

 tain one hundred and twenty flitches j as many hams may be hung at the same time above the flitches 

 contrived in the best manner we can. The lower end of the flitches will be within two, and a half or three 

 feet of the floor, which must be covered five or six inches thick with saw-dust, and must be kindled at 

 two different sides ; it will burn, but not cause any flame to injure the bacon. The door must be kept 

 close, and the hut must have a small hole in the roof, so that part of the smoke may ascend. That lot of 

 bacon and hams will be ready to pack up in a hogshead, to send off in eight or ten days, or a little 

 longer, if required, with very little loss of weight. After the bacon is salted, it may lie in the salt-house 

 a^ described, until an order is received, then immediately hang it upto[dry. Henderson found this smoke- 

 house to be a great saving, not only in the expense and trouble of eriiploying men to cart and hang it 

 through the country, but it did not lose nearly so much weight by this process. 



6580. In the disposal of bacon, whatever is shipped for the London market, or any 

 other, both bacon and hams, must be packed into a sugar hogshead, or something similar, 

 to hold about ten hundred weight. Bacon can only be cured from the middle of Septem- 

 ber, until the middle of April. {Hendersons Treatise on Swine, p. 39.) 



Sect V. Of the Diseases of Swine. 



658 1 . Swine are subject to various diseases, but according to Laurence, they are not easily 

 doctored. They are subject, he says, to pox or measles, blood striking, staggers, quin- 

 cy, indigestion, catarrh, peripneumonia, and inflammation of the lungs called heavings. 

 When sick, pigs will eat, and they will take medicine in their wash ; when they will not 

 eat, there is no help for them. As aperients, cleansers, and alteratives, sulphur, antimony, 

 and madder, are our grand specifics, and they are truly useful. As cordials and tonics, 

 treacle and strong beer,, in warm wash, and good pease and pollard. In the measles, sul- 

 phur, &c. and, if the patient require it, give cordials now and then ; in staggers, bleeding, 

 fresh air, and perhaps nitre ; in catarrh, a warm bed, and warm cordial wash, and the same 

 in quincy, or inflammation of the glands in the throat. If external suppuration appear 

 likely, discharge the matter when ripe, and dress with tar and brandy, or balsam. The 

 heavings or unsoundness of the lungs in pigs, like the unsoundness of the liver in lambs, 

 is sometimes found to be hereditary ; there is no remedy. This disease in pigs is 

 often the consequence of colds from wet lodging, or of hasty feeding in a poor state ; in 

 a certain stage it is highly inflammatory, and without remedy. Unction with train oil, 

 and the internal use of it, have been sometimes thought beneficial. 



