238 DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



the shank of the first, and so until all arc placed ; they are then 

 sprinkled with strong pickle from a watering pot, and a small quantity 

 of salt is shaken over them. Next day, the hams are taken up, well 

 rubbed with salt, and laid down as before, when saltpetre is shaken over 

 them in quantities proportionate to their size ; they are left so for two 

 days, and then taken up and rubbed as before, when they are laid down 

 again, according to the space they have to fill — from three to six hams 

 in height, with layers of salt between. After six days, the hams are 

 reversed in the piles, that is, those that were packed on the top are put 

 at the bottom. They then remain for six days longer in the pile, when 

 they are considered cured. They are then taken up, and washed, and 

 hung up to dry in the air. When they are to be smoked, they should 

 be placed in a house made for that purpose, and smoked — in Belfast, 

 with wheaten straw and saw-dust, in Limerick with peat or turf. 



"The English method of cutting up and curing is similar to that 

 practiced in Belfast and Limerick, with the difference that, with the 

 exception of Hampshire and I believe one other county, they never 

 smoke their bacon. 



" We have, this season, had imported a great quantity of hams and 

 other bacon from Cincinnati and Baltimore, in America. They are cut 

 in the same manner as the Limerick, and are in much esteem. The 

 cured shoulders of the hog have also been imported — cut straight 

 across, with the blade in, and the shank left attached. We have also 

 received middles, and quantities of pork, in barrels, which is merely the 

 hog cut up in pieces, and pickled. 



" I have reason to know that there are at the present time numbers 

 of curers emigrating from our best curing districts to America, and we 

 may accordingly expect, ere long, to find our American hams surpass- 

 ing, owing to the quality of the hogs they will have to operate upon, 

 even our long-famed Limerick hams." 



LIVE-STOCK NUMBER TO BE KEPT, ETC. 



The animals necessary for the stocking and cultivation of a farm, and 

 those which are kept on it for profit, or for the sake of their dung, are 

 called the live-stock of the farm, in contra-distinction to the dead-stock, 

 which consists of the implements of husbandry and the produce stored 

 up for use. 



The live-stock on a farm must vary according to circumstances. The 

 number of horses or oxen kept for the cultivation of the land and other 

 farming operations should be exactly proportioned to the work to be 

 done. If they are too few, none of the operations will be performed in 

 their proper time, and the crops will suffer in consequence. If there 

 are too many, the surplus beyond what is strictly required is maintain- 

 ed out of the profits of the farm. To have the exact number of animals 

 which will give the greatest profit is one of the most important prob- 

 lems which a farmer has to solve : what may be very profitable in one 

 case may be the reverse in another; and, as a general maxim, it may 

 be laid down, that the fewer mouths he has to feed, unless they pioduce 

 an evident profit, the less loss he i« likely to incur. But this rule ad- 



