CHAP. XXIV.] FARMING FOR LADIES. 489 



of treating the carcass : either by taking the 

 bristles out with scalding water, or burning 

 them off with straw. The former may, per- 

 haps, be the best for preparing navy and 

 pickled pork ; but when the meat is to be 

 cured for bacon, the singeing of the bristles 

 is decidedly the best. The first method, 

 by softening the skin, renders it loose and 

 flabby, and injures the consistence of the fat ; 

 while the latter contracts and strengthens it, 

 thereby increasing and guarding the firmness 

 of the fat and imparting a flavour to the meat 

 very far superior to that of the scalded hog. 

 It is, indeed, partly to this method that the 

 Hampshire bacon has acquired its reputation 

 for excellence, which is thus performed : — 



The hog being killed, the first process is to 

 " swale" him, or singe off" the bristles ; which 

 is done by laying the dead animal on one 

 side and covering it thinly with straw, to be 

 lighted on the windward side, and renewed 

 as it burns away — taking care, however, not 

 to scorch the skin. The other side is then 

 turned, and when the process of singeing is 

 completed, the bristles are scraped off" dry. 



The carcass is then hung up all night to 



