BREEDS OF SWINE 517 



a discriminating market will soon pay this difference. Every animal 

 requires a certain amount of food. (Wis. 10th A. R.) 



Curing Pork on the Farm. The State Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture and Immigration (Louisiana), has, for years, employed the 

 following methods of curing pork on his farm with such success that 

 we take the liberty of reproducing them here : 



When hogs are fat, select any time during the month of De- 

 cember, January or first half of February, when weather is clear, 

 wind from the north to northwest, with the thermometer registering 

 below 35 at sunrise. Have your water hot and scald as soon as hog 

 is dead. Hang up and disembowel the animal just as soon as it is 

 cleaned. No butchering animal should ever be permitted to cool off 

 until after it is disemboweled. Cut up the carcass as soon as it is 

 through dripping. Saiw or split the backbone. Let it and the spare 

 rib remain on the side, and make them as long as you can. Hams 

 and shoulders small. Hams to sell readily should weigh from fifteen 

 to eighteen pounds. Jowl will mix very nicely with trimmings and 

 shoulder in making sausage, either for house use or the market. Feet, 

 when cleaned properly, and put, raw, in strong brine, will keep all 

 right for several months. Spread the joints and sides in your smoke 

 house, applying a small quantity of salt to each piece. Let it lay until 

 next morning to cool, then pack away, using plenty of clean salt. 



To Sugar Cure Hams. To half bushel fine salt add half pound 

 pulverized saltpeter, one pound finely ground black pepper, four 

 pounds brown sugar, mix thoroughly. Rub hams with mixture. 

 Pack in box, skin side down. Apply double handful of mixture to 

 flesh part of each ham. Then apply plenty of clean salt, never per- 

 mitting the meat to touch, without salt being between. Covering all 

 parts and filling every crevice, and let them remain in the salt six 

 weeks. 



How to Smoke Ham. After being in salt six weeks, select a 

 clear day, string each ham, and dip in a boiling solution of one pound 

 borax dissolved in fifteen gallons of water and hang up high in a 

 dark smoke house (the higher the better) and smoke, using green 

 hickory wood. Smoke daily for two weeks or more, as preferred. 

 By April 1 at latest, hams should again be dipped in boiling water, 

 to cleanse them from all impurities, wrapped in paper, then cloth, 

 and this painted with some cheap mineral paint. Hang up again and 

 leave until used or sold. 



To Make Good Sausage. Grind your meat as fine as possible; 

 don't have it too lean. Season with salt, ground black pepper, a 

 good supply of pulverized soda crackers, not too much sage, and some 

 red pepper tea. Well mix and stuff in sausage cases. Cases can be 

 secured from packing houses. (La. B, 124.) 



