to correct acidity in the stomach — a disorder 

 common to slicep even in Spain, bat of a much 

 more serious nature in the damp climate of 

 Great Britain, more particularly when stocked 

 on crecn. floaty food, *uch as turnips, vetches, 

 and young clover. 8alt may not be a specific 

 on land naturally unsound — such land it is mad- 

 ness, at any rate, to stock \vith sheep : but 

 where tlie rot occasionally prevails, those who 

 hare carefully noted how salt atfects cattle, can 

 hazard little in supposin?' that the disease will 

 be much les^ heard of ■when such a correcrive 

 is applied." There can be no doubt that .-alt is 

 a great preventive of the rot, and of those para- 

 sitic creatures called Jiitkcs. which attack the 

 liver of the sheep. The flocks that feed on the 

 syeuelic hills of the Cheviot, and adjacent and 

 similar soil.s, the shepherds say, may pine, but 

 cannot rot. •' In visiting: Mr. Mosselman. \vho 

 occupies a larsje farm on the Continent. I was 

 surprised."' sa\"s Sir John Sinclair, ■• to find a 

 quantity of rock sal: from Cheshire. He assured 

 me that, by allowins: the sheep to lick it, the rot 

 \^'as efieciually prevented." In Spain, salt is 

 given as a medicine for the rot. Sir John also 

 tells us that a Mr. Bracebridge "drenched some 

 rotten sheep, night and morning, with strong 

 brine, after which ho did not lose one ; thev be- 



came fat. and the meat was fine and good, as if 

 the animals had never been affected." Mr. Cur- 

 wen saj-s that, after his first trial of salt upon 

 sheep, out of fifty shearling Devons which he 

 killed, there was not one unsound ; whereas, 

 previous to the use of salt, it was rare to tind a 

 liver that was not more or less tainted. lu short, 

 salt keeps a flock healthy, does no harm, and 

 the expense of providing it is but small The 

 Saxons and Spaniards attribute the superior 

 fineness of their wools wholly to their liberal 

 use of salt. Everj- sheep ought to have two 

 ounces of salt per week, spread very thin upon 

 tiles or slates in tlie field. 



To cold-blooded animals, inhabiting the land 

 and fre.5h ^\-ater. salt seems always to prove fa- 

 tal. The Prince of Musignano, an able and cel- 

 ebrated zoologist, says of the warty newt, ( Tri- 

 ton cristatns, Lawr.) that if a little salt be 

 sprinkled upon it, it dies with the most violent 

 couN-ulsioas, although this amphibian is general- 

 ly so highly tenacious of life. Salt proves equal- 

 ly fatal to earth-worms, snails, slugs and insects. 

 Hence salt and water, poured over gravel \valks, 

 preserves them in good order, by destroj-ing the 

 worms whose earth-casts are so unsightly. To 

 destroy insects, salt is best administered with a 

 garden sjringe. [Jour, of Hi>;h. & Ag.Soc oiScot. 



ON THE CURING OF PROVISIONS 

 FOR THE BRITISH MARKET. 



L. Ti'CKER, Esq: The curing of meat is a 

 business we are daily engaged in : an art attained 

 by precepts and founded ou principles, tlie 

 knowledge of which is of immense importance 

 not only to the health, but to the comforts and 

 economy of man : yet strange to say, it is a 

 science about which not one word has ever 

 been written : and that we look in vain through 

 the printed masses of the new and old world, 

 for a sin-'le treatise upon tlie subject. When 

 you reflect upon this fact, you and your readers 

 will. I trust, be lenient in your criticisms on 

 this, my tirst attempt at vi/rs'f essay on the sub- 

 ject: more panicularly when I tell you, I am 

 prompted by no other motive than to increa.se 

 the value and interest of your invaluable publi- 

 cation : to instnict your readers, and to open the 

 eyes of the many persons engaced in the busi- 

 ness to the niinntiiii that must be obsei^-ed, and 

 the difliculties that must be overcome, iu order 

 to pursue the trade successfully. ; 



Ude. in his celebrated Iwok on Cooker}-, in ' 

 giving instructions how to make h:ire soup", sig- 

 nificantly says. '• first catch the hare." It is not 

 of more importance to catch the hare to make 

 the soup, than it is, in putting up beef for the 

 British market, to first get the beef of tlie right 

 size and quality. The quality is found amons- 

 the fattest and best fed cattle you can obtain ; 

 and the size must range between 600 and t'OO 

 lbs. — beinir that which invariably cuts up to the 

 best advantage : having more prime pieces, both 

 in weight and number, compared with the 

 \vhoie weight o{ the carca.«s. than any other size 

 we can select. Having obtained tlic cattle, our 



next care must be to have them properly killed; 

 and here it is of great importance to your suc- 

 cess in curin?, tliat not only the blood of each 

 animal should be well and tlioroushly drawn, 

 but that everj- animal should be allowed suffi- 

 cient time to rest off its journey — say from 24 to 

 48 hours, according to circumstances — so as to 

 allo\T the fever consequent on driving any dis- 

 tance to subside before you kill it 



The business of packins: is divided into two 

 parts ; the first is to cure the meat — the second 

 is to presarve it when cured. In the packing- 

 house, the first preparation that should be made 

 for business is the making of the brine in which 

 the beef is to be cured. By way of parenthe- 

 sis, it may as well be here noted that neither 

 Kanawha, ZanesviUe orGroose Creek salt should 

 be allowed to touch your meat, either directly. 

 by mixture with other salt, or indirectly through 

 the medium of brine ; for .so sure as any of these 

 salts are used, so sure will your meat become 

 slimy like fish, and be imperfectly cured. The 

 best salt I know of for curing, is the Liverpool 

 coarse sack salt, as it is called. The brine should 

 be made for at lea.st 10 or 14 days before it is 

 required ; it should be made in large vats or 

 hosrsheads with a sufficient quantity of finely 

 powdered saltpetre addetl. to give the beef that 

 red color which so plea.ses the eye from long 

 habit : it should be allowed to settle down and 

 refine, and. when drawn off into the tubs where 

 the beef is to be cured, it should be clear, and 

 entirely free from any sodinient or impurity. — 

 The strength should also be tested — which, in 

 the absence of a regular brine tester, mav be 



