210 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAN. 6 



41. 



addition to the permanent benefit afforded the 

 soil. 



In maldnp: pork tlie food used, nnd its prepara- 

 tion is a most essential part of the process; for the 

 most perfrct piffs, and tlio best arr;iii;i'd pens do 

 not make first rate pork without plenty of good 

 food. No good fanner ever attempts to see with 

 how little food he can keep his animals, sninmer 

 or winter, or fatten them ; his object is to ascer- 

 tain liow o-o id food can be most beneficially em- 

 ployed, and made the most profitable. Different 

 substances are of very different values for falten- 

 inir animals, although a snfticient supply of nearly 

 any kind of food, will cause lliem to improve ; this 

 value in most kinds is very much increased by 

 cookinir, or other preparation. A few words will 

 e.tplain why cooked liiod is more nutritive than 

 that which is in a raw state. Raspuil and Kiot, by 

 an able and curious series of experiments, proved 

 that the nutritive power of any substance lies in 

 tiie farinaceous globules, and that to be available, 

 these globules must first have their envelop crush- 

 ed, or othcrwi.se ruptured. This is partially done 

 by grinding, still more by masticiition, but never so 

 coniphtely as by boiling, or subjection to an ele- 

 vated tenijieraturc. In that case the matter in the 

 globules expands, bursts the envelop, and of course 

 ia wholly appropriated to the pur|ioses of nourish- 

 ment. Kxperiments a thousand times repeated, 

 demonstrate the justness (d" these conclusions, and 

 prove that the man who attempts to fatten animals 

 on uncooked food, overlooks the simplest principles 

 of domestic economy. I'.oots and fruit are best 

 cooked by steaming. A large proportion of the 

 pork made at the present day, is partially or wholly 

 fed on potatoes or apples. To give these with 

 profit, steaming is indispensable; and the appara- 

 tus is as simple and cheap as it is efficient (or doing 

 this. A box or vat of the size required, is made of 

 plank closely grooved and secured at the corners, 

 on the bottom of which common sheet iron is thick- 

 ly nailed, which will give the box the power of re- 

 taining water. This box with a tight lid, is placed 

 on bars of iron over a fire flue, and the substances 

 placed in this are quickly and fully cooked. Steain- 

 ers made in this way are used for scalding hogs, 

 and by some for making maple sugar. 



In the United States, Indian corn may be con- 

 sidered the main article for feeding swine, although 

 many other kinds of food are useri, as circumstan- 

 ces may require. Corn, however, stands so deci- 

 dedly at the head of all other substances used for 

 making pork, wherever it can be grown, that the 

 best method of feeding it becomes an object of na- 

 tional importance. It is most generally fed to pigs 

 in the ear, frequently thrown upon the ground or 

 the mud — practices far from economical. It is 

 sometimes soaked in water until softened and 

 swelled, or ground into meal and mixed up with 

 water at the time of feeding. Either of these 

 methods is preferable to feeding the, grain to them 

 in the ear; but in none <if these ways do the hogs 

 derive the full benetit of the corn given them. " U 

 should be ground and made into pudding by the 

 addition of a large quantity of water, and long 

 boiling. SiKUild any one have doubts as to the 

 great tJaving whch would be effected by this )ire- 

 paration of corn, we think his doubts would bo re- 

 moved by an examination of the series of experi- 

 ments made by Mr Colinan, of i\lass., and to be 

 found in the 'I'ransactiuns of the Essex Co. Ag. So- 

 ciety lor 1835, or the abndgeinent of them in the 

 ■American Swine Breeder, by .Mr Ellsworth. The 



experiments of Mr Colman have been repeated and 

 varied many times with the same results, and one 

 recorded in the first vohinie of the Farmer's Cabi- 

 net, made in the most satisl'actory manner, shows 

 that the saving of feeding hogs on pudding, over 

 that of fording on shelled corn, is fully equal to 

 one half of the grain used. Some experiments 

 made in feeding animals with meal made by grind- 

 ing the corn and cob together, and cooking the 

 wliole, would seem to show that the gain in this 

 way was equal to one third of the grain used. This 

 is not improbable, when it is recollected that where 

 food contains large quantities of nutriment, more is 

 usually taken into the stomach than can be appro- 

 priated, and is therefore lost. The stomach, to 

 [lerform its (unctions completely, requires disten- 

 tion as well as nourishment ; and it seems likely 

 that the desired proportion between bulk and nu 

 tritie matter, is much more nearly gained by grind- 

 ing the cob than usina the grain without it. It is 

 on the same principle that the oat is found better 

 n>r the horse than any other grain ; namely, be- 

 cause the relation between notriment and the re- 

 quired bulk for distending the stomach, is better 

 fulfilled in this grain than any other. 



But though corn may be considered the best of 

 all grains for making pork, there are others used 

 which are more or less valuable. In England, 

 where corn is unknown, pork is made by feeding 

 peas and barley ground together ; and this is prob- 

 ably of all substances, the one that approaches 

 neare.st to corn in feeding swine. Roots are also 

 extensively grown for this purpose ; apples are 

 very valuable ; hut whatever may he the article 

 used to begin with, the feeding must be finished 

 with grain or peas. There may be bulk without 

 this, but solidity and sweetness will be wantijig. 

 It will resemble meat made at the distillery ; the 

 hams will lack fiimness, the lard will be oily, the 

 pork shrinks in cooking, or will not wear well. — 

 The best pork, therelorc, can only be made by the 

 useof corn, pens or barley ; and this should be 

 well understood and practiced upon by the farmer. 

 But in the use of these materials and their prepara- 

 tion, much, if not all of the profit of feeding is de- 

 i pending; and in fattening twenty porkers, some 

 farmers waste food enough to ft ed at least a quar- 

 ter more, if properly managed. Let the man who 

 I wishes to take lesson* in feeding pigs, vit-it a Sha- 

 [ ker's establishment ; let hirn see the attention with 

 J which their pens arc littered; the neatness with 

 which they are kept; the nicety with which the 

 food is prepared and served out to them, and he 

 will not be surprized at the thrift and condition of 

 hogs 30 cared for or the profit resulting from the 

 process. 



Alter hogs have reached a certain point of fat- 

 ness, there is no profit in keeping them longer ; for 

 though they consume little food, they gain little in 

 weight, and do not compensate for the care and 

 tr'>nb-le of feeding. It is true this point is not com- 

 monly reached. .in feeding swine; and more are 

 killed before they iiave reached the point of great- 

 est profit, (that is before they have become fuily 

 larded or their flesh solid,) than after that time. — 

 No small part of the goodness of pork depends up- 

 on the operation of killing and dressing; and these 

 should receive strict attention. In bleeding a pig, 

 some will so mangle the throat, and so hack and 

 saw the shoulders with the knife, that more meat 

 will be lost from its bloody state than would pay 

 for dressing the animal in the best manner. Tlien 

 the scalding and removal of the hair is so imper- 



fectly done as to render every part of the rind a 

 nuisance in cooking ; whereas this part of dressing 

 a ]iig should be performed with the greatest care, 

 and finished in the most perfect manner. Two 

 methods of removing the hair arc practiced in Eng- 

 land. In one, the pari of the animal to be scalded 

 is covered with a thick woollen cloth, and this is 

 kept saturated with hot water till the h..ir and 

 scurf comes off easily and smootlily, and this pro- 

 cess is continued by removing the cloth till the 

 whole is finished. In those parts of that country 

 celebrated for their bacon, as H..mp;hire and Lin- 

 colnshire, the animal, instead of being scalded, is 

 singed. He is laid on his side, covered with dry 

 straw, which is burned off, and the operation is re- 

 peated until the hair is destroyed. The reason 

 given fir this is, that scalding sot'tens the skin, and 

 renders it impossible to make the pork into bacon 

 of the best (piality. In this country, scalding is 

 universally practiced, and is generally performed 

 in a tub or kettle, and if effectually performed, is 

 perhaps the best way on the whole, that can be 

 adopted. 



After a hog is killed and dressed, the operations 

 of salting and packing are to be performed, and on 

 these much is depending. H<igs should never 

 freeze beforecutting up, but should be thoroughly 

 cooled beforecutting and salting. If they hang 

 out all night, unless there is danger of freezing, 

 they will cut up better, take the salt well, and 

 make far sweeter pork, than if the operation of cut- 

 ting and salting is hurried through before there 

 has been time to cool. Heavy, thick hogs rei|uir8 

 particular attention to being spread cqieii, or there 

 is great danger of their spoiling in the thickest part 

 near the back bone. VVc liave known fine Logs so 

 injured in this way, by a little haste in taking them 

 down, and not airing tliein fully, that they were 

 lost to the grower. Be particular, then, that your 

 hogs cool well. Before commencing operations it 

 is necessary that every thing be in order for pack- 

 ing ; that the tubs and barrels are perfectly tight; 

 thatthe salt be of the best quality and in abun- 

 dance ; and then the pork may be cut according 

 to the purpose of the proprietor, whether intended 

 for bacon, barrelling or domestic use. 



None but good salt should be used in packing 

 pork. Rock salt, or Onondaga coarse salt is the 

 best, and where they can be obtained, should al- 

 ways have the preference. The common salt of 

 Onondaga or Kcnhawa, or Turk's Island, will do 

 very well, but all of these have some impurities, 

 that more or less injuriously affect the meat. Per- 

 haps there is no salt superior to the Onondaga 

 coarse salt, or that made by evaporation, for any 

 purpose where strength and purity are the main 

 considerations. At Cincinnati, the great pork 

 market of the United States, 50 lbs. of Turk's Is- 

 land salt is allowed to a barrel, or 200 lbs. of pork ; 

 and in addition to this, salt added to water to the 

 point of saturation, or strong brine, is used to fill 

 the barrels after heading. Of R"ck salt, or On- 

 ondaga coarse, from half a bushel to three pecks is 

 used for ."300 lbs., the barrels to be afterwards tilled 

 with saturated brine. 



Almost every fanner has his own method of cut- 

 tiiiu up his hogs, and packing them ; while the law- 

 prescribes the manner of packing when intended 

 for the market ; and mulliludes of recipes for pick- 

 li.ig pork or hams i.iay be found in the agricultural 

 ■and other publications of the day. 



[We are compelled to defer the residue of the 

 article until our next.] 



