220 



NEW ENGLAND FARM E R 



Jan. 13, 1841. 



Friim the Albmiy Cultivalor. 



MANAGEMi:i\T OF PORK. 



[Coiicliided.] 



In Europe, the Russian pork bears a high price; 

 and its quality is supposed to bo owitior to the 

 pickle ill which it is preservcil. This is called the 

 "Empress of Russia's Brine," and is prepared as 

 follows: boil tugetlier over a gentle lire six pdunds 

 of common salt, (that in most common use in Russia 

 is rock salt.) two pounds uf powdered loaf .'ogar, 

 three ounces of salt petre, and three gallons of 

 spring (ir pure waler. Skim it while boiling, and 

 when quite cold, pour it over the meat, every part 

 of which must be covered with the brine. Small 

 pork will be sufficiently cuied in four or five days; 

 hams intended for drying, in two weeks, unless 

 they are very large. This pickle muy be used 

 again and again, if it bo fresh boih^d up with a 

 small addition lo the ingrfdients. Refore putting 

 the meat into the brine, wash it in water, press out 

 the blood, and wipe it clean. 



Pickling tubs should be larger at the bottom 

 than at top, by which means when well packed, 

 the pork will retain its place until the last layer is 

 exhausted. When the pork is cool, it runy be cut 

 up, the hams and shoulders reserved for bacon, and 

 the remainder salted. Cover the bottom <.f the 

 tub or barrel with rock salt, and on it place a layer 

 of meat, and so on till the tub is rilled. Use the 

 salt liberally, and fill the barrel with strong brine, 

 boiled and skimmed, and then cooled. 'I ho fol- 

 lowing method of preparing hams and shoulders is 

 a good (me ; as many who have tried it in substance 

 can testify. 



To ascertain the probable weight of the meat to 

 be prepared, weigh a number of the hams and 

 Bhoulders. Then pack them with rock salt in a 

 suitable tub or cask, being careful not to lay the 

 flat sides of the large pieces upon each other, and 

 filling the intervals with hocks, jowls, &c. To 

 eveiy ;iO(l lbs. of meat, then take twenty lbs. of 

 rock salt, or Onondaga coarse salt, one lb. of salt- 

 petre, and fourteen lbs. of brown sugar, or half a 

 gallon of good molasses, and as much water (pure 

 spring water is the best) as will cover the meat: 

 put the whole in a clean vessel, boil and scum ; 

 then set it aside to cool, and pour it on the meat 

 till the whole is coveted some three or four inches. 

 Hams weighing from 1 > to 15 lbs. must lie in this 

 pickle about five weeks ; from 1.") to 2.5 lbs. six 

 weeks; from '.^5 to 45 lbs. seven weeks. On taking 

 them out, soak them in cold water two or three 

 hours to remove the surface salt; then wipe and 

 dry them. It is a good plan in cutting up to take 

 off the feet and hocks with a saw instead of an axr, 

 as it leaves a smooth surface, and no fractures for 

 the lodgment of the tly. Some make only six 

 pieces of a trimmed hog tor salting ; but it is more 

 convenient when intended for domestic use, to have 

 the side pork, as it is called, cut in smaller pieces. 



The goodness of hams and shoulders and their 

 preservation, depends greatly on their smokiug as- 

 well as salting. Owing to some misconstruction 

 of the smoke-house, lo the surlace of the meat not 

 being properly freed from saline matter, or other 

 catses, it not unfrequetitly happens that during the 

 process of smoking, the meat is constantly moist, 

 «nd imbibes a pyroligneou.s ncid taste and smell, 

 destructive of its good (pialities. The requisites of 

 a smoke-house are, that it should be perfectly dry ; 

 not warmed by the fire that makes the smoke ; so 



far from the fire that any vapor thrown off in the 

 smoke may be condensed before reaching the meat ; 

 so close as to exclude all flies, mice, iSic, and yet 

 capable of ventilation and escape of smoke. The 

 VVestphahan hams are the most celebrated in Eu- 

 rope, principally cured at and exported from Ham- 

 burg. The smoking of these is performed in ex- 

 tensive chambers in the upper stories of high build- 

 ings, some of four or five stories ; and the smoke 

 is conveyed to these rooms from fires in the cellar, 

 through tubes on which the vapor is condensed and 

 the heat absorbed, so that the smoke is both dry 

 and cool when it comes in contact with the meat. 

 They are thus kept perfectly dry, and acquiie a 

 color and flavor unknown to those smoked in the 

 common method. Hams after being smoked may 

 be kept any length of time, by being packed in 

 dry ashes, powdered charcoal, or by being kept in 

 the smoke-house, if that is secure against the fly, or 

 a smoke is made under them once a week. When 

 meat is fully smoked and dried, it may be kept 

 hung up in any dry room, by slipping over it a cot- 

 ton bag, the neck of which is closely tied around 

 the string which supports the meat, and thus ex- 

 cludes the bacon bug, fly, &c. 'J'he small part of 

 a ham, shoulder, &c. shoiild always be hung down- 

 wards in the process of smokiug, or when suspend- 

 ed for preservation. 



Krom the same. 



WINTER BUTTER. 



Of all the products of the dairy, there is none 

 more extensively used than butter ; and there is 

 none, the preparation of which requires more care, 

 or better repays a little extra attention. The dif- 

 ference between good and bad butter is as wide as 

 between the zenith and the nadir; and there is 

 nothing more advantageous to the dairywoman, or 

 more to be coveted by her than a high reputation 

 for the quality of this article. Good butter always 

 indicates good order, great neatness, personal su- 

 pervision, domestic industry, and skill in house- 

 wifery ; and when a man carries an inferior article 

 lo market, the opinion entertained of his wife is di- 

 rectly the reverse of this. 



The first thine; to be attended to in making sweet 

 butter, and butter that will keep, is the perfect pu- 

 rity of every thing used in the manufacture. Not 

 only the vessels used, the pails, pans, churns, litc, 

 but the room in which the milk is set, and the air 

 which circulates in it, while the cream is rising, 

 should be clean and free from every offensive odor 

 whatever. 



The temperature also of the milk while rising, 

 and of the cream while churning, is of much mo- 

 ment. Cream on the milk will be injured or melt- 

 ed, by too high a temperature, as well as while the 

 churning process is going on : and if the tempera- 

 ture is too low, the cream rises so slowly that it 

 becomes bitter and the butter of course is unpali- 

 tabie. A temperature of from 50° to (10°, has been 

 thought the best for the milk room, and from (ii)" 

 to 05" will make good butter. The churning after 

 it commences, should proceed without intermission 

 until the butter is formed, and separated from the 

 milk as far as it can be in this stage of the process. 



The salting of the butter is a matter essential to 

 its good quality. 'J'oo frequently, salt of a coarse, 

 inferior descriptitm is used ; and so much is put in 

 that it remains undissolved, gritting like sand in 

 the teeth, and provoking uncomfortable thirst. The 



salt for butter should be of the purest kind, made'; 

 as fine as it can be by grinding, and i' a little pow. 

 dered salt petrc is mixed with it, it will be none 

 the worse. Some have recommended five pounds 

 of good salt, eight ounces of salt petre and one 

 pound of first rate loaf sugar, thoroughly incorpo- 

 rated and used for salting, at the rate of an ounce 

 and a half to the pound of butter. If the salt is of 

 the right kind, and the butter is correct in other 

 respects, it may be questioned whether the addi- 

 tion of any fiireign ingredient is not tube depre- 

 cated. 



The great point in making good butter, and that 

 which will keep, is the freeing it from all butter- 

 milk; and if every thing else is well done, if this 

 point is overlooked, good butter is impossible for 

 any length of time. The mivure of milk in any 

 degree with the butter is sure to produce frowi- 

 ness or an unpleasant taste to the butter; and the 

 entire freedom from this, constitutes the grand se- 

 cret of making good butter. There are many who 

 think washing butter with water incompatible with 

 retaining tho rich flavor, but if the water is cold 

 and pure, it is scarcely possible any thing should 

 be washed away, the buttermilk which destroys the 

 flavor of all butter excepted. Besides, the best 

 butter in the world and that which in all markets 

 comiuands the best price, viz: Dutch butter, is in- 

 variably made in this way; and where the exam- 

 ple has been followed by others, it has rarely failed 

 of success. If any, however, doubt the propriety 

 of washing bu;,ter, they may use riny method they 

 choose, provided the milk is separated perfectly. 

 Perfectly freed from the substance that causes 

 it to assume the putrid frowy taste of bad butter, it 

 may be kept with almost as much ease as tallow ; 

 and solidity in packing, clean, sweet vessels, and 

 a low temperature, will ensure its keeping lor any 

 reasonable time. Let no one expect good butter, 

 however, so Umg as coarse, impure salt is used, or 

 a particle of the buttermilk is allowed to remain in 

 it. 



The following article is copied, not mainly for 

 the purpose of publishing the fact that Mr Williams 

 obtained a large crop of corn, for the knowledge 

 of such a fact is of but little use, unless there are 

 some peculiarities in the mode of producing it 

 which may be imitated by others. The principles 

 which governed this Kentucky farmer are applica- 

 ble in all ihe States, and are in perfect accordance 

 with the results to which our own observations have 

 led us, and which we have before made public. 

 'I'he roots of the growing crop must be spared by 

 the hoe, the cultivalor and the plough ; while the 

 surface of the land is so often stirred as to afford 

 free action to ligkt and air. Deep ploughing be- 

 tween the rows, and high hilling may hasten the 

 maturity of the crop ; we believe it will cause corn 

 to ripen several days earlier; but it is done at the 

 expense of productiveness. The crop will be leas. 

 — Eu. 



From the Kunlucky F, inner. 



EXPERIMENTAL CROP OF CORN. 

 Deaii Sir — You will be pleased no doubt to 

 learn the result of an experiment made by me in 

 the cultivation of corn. The certificate below, will 

 show the quantity of ground cultivated and the 

 amount of product, and it remains only to describe 

 the character of the soil and seed, and the mode of 

 cultivation. 



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