104 



Curing Pork- 



- Keeping Farm Jlccounts. 



Vol. II. 



Animals which cannot be guarded by a fence 

 of ordinary height and strength, should be 

 kept in the stable or other safe enclosure, 

 lest they teach others bad habits. 



All fences of this description should bo 

 moved, (or new set) at each rotation, for the 

 double purpose of giving the rails a new 

 bearing one upon another, in order to pre- 

 serve them as long as possible; and also for 

 the purpose of bringing the ground formerly 

 occupied by the fence into a rotation of crops 

 to prevent foulness or to destroy -luch nox- 

 ious plants as may have started during the 

 preceding rotation. 



Such fences put upon ground well set with 

 grass, are not so liable to be surrounded by 

 noxious 'plants, or foulness, as when placed 

 upon land recently ploughed. F, 



21st of October, 1^37. 



C Firing Pork. 



Mr. Editor, — In the New York Farmer 

 I noticed a recipe for making " Knickerbock- 

 er pickle," for beef or pork. I will give 

 mine, which I have used twenty-six years 

 with uniform success, and I will tell you how 

 and whore 1 got it. In August 1805, I 

 lodged from Saturday to Monday with an inn- 

 keeper in Cherry Valley, N. J., (who was 

 also a farmer.) On the table, for Sunday's 

 dinner, there was a fine piece of pickled pork, 

 boiled the day before; I tasted it, and thought 

 it the most delicious I ever ate. I requested 

 " mine host" to give me his recipe for curing 

 pork. He replied he would do so with plea- 

 sure, and proceeded as follows: — 



" As soon as my hogs are dressed and cool 

 enough to be cut, I pack the side pieces in a 

 barrel or cask, with plenty of salt on all sides 

 of each piece, and when my cask is full I 

 immediately roll it to my pump, and I pump 

 in water until I can see the water cease to 

 sink in the vessel, or to moisten the salt on 

 the top of the cask, 1 then lay a fiat stone, 

 as large as the vessel, so as to keep the pork 

 always under the salt or pickle. I put it in 

 my cellar, covered so as to exclude the flies, 

 and there it remains until a piece is vi-anted. 

 Care must be taken to keep the meat under 

 the pickle, otherwise it will rust." 



Here is the whole secret of making good 

 pickled pork for family use. I have used 

 this method for the time above mentioned, 

 and I want no better, easier, or economical 

 plan. It has often happened that when I 

 wanted to put down new pork there remained 

 some old at the bottom of the cask ; in that 

 case, r poured off the pickle, took out the 

 undissolved salt, packed the fresh pork on the 

 top of the old, using the salt which had been 

 in the cask, with the addition of fresh if ne- 

 cessary, and then poured on the old pickle or 



water. In this way I have had pork for 

 three or four years in the bottom of my pork 

 barrel, and vt'hen used it was as free from 

 rancidity as it was three weeks after it was 

 put down. Indeed, I seldom empty my pork 

 barrel except when it wants hooping. 1 be- 

 lieve that boiling pickle is useless, if not in- 

 jurious; pork ought not if it can be prevent-« 

 ed, be frozen before it is put down. 



C. 



Princeton, N. .1. 



Keeping Farm Accounts. 



Let any farmer make the experiment, ani 

 he will find it as interesting as it is usefuj 

 and both interesting and useful to know frod 

 year to year the actual produce of his farr 

 Let every thing, therefore, which can bl 

 measured and weighed, be measured anj 

 weighed : and let that which cannot 

 brought to an exact standard, be estimatel 

 as if he himself were about to sell or purchaa 

 it. Let him likewise, as near as possiblJ 

 measure the ground which he plants, th€ 

 quantity of seed which he uses, and the ma- 

 nure which he applies. The labor of doing 

 this is nothing compared with the satisfaction 

 of having done it, and the benefits which 

 must arise from it. Conjecture in these 

 cases, is perfectly wild and uncertain, vary- 

 ing often with different individuals almost a 

 hundred per cent. Exactness enable a man 

 to form conclusions, which may most essen- 

 tially, and in innumerable ways avail to his 

 advantage. It is that alone which can give 

 any value to his experience; it is that which 

 will make his experience the sure basis of 

 improvement; it will put it in his power to 

 give safe counsels to his friendS; and it is the 

 only ground on which he can securely place 

 confidence to himself. 



Etcady Mode of Reducing Leaves to 

 Manure* 



I am very successful in reducing my leaves 

 to manure. I collect an irrmense quantity 

 during the winter, and carry them all to the 

 yard where tlie cows are milked, and have 

 their sheds. Their droppings reduce them 

 quickly ; but in order to make excellent ma- 

 nure of them within the season, I cause a 

 light layer of earth to be scattered over them 

 from time to time, as they rise. In February, 

 I turn the whole over, and am sure to have 

 the entire yard covered three feet deep with 

 choice and valuable vegetable mould, fit for 

 use at any time after June, particularly if 

 the season be tolerably wet. 



J. M. S. 



Always be doing something; never seem 

 to have nothing' to do. 



