114 



Raising and Curing Pork — Lime. 



Vol. II. 



will be manifest even after it is cooked and 

 brought on the table. As to the mode of 

 scalding and cleaning, &c. &c, it is unneces- 

 sary to give any directions. Unless the 

 weather is so cold as to endanger its freezing, 

 it is suffered to hang out all night so as to 

 become thoroughly cold and stiff, when it will 

 cut up much more smooth and neat. As to 

 the mode of cutting up, I shall say but little. I 

 make six pieces from each hog for salting, the 

 feet should always be sawed off instead of be- 

 ing cut off with an axe or cleaver, as it will 

 leave a smoother surface and prevent any place 

 for the lodgment of skippers. The feet should 

 be cut off a little below the joint. The next 

 and most important matter is the salting. It 

 is almost impossible to find two persons who 

 agree as to the best mode; some use fine, 

 some coarse salt, some cayenne pepper, some 

 sugar, some molasses, some nitre, and some 

 none, and some again prefer brining. But as 

 I have promised to give you my method, I 

 shall proceed to do so. After cutting up my 

 pork, I select my hams and shoulders, lay 

 them side by side, skin down, on some loose 

 planks elevated at one end to permit the blood 

 to drain off freely ; they are then salted, or 

 what is called sprinkled, with the best clean 

 Liverpool ground alum salt. After remain- 

 ing in this situation for two or three days, or 

 until they become perfectly white, they are 

 then taken up piece by piece and laid on a 

 clean table ; to each ham and shoulder, ac- 

 cording to size, I put two tea-spoonfuls or 

 more of finely pulverised nitre, rubbing with 

 the hand both the flesh and the skin side; it 

 is then well rubbed with salt and laid in a 

 clean tub — after putting in as many pieces, 

 side by side, skin down, as the bottom of the 

 tub will contain, I fill up all the instertices 

 with salt, then another layer of meat and salt, 

 and so proceed until the tub is full. In four 

 or six weeks, in a good cellar, it will have 

 absorbed as much salt as it ever will, (you 

 see from this remark,! do not believe in over 

 salting hams and shoulders.) Ten days or a 

 fortniglu, before taking out of the tubs, I have 

 some "young green hickory wood cut and 

 burnt by itself, the ashes collected and sifted ; 

 after taking thb meat out of the tubs and 

 wiping it dry with a clean course towel, it is 

 laid in a wooden box sufficiently large to con- 

 tain two pieces, the hickory ashes thrown 

 over them and well pressed on with the hand ; 

 it very soon forms a hard incrustation over 

 the meat and prevents as well evaporation, 

 drying and dripping, and is also one of the 

 be^t preventives against bugs and skippers. 

 After hanging in the smoke house for a day 

 or two, the operation of smoking commences, 

 which I contmue for three months, or until 

 the first appearance of the green botlle fly. 

 My meat is smoked exclusively with green 



hickory wood; the green oak will answer 

 very well. It cannot be smoked too much, 

 though with the smoke there should be as 

 little heat as possible ; the largest pieces 

 should be hung more immediately over where 

 the fire is made. Early in the spring, say 

 the first of April, or earlier, should the wea- 

 ther be warm, or you discover any of those 

 green coat gentry about your meat house 

 door, take down your hams and shoulders and 

 pack them away in your salting tubs, placing 

 between each layer of hams or shoulders, 

 pieces of lathes to prevent too much pressure 

 or coming too much in contact, otherwise 

 they will be apt to mould where they press 

 one upon the other. After filling your tubs 

 in this way until about one foot from the top, 

 fill it up with hickory ashes pressed close. 

 These are my ideas, obtained from experi- 

 ence, and thrown together in a very home 

 spun manner, and should they on trial, be 

 found to please the palates of others and be 

 generally adopted, I may hereafter be bene- 

 fitted, provided the water of Pennsylvania 

 boils hams as well as the water of Maryland, 

 as I sometimes travel from home and am a 

 great lover of good bacon. In conclusion, I 

 must observe, that there is really as much in 

 the proper mod-e of cooking a ham as there 

 is in curing. You Pennsylvanians boil too 

 much ; the best ham that ever was cured in 

 Maryland or Virginia, may be spoiled in 

 Pennsylvania by injudicious cooking. Hams 

 cured in this way — like pure wine — improve 

 by age and arrive not at perfection "until they 

 are over two years old. One thing I omitted 

 to remark in its proper place. A ham, to 

 come on the table in perfection, should never 

 be cut before cooking — the skin should not be 

 taken ofi^ — the thinner it is cut the better. 



With great respect, and my best wishes for 

 a wider circulation of your very useful paper, 

 I am your most obd't servant, 



T. W. Johnson. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



IJnie. 



The discussion respecting the application 

 of lime as a manure, reminds me of the anec- 

 dote of the old man giving advice to his son. 

 " Put yourlime," hesaid, " if possible, on your 

 sod before it is ploughed. If you can't put 

 it on before it is ploughed, put it on as soon 

 as possible afterwards. And if you can't put 

 it on after it is ploughed, then put it on the 

 best way you can." 



My design, at present, is to communicate a 

 few facts, which have come under my imme- 

 diate observation, and the result of the experi- 

 ence of others, in the application of lime as 

 a manure. 



In this vicinity it is becoming almost uni- 



