HOGS BACON. 249 



we are apt to imagine. A liighly respected correspondent once made to us the 

 following statement: "In the year 1770 I resided in New-Jersey, where it was 

 the custom to take great numbers of wild pigeons in spring-nets, by the assist- 

 ance of decoy pigeons. The ilesh of these birds, when first taken, is always very 

 dark, and most generally tough. I have seen more than 300 of them confined 

 and fed in a large corn-house, and in one week their flesh has not only become 

 tender, but as white as a well-fed chicken." It is well known that cattle fed 

 upon oil-cake cannot be immediately killed with advantage ; but, if kept from it 

 for two or three days, the oily taste is eflFectually removed. The late Gen. For- 

 mau, of Rose Hill, Maryland, once told us that the taste of garlic would pass out 

 of the flesh and very marrow of a bullock, if kept from it 24 hours before being 

 killed. We are, on the whole, disposed to think that two weeks' feeding on corn 

 would be sufljcient not only to divest the meat of any unacceptable flavor, but to 

 harden it — saying nothing of the saving to be thereby accomplished. 



We will suppose, then, that you have your corn-fed hogs, that have attained 

 the proper consistence of flesh by wholesome exercise, and the peculiar flavor to 

 be derived from roaming in the woods and wallowing in the mud ;* and what 

 next ? 



Cutting up. — On this point it is deemed proper to warn against the practice 

 of some in permitting the shoulder to be cut large, with some of the ribs at- 

 tached; because the shoulder requires three weeks to smoke, while the mid- 

 dlings need only two. The shoulder should therefore be cut as short as possible. 

 On the other hand, and on various points, we may here give the caution suggest- 

 ed by friend Thomas, who says: " It is proper here to mention that hams are 

 generally cut too short, causing a great loss of juice, both in curing and boiling. 

 The knife should be passed very near the kidneys, through what is called the 

 ' small of the back.' There the vessels converge, and soon close up in drying." 



Next, as lo salting. There is too much disposition to apply an over-dose, in 

 the fear of losing the meat, hut the saltness of meat depends more on time than 

 quantity. For every 1,000 pounds of meat, three pecks of salt, with one-third or 

 one-half pound of saltpetre, is suflTicient. It will be better to mix equal quanti- 

 ties of Liverpool and ground alum salt, for in very soft weather the Liverpool 

 will run oft" almost too quickly, while in dry, cold weather the alum is too slow 

 to do its office within the proper time. This composition should be well rubbed 

 on on both sides, and then sprinkled thickly on the cut surface of the meat. There 

 is no danger of oversalting from quantity ; it is length of time that has that 

 efi'ect ; but a larger quantity would be wasted : and let every farmer and house- 

 wife remember that " every little makes a mickle." The meat should now be 

 laid m good casks — the hams first, skin downward, and then the shoulders, 

 chines, jowls, spare-ribs, &c. 



In two weeks the casks are to be emptied, and all but hams and shoulders re- 

 moved, being salted sufficiently ; while those larger pieces, the hams and shoul- 

 ders, are to be re-packed, putting those which seem the least salted lowest among 

 the brine. A change of position is necessary, for the pressure is so great that the 

 brine will not press equally through the meat, if it is not once thus turned and 

 shifted. Some deem a tight vessel for catching the brine unnecessary, if not in- 

 jurious. In that case there is not the less necessity to shift the meat and re- 

 sprinkle salt, if so placed as that the superincumbent weight is considerable. — 

 The late Jacob Gibson, of Talbot County, famous for his good bacon as for some 



* Hence, in Maryland called a " mud-lark "—ham or shoulder, the wing of a mud-lark. 

 (537, 



