1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



35 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



Curing Bacon. 



In order to have good bacon, the hair should 

 be lurnt off, not scalded ; the flesh will be more 

 solid and firm, and it will keep better. 



A bacon trough, or tray, should have a deep 

 indenture round its edges, to drain oft' the brine 

 which would otherwise soak in, and spoil the 

 meat. The inside (or flesh side,) of each flitch, 

 must be well rubbed with salt, and placed above 

 each other in the tray ; once in four or five days, 

 the salt should be changed. It should be suf- 

 fered to melt and sink, but not to lie too long ; 

 axid the flitches removed, the lower flitch brought 

 to the top, at hast once a week. One quarter of 

 a pound of bay salt, and half a pound of salt- 

 petre, with one pound of very coarse sugar, 

 sliould be rubbed into every tioo flitches the first 

 week. 



As for the time of curing the hog, it depends 

 upon the state of the weather, size of the ani- 

 mal, &c. One month in moderate weather, 

 will be sufficient for a hog of twelve score. The 

 place for salting should be cool and very airy ; 

 if in the midst of winter, it should be in the cel- 

 lar, to be kept secure from frost. Smoking 

 bacon, is much better than merely drying it. 

 In order to do this, completely, after draining 

 the brine from the trough in which the flitches 

 are placed, they are, at the end of a week, to be 

 rubbed well on the flesh side with bran or saw 

 dust, mixed with a little unslaked lime ; then 

 hang them in a smoke-house, out of the way of 

 rain, and not near enough to the fire to melt, or 

 burn. A month's smoking will do. The flitches 

 should hang until quite dry, but not long enough 

 to be hard. To preserve them from hoppers, 

 place some clean dry ashes at the bottom of a 

 ohest, or box, long enough to hold the flitches ; 

 lay in one flitch, cover with six or eight inches 

 of the ashes, then another, and another, in the 

 same way, until the box is nearly filled, A little 

 straw at the top, will complete the process, and 

 the bacon thus cured and secured, will keep 

 fresh and sweet for two years. 



An English Farmer's Wipe. 



Ogden, N. Y., Nov. 1847. 



Corn Meal Cakes. — Excellent breakfast 

 cakes can be made in the following manner : 

 Mix two quarts of corn meal, at night, with 

 water, and a little yeast and salt, and make it just 

 thin enough to stir easy. In the morning stir in 

 three or four eggs, a little saleratus, and a cup of 

 sour milk, so as to leave it thin enough to pour 

 out of a pan ; bake three quarters of an hour, 

 and you will have light, rich honey-comb cakes 

 — and with a good cup of coffee and sweet but- 

 ter at breakfast, one finds with Hamlet, "increase 

 of appetite to grow with what it feeds on." 



To HAVE Good Coffee. — Few things so 

 often test the skill and attention of the housewife, 

 as the quality of tier coffee. The proverbial 

 excellence of French coffee is owing to its being 

 roasted (or scorched) slowly over or near a mod- 

 erate fire, thus concentrating the aroma or essen- 

 tial oil, instead of rapidly burning the berries, 

 thereby evaporating its high flavor. To make 

 good coffee, when it is boiled, and not percolated 

 through a biggin, " it should boil up once only, 

 and then it should be suffered to stew [simmer] 

 in a close vessel or pot on the hob — the longer 

 the better — until wanted, when it will seldom re- 

 quire fining ; for which purpose, however, a 

 little pounded isinglass is the laest. In France, 

 and most other countries, the berries are mostly 

 fresh scorched or roasted, just before being re- 

 quired, which, in nearly all families, is performed 

 in the frying-pan (rarely in a roasting machine) 

 over a slow fire of charcoal, the berries being 

 kept moist by the addition of a little fresh butter 

 or lard, which prevents all possibility of its burn- 

 ing. They are turned out, when finished, on 

 flannel, and rolled up closely till cold." 



Then it should be made very strong, and drank 

 half coffee, half cream or boiled milk. Some 

 ladies barely color the water. That may do for 

 children, but not for those who know " what's 

 what," and that's what the great Pinkney said 

 General Ridgley knew, when he wanted to praise 

 him and his knowledge of what was comme il 

 faut. 



The Parrot System. — A gentleman the oth- 

 er day, visiting a school at Edinburgh, had a 

 book put into his hand for the purpose of exam- 

 ining a class. The word "Inheritance," occur- 

 ring in the verse, the querist interrogated the 

 youngster as follow? : " What is inheritance ?" 

 Answer: "patrimony." "What is patrimony?" 

 Answer: "Something left by a father." "What 

 would you call it if left by a mother?" Answer : 

 " Matrimony." 



Make Thyself Friends. — Endeavor to gain 

 thyself friends ; for they are good in places, 

 times, and chances, which thou wouldst not 

 ever have thought of; and though this maxim 

 may be of the vulgar, yet none can thoroughly 

 consider the value thereof but he who hath 

 chanced, in his need, to feel it by experience. 



Female Farmer. — The premium for the best 

 farm in Litchfield county. Conn., was awarded 

 to Mrs. Vesta Hawkins. The farm contains 160 

 acres and has been under the management of 

 Mrs. H. for the last ten years. 



TO OLD BACHELORS. 



Cold weather is coming, a delicate hinter, 



If taken in nature's legitimate sense, 

 To those who intend to get married this winter, 



No matter how soon they jump over the fenee. 



