CUBING BACON. 215 



In Somersetshire and Wiltshire, the following is the common pro- 

 cess : 



When the hogs are prepared, the sides are first laid in large 

 wooden troughs and sprinkled over with rock salt, and there left un- 

 moved for four-and-twenty hours, in order to let all the blood and 

 other superfluous juices be completely drained off from them. 



After this they are taken up and thoroughly wiped, and some fresh 

 bay-salt, previously heated in an iron frying-pan, is rubbed into the 

 flesh until it has absorbed a sufficient quantity. This rubbing is con- 

 tinued for four successive days, during which the flitches are usually 

 turned every second day. Where the large hogs are killed it be- 

 comes necessary to keep the flitches in brine for three weeks, and 

 after that interval to turn them out and dry them in the common 

 manner. 



In the county of Westmoreland, which is celebrated for the flavor 

 of its hams, the following method prevails : First they are tho- 

 roughly rubbed, usually with bay-salt alone, after which some curers 

 advise that they shall be closely covered up, while others leave them 

 on a stone for the purpose of draining off the brine. At the expira- 

 tion of five days this friction is repeated with equal diligence, but 

 the bay-salt is then combined with somewhat more than an ounce 

 of "saltpetre to each ham. They are next suffered to lie about a 

 week either in hogsheads among the brine, or on stone benches, 

 after which they are hung up in the chimney to dry. In this last 

 part of the process there is a difference of practice. By some they 

 are suspended so that they shall be dried solely by the heat arising 

 from the fire below, without being exposed at all to the smoke, 

 while by others they are hung up in the midst of the smoke, whether 

 this arises from coals or peat. 



In Yorkshire, after the pig has been killed, it is allowed to hang 

 twenty-four hours previous to being cut up ; one pound of saltpetre 

 is then rubbed into a twenty-stone pig, (of fourteen pounds to the 

 stone,) and one and a half or two stones of common salt, taking 

 care that it is well rubbed in ; it is then put into a tub kept for the 

 purpose. After having lain a fortnight it is turned over, and a little 

 more salt applied say half a stone; it then remains a fortnight 

 longer in the pickle-tub ; whence it is taken and hung up in the 

 kitchen, where it remains two months to dry, but should the winter 

 be far advanced, and dry weather set in, a shorter period might 

 suffice. After being taken from the top of the kitchen, the inside is 

 washed over with quicklime and water, to preserve it from the fly ; 

 it is then removed into a room not used by the family, away from 

 heat, and where it will be kept perfectly dry, and is ready for use 

 at pleasure. The smoking system is rarely adopted. 



Mr. Henderson, in his " Treatise on Swine" gives the following 

 account of the mode of curing bacon and hams in Scotland : 



