Book VII. THE GOAT. 1071 



7324. The curing of bacon is thus described by Henderson, after much experience ; 



7325. After the carcass has hung all night, lay it upon a strong table, or bench, upon its back ; cut off 

 the head close by the ears, and cut the hinder feet so far below the hough as will not disfigure the hams, 

 and leave plenty of room to hang them by; then take a cleaving knife, and if necessary, a hand mallet, 

 and divide the carcass up the middle of the back-bone, laying it in two equal halves : then cut the ham 

 from the side by the second joint of the back-bone, which will appear on dividing the carcass ; then dress the 

 ham, by paring a little oft" the flank or skinny part, so as to shape it with a half round point, clearing off 

 any top fat that may appear ; the curer will next take off' the sharp edge along the back-bone with his knife 

 and mallet, and slice off the first rib next the shoulder, where he will perceive a bloody vein, which he 

 must take out ; for if it is left in, that part is apt to spoil. The corners must be squared off where the ham 

 was cut out. 



7326. In killing; a number of swine, what sides you may have dressed the first day lay upon some flags 

 or boards, piling tliem up across each other, and giving each pitch a powdering of saltpetre, and then cover, 

 ing it with salt : proceed in the same manner with the hams, by themselves, and do not omit giving them 

 a little saltpetre, as it opens the pores of the flesh to receive the salt, and besides, gives the ham a pleasant 

 flavour, and makes it more juicy. Let them lie in this state about a week, then turn those on the top 

 undermost, giving them a fresh salting : after lying two or three weeks longer, they may be hung up to 

 dry in some chimney, or smoke house; or, if the curer chooses, he may turn them over again without 

 giving them any more salt, in which state they may lie for a month or two without catching any harm, 

 until he has convenience for drying them. Henderson practised for many years the custom of carting his 

 flitches and hams through the country to farm-houses, and used to hang them in their chimneys and other 

 parts of the house to dry, some seasons, to the amount of five hundred carcasses : this plan he soon found 

 was attended with a number of inconveniences, and therefore he invented a smoking-house. 



7327. Henderson's s7nokmg-house is about twelve feet square, and the walls about seven feet high : one 

 of these huts requires six joists across, one close to each wall, the other four laid asunder, at proper dis- 

 tances. To receive five rows of flitches, they must be laid in the top of the wall ; a piece of wood strong 

 enough to bear the weight of one flitch of bacon must be fixed across the belly end of the flitch, by two 

 strings, as the neck end must hang downwards : the piece of wood must be longer than the flitch is wide, 

 so that each end may rest upon a beam ; they may be put so near to each other as not to touch ; the width 

 of it will hold twenty-four flitches in a row, and there will be five rows, which will contain one hundred 

 and twenty flitches : as many hams may be hung at the same time above the flitches contrived in the best 

 manner we can. The lower end of the flitches will be within two and a half or three feet of the floor, 

 which must be covered five or six inches thick with sawdust, and must be kindled at two diffterent sides; 

 it win burn, but not cause any flame to injure the bacon. The door must be kept close, and the hut must 

 have a small hole in the roof, so that part of the smoke may ascend. That lot of bacon and hams will be 

 ready to pack up in a hogshead, to send off in eight or ten days, or a httle longer, if required, with very 

 little loss of weight After the bacon is salted, it may lie in the salt-house as described, until an order is 

 received, then immediately hang it up to dry. Henderson found this smoke-house to be a great saving, 

 not only in the expense and trouble of employing men to cart and hang it through the country, but it did 

 not lose nearly so much weight by this process. 



7328. In the disposal of bacon, whatever is shipped for the London market, or any other, both bacon and 

 hams, must be packed into a sugar hogshead, or something similar, to hold about ten hundred weight. 

 Bacon can only be cured from tiie middle of September until the middle of April. {^Henderson's Treatise 

 on Swine, p. 3'i.) 



Sect. V. Diseases of Swine. 

 7329. Sivine are subject to various diseases, but according to Lawrence they are not 

 easily doctored. 



7330. They are subject, he says, to pox or measles, blood striking, staggers, quincy, indigestion, catarrh, 

 peripneumonia, and inflammation of the lungs called heavings. When sick, pigs will eat, and they will 

 take medicine in their wash ; when they will not eat, there is no help for them. As aperients, cleansers, 

 and alteratives, sulphur, antimony, and madder are our grand specifics, and they are truly useful As 

 cordials and tonics, treacle and strong beer, in warm wash, and good peas and pollard. In the measles, 

 sulphur, &c. and, if the patient require it, give cordials now and then ; in staggers, bleeding, fresh air, 

 and perhaps nitre ; in catarrh, a warm bed, and warm cordial wash ; and the same in quincy, or inflam. 

 mation of the glands in the throat. If external suppuration appear likely, discharge the matter when 

 ripe, and dress with tar and brandy, or balsam. The heavings or unsoundness of the lungs in pigs, like 

 the unsoundness of the liver in lambs, is sometimes found to be hereditary; there is no remedy. This 

 disease in pigs is often the consequence of colds from wet lodging, or of hasty feeding in a poor state ; in 

 a certain stage it is highly inflammatory, and without remedy. Unction with train oil, and the internal 

 use of it, have been sometimes thought beneficial. 



Chap. VIII. 



Of the Goat, Rabbit, Hare, Dormouse, Deer, and various other Animals, that are or may 

 be subjected to British Agriculture. 

 7331. The goat (Capra .^E'gagrusi.,^. 905.) is a native of many mountainous parts 

 905 of Europe, Africa, Persia, and India : he is domes- 



ticated throughout Europe, feeds on branches of 

 shrubs, on lichens, hemlock, &c. ; is seldom destitute 

 of horns, of active habits like the deer, treacherous, 

 petulant, roaming, and lascivious ; gravid four months 

 and a half, brings from one to two at a birth, and 

 lives ten or twelve years. The female will allow 

 itself to be sucked by the young of various other 

 animals ; and a foal which has lost its mother has 

 been seen thus nourished by a goat, which, in order 

 to facilitate the process, was placed on a barrel. The 

 attachment between the nurse and foal appeared 

 strong and natural : in its internal structure, it ex- 



