AYR TO DUMFRIES. 331 



the houses to keep off the fly and make mould, and 

 are kept dry by a current of air at the top. For 

 the first fortnight the heat is kept at 100 degrees to 

 make the salt come out of the meat. Twenty-one 

 days after it has been hung a good ham will dry, and 

 be firm in fibre, whereas a bad ham swells and feels 

 flabby. Some of the Scottish and Cumberland curers 

 smoke their hams, which the Yorkshire men rarely do. 

 On all hams and bacon there is a regular 

 allowance to the buyer of 21bs. in every 20 stone. . In 

 curing there is not so much loss on bacon as on ham, as, 

 if the shoulder misses, the rib part generally stands. 

 Sometimes a considerable per-centage is lost in 

 warm weather ; but the loss is never so great in the 

 country as in the town, on account of the air being 

 less murky. The pig most to the curer's mind is one 

 not fat or short or big, or over-driven, but a lengthy 

 one of 14i stone of 14lbs., and generally from eight 

 to twelve months old, which has been fed on oatmeal 

 and potatoes. Ten months is the best age, and some 

 curers maintain that- no "Perfect Cure^^ can be 

 eff'ected sooner. There will be a difference of 5s. to 6s' 

 per stone in pigs according to food and age. In fact, 

 two hams which the salt has run through in twenty- 

 one days will be put to hang in the same house and 

 on the same tier, and both look equally well, and yet 

 the one has not condition to stand the fire, and will 

 turn " as yellow as mustard,^^ and the other will be 

 " as white as snow, and all right.^^ Movable cinder 

 fires in iron barrow-shaped stoves are kept in many 



