332 FIELD AND FERN. 



of the houses, which are all duly ventilated, to pre- 

 vent the heat at the top acting unduly. The great 

 ham and bacon dealers^ houses are fullest in March ; 

 and in William Bell's, who sends an immense weight 

 of bacon to Yorkshire and Newcastle, and of hams 

 to London and Edinburgh, we have seen from 4,600 

 to 4,800 hanging up at one time in March, tier above 

 tier, of which there are seven. His calculation is 

 that a stone of lard should come out of a 14-stone 

 pig j and sometimes he has in "a very throng time" 

 melted 600 stone of lard a day. He cures on the 

 average 2,500 to 3,000 pigs in the season, princi- 

 pally from Nichol Forest and the Longtown parts 

 of Cumberland. Provost Steel of Annan has done 

 more ; but Beattie of Shillie Hill is generally supposed 

 to have the largest business in Scotland. 



