CHAPTER XVI. 



SMITHFIELD HAMS AND DEERFOOT 

 SAUSAGE. 



Not how much but how good. Martha. 



The celebrated Smithfield ham 

 is so called from the little town of 

 Smithfield, about thirty miles from 

 Norfolk, Va. They have been cured 

 there for nearly a century and their 

 fame has spread at home and abroad. 

 About 30,000 hams are now produced annually and 

 are mostly sold direct to private families, some going 

 to Europe. They are made from the half wild "razor- 

 back " pigs, which for a portion of the year run in 

 the woods, thereby giving to the meat a gamy flavor 

 not to be obtained in any other way. Many farmers 

 are engaged in raising the hogs, but the killing and 

 curing is in the hands of a few men in or near Smith- 

 field. Many attempts have been made to " improve " 

 the native breed of pigs by crossing, but in every case 

 unsuccessfully, as it has resulted in a coarser grain 

 to the meat, and the shape of the ham is not the 

 same. The native "razor-backs" are thin-sided, 

 deep-chested, with small flanks and long sloping hams. 

 They are all colors. The sows run at large in the 



