1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



35 



For the New Eiiiiland Farmer. 



HOW TO SALT AI>JO PKESEKV3 BE3F 

 AND HAM. 



Will you, or some of your correspondents, give 

 a receipt for curing beef so that it will be as sweet 

 next summer as that put up by the Philadelphia 

 packers ? N. s. c. 



West Tishury, Nov., 1860. 



Another. — I would like to know if you, or any 

 of your subscribers, can give me directions for 

 salting beef, to have it keep through the summer. 

 By so doing you would much oblige 



H, G. Goodrich. 



St. Albans, Vt., Nov., 1860. 



Remarks. — We have selected the following 

 and submitted them to a notable housewife, who 

 pronounces them good. 



SALTING BEEF FOR SUMMER USE. 



16 qts. of salt, and 

 4 oz. of saltpetre, for each 

 100 lbs beef. 



Rub the pieces all over with salt, and pack it in 

 edgewise, and after a layer is completed, take an 

 axe or maul and pound down solid. Then sprin- 

 kle on a little saltpetre and fill up all interstices 

 with salt, and so on until the cask is full. Those 

 who do not like saltpetre may onait it without in- 

 jury to the meat. 



Mr. A. Wanzer, who communicated this recipe 

 to the Albany Cultivator, says he has salted his 

 beef in this way for fifteen years, that it needs no 

 soaking before boiling, and will be tender and 

 sweet the year round. By this way of salting it 

 makes its own brine, and never wants repacking, 

 nor the brine scalding. If the brine should not 

 cover it in the spring, sufficient may be added for 

 that purpose. 



Take a barrel and turn it up over an old pan or 

 kettle, and burn cobs or hard wood for seven or 

 eight days, keeping water on the head of the bar- 

 rel to prevent its drying. 



Make a pickle as follows : — 



6 oz. of saltpetre, 



2 qts. of molasses, 



3 gallons of v>^ater, for each 

 100 lbs. of ham. 



Boil and skim the pickle thus prepared. Pack 

 the ham in the barrels, and when the pickle is 

 cold, pour it on to the meat, and in four weeks it 

 will be excellent, very tender and well smoked. 

 Another. — Make a pickle as follows : — 

 5 pts. of molasses, 

 5 oz. of saltpetre, and 

 3 gallons of water, for each 

 100 lbs. of beef or ham. 



Boil these over a gentle fire, and skim off the 

 scum as it rises. Pack hams with the shank end 

 downward, and when the pickle is cool pour it 

 over them or the beef. They will require to lay 



in the pickle from two to six weeks, according to 

 the size of the pieces and the state of the weath- 

 er — as they require to lay in the pickle longer if 

 the weather is cold. 



THE PUTRIDITY OP ■WELLS. 



An article the Homestead of a week or two 

 since, in regard to the restoration of ^Ir. Snow's 

 well, which had become putrid, recalls to mind 

 an experience of our own in curing a similar 

 trouble. 



We had a well of beautiful water, soft and cool, 

 which all at once began to taste and smoll as if 

 the dead body of some animal were undergoing 

 the decaying process in it. We gave it a thorough 

 examination by the aid of the looking-glass, but 

 could discover nothing. We descended to the 

 v/ater, but found no animal or vegetable matter 

 in a putrid condition, and we were forced to the 

 conclusion that the water was of itself putrid. 

 Having reached this conclusion, we set our wits 

 at work to devise a remedy ; we remembered that 

 only still water became thus aff"ected, and that run- 

 ning water never became so. We thought the rea- 

 son of the continued purity of the latter must be 

 because of its continued agitation bringing all its 

 particles continually in contact with the atmo- 

 spheric air when it absorbed the oxygen to the 

 necessary degree for reinvigoration of any proper- 

 ty lost in sustaining its teeming, infinitesimal life. 

 Upon this thought we based our action and rem- 

 edy. We hired a man to work thoroughly the 

 chain pump in the well, working with all his 

 might for two hours, during which time he scarce- 

 ly diminished the de])th of the water. It was not 

 longer than twenty-four hours before the water 

 was as sweet and good as ever. We believe that 

 it was the thorough agitation of the water by 

 pumping, extending to the very bottom of the 

 well, that effected the cure. 



Again, we now have a cistern filled with rain- 

 water from the roof, which passes through a filter 

 in reaching the cistern. A week ago the water in 

 the cistern became putrid, tasting and smelling, 

 we can't tell how bad. We remembered the ex- 

 periment with the well, and the supposed reason 

 of its cure ; so we procured a long pole, and thor- 

 oughly stirred it up, agitating the water as much 

 as possible, perhaps working at the job fifteen 

 m.inutes. In twenty-four hours the water was 

 sweet and wholesome again. 



These facts in our experience lead us to the 

 conclusion that Mr. Snow's well, an account of 

 the restoration of which has led us to pen this ar- 

 ticle, was purified more by the agitation of the 

 water by the bag of charcoal being pulled up and 

 down in it, than by any influences of the coal it- 

 self. — Homestead. 



Straw Work. — The California Farmer con- 

 gratulates the women of that State on the recent 

 introduction of the Nonpareil wheat, from the 

 straw of v/hich the famous Italian straw bonnets 

 are made, known as Tuscan straw, and predicts 

 that "tens of thousands of dollars now sent out 

 of the State for straw bonnets will be given to 

 our own women for labor." 



