1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



43 



careless a manner that they are either actually 

 unwholesome, or in such condition that they 

 can only be eaten by persons of the strongest 

 appetites. 



For salting heef, the following is recommend- 

 ed : The best pieces are the plates, ribs and 

 brisket. Pack the pieces in casks, giving a 

 very slight sprinkling of salt between each 

 piece. Then cover the meat with a pickle, by 

 boiling together, in 4 gallons of water, 8 lbs. 

 of salt, 3 lbs. brown sugar, 3 ozs. saltpetre, 1 

 oz. pearlash, for 100 lbs. meat. Keep a heavy 

 Hat stone on the meat, that it may be well im- 

 mersed in the pickle. It is said that beef pack- 

 ed in this way will keep a year, and will rather 

 improve than grow worse. 



Another mode recommended for beef is to 

 take 4 qts. rock salt, pounded fine, 8 ozs. salt- 

 petre and 5 lbs. of brown sugar, mix them well 

 together, and with these ingretlients pack the 

 meat down very closely, so that they will of 

 themselves cover the whole with brine. The 

 next spring draw off the brine, boil and take 

 olF the scum till it becomes clean, adding a 

 little salt to it, and apply it again, and the beef 

 will keep very sweet and fine tasted during the 

 whole summer following. 



We should advise leaving out the saltpetre 

 in all cases. It is a dangerous article to use. 

 Those who pack large quantities of beef for 

 market, state that saltpetre is used to fix or 

 give a natural cherry red color to the lean of 

 meats ; too much imparts a fiery, dark red col- 

 or to beef, detrimental to its sale, and injuri- 

 ous to its flavor. Sugar or molasses may be 

 safely used, and they are thought by many jier- 

 sons to add to the flavor of the meat. Small 

 quantities of saleratus are also frequently em- 

 ployed. The object in salting, however, seems 

 to us to be, to preserve in the greatest degree 

 the fine qualities and flavor of the beef or hams. 



Saltixg Poek. — Perhaps as good a jilan as 

 can be found is to cut the pork into five or six 

 pound pieces, take off all the lean, and then 

 pack the pieces in a barrel, with a plenty of 

 rock salt at bottom and between the layers. A 

 brine as strong as salt will make it, boiled and 

 skimmed, should then be poured boiling hot on 

 to the pork — enough of the brine to cover the 

 pork. It will require nearly a bushel of salt 

 to a barrel of pork, besides what is used for 

 making the brine. All this may not be dis- 

 solved, but is not wasted, as it remains good 



for future use. This plan is extensively prac- 

 ticed and we believe is universally successful. 



Cueing Hams. — A mode highly recunimend- 

 ed is the following : — For every 100 pounds of 

 meat, take 5 pints of molasses, or 5 lbs. brown 

 sugar, 8 lbs. rock salt — add 3 gallons of water, 

 and boil the ingredients over a gentle fire, 

 skinmiing oil' the scum as it arises. Continue 

 the boiling till all is dissolved. Pack the hams 

 in a cask, with the shank ends down. When 

 the pickle is cool, pour it over the hams ; some 

 persons use it boiling hot. They may lie in 

 pickle from two to six weeks, according to their 

 size, state of the weather and as the taste for 

 saltness may be. 



Beet or Mutton Hams, intended for smok- 

 ing or drying, may be cured in this way, and 

 be found excellent. 



Much of the goodness, however, of either 

 depends upon how they are smoked. They 

 should not be heated, and should be hung shank 

 end down, as this will prevent the escape of 

 their juices by dripping. Some persons smoke 

 hams two or three weeks, — as many days are 

 sufficient for us ; and not a few prefer the meat 

 without any smoke at all. 



The matter of preserving meat so as to pre- 

 serve its fine flavor and qualities, is too little 

 understood. A more careful examination of it 

 would not only give us more nutritious and 

 palatable food, but would save an immense ag- 

 gregate loss. 



Pork. — According to the New Albany, 

 (Ind.,) Ledger, there will be a large hog crop 

 the present season. There is an abundance of 

 the best com to feed them on. It believes that 

 nearly 400,000 hogs will be slaughtered in the 

 cities around the Falls during the packing sea- 

 son of 1866-67. The probable price will be be- 

 tween six-and-a-half and seven-and-a-half cents. 

 The New England reader will remember, how- 

 ever, that these hogs are not like those usually 

 slaughtered among us, which rarely weigh less 

 than 300 pounds, and so along up to 600. The 

 average weight of the Western hogs would 

 probably be somewhere between 200 and 250 

 pounds, making the finest hams, and excellent 

 pork when cured well. 



— Abraham Logan, of Union Mills, Ind., writes 

 to the New York Fanners' Club that he has lost 

 two cattle this season by eating smutty com. 



