1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



77 



the State of Michigan," and assuming to be the 

 "Memorial of the State Agricultural Society," jus- 

 tified our statement, we think will be seen by the 

 following extracts from It : 



"The agricultural college was opened in 18-57, 

 and has been in operation for eight years. During 

 that time it has cost the State an aggregate of 

 $168,320. * * * Taking the average 

 attendance of students to be 50, which, as nearly as 

 could be Icanied Ijy inquir.y from students and pi'o- 

 fessors, seems to have been Ihc maximum average 

 for the past five years, and the cost for each stu- 

 dent per year, so far, has been .'g;346.40. * * 

 No winter temi hasl>een established at the college, 

 yet it is well known to every farmer of Michigan 

 that the winter management of the farm is of fully 

 as much imiwrtance as that of the summer and 

 autumn months." 



This document was presented to the legislature 

 of Michigan at its session two years ago. We are 

 now informed that it met with so little favor that 

 it elicited no debate, and was not even reported 

 upon. 



We might have answered Mr. Howard's inquiry 

 in fewer words, but as the Memorial alluded to 

 was printed in the newspapers of the State, and as 

 the relations of that Society with the present Board 

 of Agriculture may be misapprehended by others, 

 as it was by ourselves, we have thought the fore- 

 going remarks but simple justice to the College 

 and to the Board, 



Admitting these two-year-old objections to have 

 been all true — "that the institution was a mistake 

 from the beginning," that it "was located wrong," 

 that it "has been badly managed," that it "has been 

 an expensive concem" — may we not say, in the 

 language of Gov. Crapo, in a late address at the 

 college, "that its officers and professors are enti- 

 tled to all the greater credit and all the more 

 praise, for securing, under so much discourage- 

 ment, that degree of success which is apparent here 

 even to the casual observer ; and claim of us, and 

 are entitled to receive at our hands, a proper and 

 just recognition of their valuable services, and the 

 fidelity with which they have been rendered." If 

 two years ago the college was a failure," and this 

 year the rooms are so crowded that, as President 

 Abbot says, thirty-four applicants had to be turned 

 away, the success is all the more creditable to the 

 present managers of the institution. 



She ate well all the time— never lost a meal, I 

 think. L. Varnet. 



Bloomfield, C. W., Ylth Mo., Wth, 1866. 



RYE FOR FATTENING. 



Many people consider rye good for nothing ex- 

 cept for making whiskey, but having used it sever- 

 al years for horse feed, and knowing its value for 

 that purpose, I concluded to try it for feeding my 

 pig. I took a small cask with one head out, and 

 filled it about half full of dish-water, say two to 

 three pailfuls, and put rye meal enough into it to 

 make it as thick as would dip easily, replenishing 

 it from day to day, and throwing in what sour 

 milk we had from one cow, after using all the milk 

 we needed for a large family. Of course the pig 

 had but little. I fed with this until the pig was 

 more than six months old, then I gave some com 

 meal, but mostly small ears of com. Killed at 8 

 months old, and it weighed 241 pounds — the cheap- 

 est pork I ever raised. I kept the pig in a close pen. 



THE HUSE METHOD OF CURING MEAT. 



At this season of the year hardly a newspaper of 

 any kind can be seen without some one of the 

 thousand and one receipts for preserving pork, beef, 

 ham, &c., — caeli and all aiming at the same result, 

 varying in ingredients or proportions — all more or 

 less complicated or difficult of practical application, 

 at the first, and requiring more or less scalding 

 over of the pickle or bi-inc, and considerable pecu- 

 niary expense. 



As I am one of those who are "in for" the thing 

 that is best, all things considered, although it may 

 be as simple as the medicine that cured Naaman, I 

 enclose the following, which has never licen pub- 

 lished, that I know of, but once, although it has 

 been in constant iise hereabouts for twenty years 

 or more : 



Pack in alternate layers of salt and beef, in a 

 clean Ijarrel ; put no brine nor water, — no molasses, 

 saleratus, saltpetre, pepper, mustard or other stuff 

 in with it. The liquid required will come out of 

 the meat. After the weather becomes warm, if any 

 collection of froth, white scum, &c., commences on 

 top of the liquid, don't think it is "spoiling" and 

 "must be scalded over," but jiist fling around over 

 the top a few handfuls of fine salt, and the scum 

 will Boon be gone. I suppose it would have the 

 same effect if the brine could be stirred up from 

 the bottom, but it cannot be, conveniently, so a lit- 

 tle more salt is required. Why it is so I am not 

 positive, I)ut think it may be on account of the sa- 

 line property having partially separated and set- 

 tled from the surface. 



There is brine in this region that is all the way 

 from one to twenty-five or thirty years old, that is 

 as sweet as the first year, and has never been scald- 

 ed at all, and in which there has always been meat 

 — nothing having been done to it but an occasional 

 sprinkling of fine salt. 



After using it one year, when a new stock of 

 meat is to be put down, empty the old brine into 

 another vessel, rinse out the barrel and put down 

 the meat as before, and pour back a part of the old 

 brine, and put the rest by for bathing sprained 

 limbs, &c., or reduce it somewhat and use it for 

 manure. When the old brine is poured back, or 

 used for new meat, of course but little new salt is 

 required, only as scum is seen to collect on the sur- 

 face. 



In this way beef is kept as sweet and red as new, 

 the "year round," and there need be no anxiety 

 al>out tainted meat, or "scalding over the brine." 



For hams there is no way so good, I think as to 

 pickle them thus for six weeks, then take them out, 

 dry them, sew them up in bags and pack them in 

 sawdust. 



We have tried this method in our family practi- 

 cally for two years, and having just put down 

 another year's stock of meat, I can testify that the 

 brine is perfectly sweet. We never had meat kept 

 so well by any other method. R. Nutting. 



Randolph, Vt., Dec. 10, 1866. 



Remarks. — The old adage that "sauce for the 

 goose is sauce for the gander," hardly applies to 

 curing meat. The process which is successful and 

 satisfactory in one case may fail in another. If the 

 animal is worried, fatigued and in a feverish state, 

 decomposition of the meat is much more rapid 

 than if slaughtered when quiet, healthy and ready 

 to "lick the hand just raised to shed its blood." 

 The condition of the meat as affected by various 

 causes after being slaughtered, the season of the 



