238 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
the shank of the first, and so until all are placed ; they are then 
sprinkled with strong pickle from a watering pot, and a small quantity 
of salt is shaken over them. Next day, the hams are taken up, well 
rubbed with salt, and laid down as before, when saltpetre is shaken over 
them in quantities proportionate to their size; they are left so for two 
days, and then taken up and rubbed as before, when they are laid down 
again, according to the space they have to fill — from three to six hams 
in height, with layers of salt between. After six days, the hams are 
reversed in the piles, that is, those that were packed on the top are put 
at the bottom. They then remain for six days longer in the pile, when 
they are considered cured. They are then taken up, and washed, and 
hung up to dry in the air. When they are to be smoked, they should 
be placed in a house made for that purpose, and smoked — in Belfast, 
with wheaten straw and saw-dust, in Limerick with peat or turf. 
“The English method of cutting up and curing is similar to that 
practiced in Belfast and Limerick, with the difference that, with the 
exception of Hampshire and I believe one other county, they never 
smoke their bacon. 
“ We have, this season, had imported a great quantity of hams and 
other bacon from Cincinnati and Baltimore, in America. They are cut 
in the same manner as the Limerick, and are in much esteem. The 
cured shoulders of the hog have also been imported— cut straight 
across, with the blade in, and the shank left attached. We have also 
received middles, and quantities of pork, in barrels, which is merely the 
hog cut up in pieces, and pickled. 
“ I have reason to know that there are at the present time numbers 
of curers emigrating from our best curing districts to America, and we 
may accordingly expect, ere long, to find our American hams surpass- 
ing, owing to the quality of the hogs they will have to operate upon, 
even our long-famed Limerick hams.” 
LIVE-STOCK NUMBER TO BE KEPT, ETC. 
The animals necessary for the stocking and cultivation of a farm, and 
those which are kept on it for profit, or for the sake of their dung, are 
called the live-stock of the farm, in contra-distinction to the dead-stock, 
which consists of the implements of husbandry and the produce stored 
up for use. _ 
The live-stock on a farm must vary according to circumstances. The 
number of horses or oxen kept for the cultivation of the land and other 
farming operations should be exactly proportioned to the work to be 
done. If they are too few, none of the operations will be performed in 
their proper time, and the crops will suffer in consequence. If there 
are too many, the surplus beyond what is strictly required is maintain- 
ed out of the profits of the farm. To have the exact number of animals 
which will give the greatest profit is one ot the most important prob- 
lems which a farmer has to solve: what may be very profitable in one 
case may be the reverse in another ; and, as a general maxim, it may 
be laid down, that the fewer mouths he has to feed, unless they produce 
an evident profit, the less loss he is likely to incur. But this rule ad- 
