JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER 
[ December S, 1889. 
500 
sists of 2 lbs. of salt, 3 ozs. saltpetre, 3 ozs. bay salt, 3 ozs. shallots 
(bruised), 1 oz. coriander seed, 1 oz. juniper berries, 4 lbs. treacle, 
J lb. beef suet, with enough water to quite cover the hams. The 
ingredients are well stirred into the water, and when the daily 
turning is done the hams are rubbed with those parts of the pickle 
which do not dissolve. We are particular about details here, as we 
have often found beginners very stupid as to the precise manner in 
which the pickling is to be done, and have repeatedly found the 
mixture used without water, the hams being rubbed with it daily ; 
but as there was no liquid pickle the curing was imperfect and the 
Tesult unsatisfactory. 
At the end of the month the hams are taken out of the pickle, 
put into separate bags (either of paper, or preferably of thin sack¬ 
ing), and suspended in the smoking room or chimney for about 
■another month. Some prefer to smoke them longer, but a month 
is sufficient for all practical purposes. They are then taken out of 
the bags and suspended from hooks in the store or bacon room, and 
are ready for use then or any time for the next twelve months. 
The flavour of hams so cured is peculiar and delicious, being liked 
by the most refined palates, all that is wanted to crown our work 
with success being the final operation of cooking. It might be 
thought that to cook a ham is a very simple matter ; so it is with 
ordinary care, but we have known many a well-cured ham spoilt in 
the cooking, simply because it was left to an ignorant kitchen girl. 
In one instance the ham was sent to table half raw, the glib-tongued 
excuse being that it was badly pickled ; in another it was so much 
overdone that the fat was quite white, and it was only when we 
had another ham of the same batch brought from the farm and 
cooked in our own kitchen that we could convince the careless 
cook’s master that his highly paid servant was to blame. 
Our bacon is cured in sides off which the hams only have been 
taken. The pickle is made with salt in the same proportion as for 
hams, with the addition of 4 ozs. each of saltpetre and soda to each 
40 lbs. of pork ; the saltpetre imparts colour, and the soda prevents 
the lean part from becoming hard. For very mild-cured bacon there 
must be less salt U3ed, but we do not think it wise to attempt this 
at the home farm where bacon has often to be kept so long. Bacon 
of excellent quality can easily be had by keeping it covered with 
the pickle and smoking it as was explained for hams. In the large 
chimneys of an old farm house the smoking can be done perfectly, 
provided non-resinous wood only is used, such as Oak or Beech 
logs, but without such chimneys there must be a separate building 
for the smoking. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
A test of good management of poultry is a regular supply of eggs 
now, which is only to be had where enough pullets were saved from 
March, April, and May broods. Of a considerable number of poultry 
which have lately come into our hands only one hen lays, and anything 
like profit is out of the question till next spring. Now this ought not 
to be, yet in a matter so simple and so clear it is quite exceptional to 
meet with a full supply of eggs in winter. We call attention to the 
fault once more, in order that unwilling or unintentional defaulters may 
resolve to set matters right next season. Another fault which we must 
set right are the badly arranged perches of one of our fowl houses. The 
fowls can get up well enough at night, but in the morning many of 
them cannot fly down without knocking themselves about. We proved 
long ago that very low perches afford no real remedy for this. If it is 
possible to reach a high perch of any sort up they will go, as Nature 
prompts them, and the only plan is so to arrange the perches that all 
the fowls can come down easily from them. With legs of mutton at 
lOJd. per lb., poultry of all kinds should have a brisk and profitable 
sale. Turkeys are now fast being finished for Christmas markets, and 
as they are sold by weight high feeding answers better with them than 
for other poultry sold by the carcass. Some of the best young ones will 
be selected for stock birds for next season, as it hardly ever answers to 
keep over old birds. A well fattened gobbler weighing from 20 to 
25 lbs. makes a noble appearance for the supper table of a Christmas 
party, but a regular weekly supply, plump if small hens, are liked 
best. 
Where there have been losses from gapes and a totally new run can¬ 
not be had, the surface should either be turned over or fresh earth, 
ashes, or gravel laid down during winter sufficiently thick to prevent 
further risk of contagion. A badly built fowl house is being made 
■warm and snug by having the interior lined with match-boarding. 
This is a somewhat expensive but thorough remedy, which is the best 
thing to do under the circumstances. We have seen an excellent and 
very durable poultry house with sides and roof entirely covered with 
corrugated iron sheets fastened to a wooden frame. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Agricultural chemistry (IF. (9.).—There is an excellent series 
of papers on agricultural chemistry in “ Cassell’s Popular Educator,” 
which work we highly commend to all young men striving to improve 
their education. Of books get “ Chemistry of the Farm,” by E. War- 
ington ; “ Life on the Farm—Plant Life,” by Maxwell T. Masters, 
published at 2s. 6d. each by Bradbury, Agnew & Co. ; “ Science Primer 
—Chemistry,” by Professor Sir H. Roscoe, Is., published by Macmillan ; 
“Lectures at King’s College,” by F. J. Lloyd ; or “ Agriculture,” 12s., 
published by Longmans ; “ Agricultural Chemistry and Geology,” 6s. 6d., 
by Professor Johnston, published by Blackwood ; “ First Year of Scien¬ 
tific Knowledge,” by M. Paul Bert, 2s. 6d., published by Relfe Brothers, 
Charterhouse. You will also find useful “ Students’ Chemistry,” by 
A. J. Bernays, published by W. H. Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, Pall 
Mall. We cannot give you the price of this, as ours was a presentation 
copy. The third part of Stephens’ “ Book of the Farm,” 10s. 6d., con¬ 
tains much valuable information on the subject, and when you become 
familiar with the rudiments you will find the English edition of Ville’s 
“Artificial Manures,” 21s., published by Longmans, will repay you for 
close study. Try also to see the periodical reports of the various asso¬ 
ciations for the promotion of scientific agriculture as they appear. 
Maize— Improving Pasture (A. R., Lancashire). —The advice 
given you to dibble Maize in your pasture in view of obtaining “ a 
heavy crop of something sweet and juicy,” is simply absurd. It is true 
that Maize will yield a heavy crop—as much as 30 tons per acre of 
valuable green food either for use in summer or as chaffed silage for 
winter use—but it requires soil that is well tiPed and highly manured, 
as well as from three to four months of warm genial weather for its 
development. It is so sensitive to frost that it is not sown till June in 
the southern counties, so that it is not fully in use till about the third 
week in September. This explanation will enable you to decide if 
your climate is suitable for it. Now for the soil. You say it is shallow 
with a subsoil of clay. Maize revels in a deep rich soil, but it answers 
well enough in a light soil heavily manured, and you might try a patch, 
but remember there must be no dibbling in pasture, but thorough 
cultivation with plenty of your stable manure, and any of the Maize 
sold in shops will answer. But why not try and enrich your poor 
pasture ? A heavy dressing of old stable manure applied at once would 
much improve it for next season, and a regular annual dressing would 
ensure sustained fertility. If, however, the herbage of the pasture 
consists of poor indigenous grasses, then we should break up the pasture, 
work plenty of manure into the soil, and sow it as early next spring as 
the weather will allow, with mixed Grasses and Clovers for a four-years 
layer—a temporary pasture, in point of fact—with the mixture offered by 
any of the great specialists advertising in this paper. Such pasture 
would yield heavy crops of rich succulent herbage, altogether superior 
to that which you probably now have. But pray remember it must 
have a heavy annual surface dressing of manure after the first season, 
if of stable manure in the autumn, if of chemical manure early in 
spring. Should you decide to retain most of the permanent pasture 
intact you would find a few perches broken up and *own with Lucerne 
in rows wide enough apart for hoeing between would afford you a 
valuable successional supply of green food for your pony throughout 
summer. 
Roots and Grain at Birmingham. —Messrs. Edward Webb and 
Sons, in directing our attention to their stand of roots and grain at the 
Birmingham Cattle Show, send us a list of prizes that have been awarded 
for their specialities, the very length of which precludes its publication. 
Twenty-nine first prizes at one show ought to satisfy the most 
enterprising. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8-0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAT. 
Hygrome- 
0 . 
0^2 .? 
Shade 
Tem- 
Radiation 
a 
1889. 
0”cn o> 
ter. 
V fl 
peratnre. 
Temperature. 
ol 
November. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
QJ * r-t 
Min. 
In 
On 
CQ w a 
So 
H 
Max. 
sun. 
grass 
Inches. 
deft. 
deft. 
deit. 
deft. 
deft. 
deft. 
deft. 
In. 
Sunday . 
24 
29.890 
50.7 
50.0 
S.E. 
4 5.2 
52 9 
46.3 
619 
39.8 
0.378 
Monda’y. 
25 
29.507 
42 6 
40.4 
N.W. 
46.9 
47.4 
41.9 
79.9 
88.7 
_ 
Tuesday .... 
26 
29.727 
34.1 
33 3 
w. 
44.3 
448 
31.4 
69.7 
27 1 
0.035 
Wednesday.. 
27 
29.681 
31.9 
30.2 
N. 
42.1 
35.4 
28.2 
42.9 
24 4 
0.010 
Thursday .... 
28 
30.191 
29.9 
28.1 
N.W. 
40.3 
37.3 
27.8 
61.7 
218 
— 
Friday . 
29 
30.238 
32.8 
31.8 
w. 
39 2 
40.2 
29 1 
48 9 
24.8 
— 
Saturday .... 
30 
30.121 
37.8 
37.1 
N.E. 
38.9 
42.0 
32.5 
46.3 
34.9 
— 
29.908 
87.1 
35.8 
42 6 
42.9 
33.9 
58.8 
30.6 
0.423 
REMARKS. 
21th.—Occasional showers, but fine with a little sun for an hour or two at midday. 
25th.—Brilliant throughout 
26th — bright morning; heavy shower with a little wet snow or s’eet from 1.45 to 2 r.M., 
and bright again after. 
27th.-Fine, cold and frequently bright morning; slight snow 6howers whitening the 
ground in the afternoon. 
23th.—Bright and cold throughout. 
29th.—Fine, with sunshine at midday. 
30th.—Dull and slightly foggy till 1 , then clear hut cold. 
Sharp fall of temperature from the previous week, the present one being telow the 
average.—G» J, 9YMON8. 
