PORK—BACON—HAM.—NO. 4. 
203 
acre; and all these were grown on poor sands 
and gravels. We will add in conclusion, that 
on all such lands, the roller must he thoroughly 
used, to give sufficient compactness to the soil, 
to enable it to hold the fibres of the roots firmly 
and impart to them their requisite quota of 
nourishment. 
If other root crops should be substituted for 
the potato, to the extent, at least, of providing 
succulent winter food for all the dumb things 
on the farm, the diminished quantity of potatoes., 
planted, would tend materially to lessen their 
liability to disease. By more judicious selec¬ 
tions of fields, more frequent change of crops, 
more careful choice of seed, and greater pains¬ 
taking in planting, the fearful malady, so long 
and so fatally prevalent in the potato, may not 
only be greatly mitigated, but with the aid of 
science in discovering some of its causes and 
abettors, this substitution may hereafter lead to 
its effectual eradication. 
-- 
PORK—BACON—HAM,—No. 4. 
The difficulty of saving hams from decay or 
from fiy blows is well known to consist princi¬ 
pally in properly curing the knuckle, or superi¬ 
or extremity of the thigh bone; it will there^ 
fore be apparent that if such a difficulty exists 
in curing them, it must be greatly increased 
when the bulk of the ham remains attached to 
the side, or flitch. These operations being com¬ 
pleted, the side is carried to another table, where 
the operator cuts off any straggling pieces of 
flesh, together with what, may be considered su¬ 
perfluous on the shoulder. He is also provided 
with a sort of dull iron chisel, to which a cord 
is attached which passes over his neck, and 
with this chisel, he separates the scapula, or 
shoulder bone, from the muscles attached to it; 
this being completed, a small, noose from anoth¬ 
er short cord, also placed over the neck of the 
operator, is now fastened to the narrow and 
joint end of the bone ; in doing so, the workman 
has to bend his body, the cord being made 
short expressly for this purpose. 
In resuming the upright position, he draws 
out the shoulder, or as it is commonly called, 
the blade bone; the fore arm, or knuckle, may 
be either left or taken out; it is usually left with 
the side; the last operation is sawing off the 
shank of the ham, which is done a few inches 
above the joint; the side is now fit for the curer. 
The rapidity with which all these operations 
is performed quite astonishes the spectator 
who has not previously seen a large establish¬ 
ment of this kind, several of which, in Ireland, 
slaughter from 800 to 1,000 large hogs per 
week during the season, namely, from October 
to April. The head is sometimes cured by sep¬ 
arating the lower from the upper portion, the 
lower part forming what is called the “ chap.” 
The more usual way is to split the head into 
two lateral divisions and throw them into a 
strong pickle, the same as is used for forming 
pickled pork. The above-described mode is that 
usually adopted in the west of England, and 
also in those parts of Ireland where bacon is 
prepared for the London market in the west-of- 
England fashion. The York method differs 
from the west-of-England mode, in having the 
ham detached from the flitch, and also in not 
cutting out the griskin, leaving the whole of the 
ribs attached to the side , only separating the 
back bone, as previously described. The ham 
is cut either short or long, according to taste; 
if cut long, the whole of the pelvis, or haunch 
bone, is cut out in connection with the thigh 
bone and ham. The Westphalian ham is an in¬ 
stance of this method, and is the best mode for 
the seller, as he gets the price of ham for a 
large portion which would otherwise form a 
sort of offal, or make part of the flitch, and sp 
only obtain the price of bacon. This form of 
ham is the worst for the consumer, as the lower 
end contains a great quantity of bone, and is 
only fit for boiling; it has also its disadvantages 
with the curer as it disfigures the flitch very 
much, leaving a long narrow slip at the ham 
end, which can only be used for melting down. 
On the whole, therefore, the method of cutting 
the ham short is the best; this is done by saw¬ 
ing the pelvis in about the middle and cutting the 
ham in a circular manner from that point. It 
is not customary with small pigs to cut any part 
of the ribs ; but with large ones, it is requisite to 
cut a portion out of the fore part, and also to 
draw out the blade bone as described in the 
west-of-England mode. With small pigs, such 
as the improved Essex, this may be omitted 
when they are only from nine to twelve months 
old, and having been previously well fed, as the 
curing of bacon depends greatly on the latter- 
named circumstances; this, together with the 
fact that small bacon and hams usually obtain 
the best price, other matters, as quality of meat, 
&c., being equal, is a strong argument in favor 
of the smaller description of pigs in reference to 
the larger breeds; also, as here shown, the 
whole of the carcass can be converted into 
marketable ham and bacon, without any de¬ 
duction for offal of much consequence. 
I omitted to state that prior to preparing the 
