266 
PORK—BACON—HAM.—NO. 6. 
PORK—BACON—HAM.—No. 6. 
The term antiseptic is applied to those sub¬ 
stances which prevent op retard the progress or 
tendency to decay, which is the natural condi¬ 
tion of vegetable and animal matters when de¬ 
prived of life. Antiseptics consist of creosote, 
the essential oils, salts, &c. The theory of their 
action has never been properly explained; 
some substances for this purpose are much 
more powerful than others, such as creosote 
and the essential oils; others, as tannin and 
corrosive sublimate, owe their antiseptic prop¬ 
erties to the fact of their forming insoluble com¬ 
pounds with animal tissue, &c. This does hot 
explain the rationale of the action of saltpetre 
and salt in preserving provisions. Although 
we are unacquainted with the actual cause of 
the preservative powers of salt and saltpetre, 
yet there are some circumstances connected 
with their action that explain in part their anti¬ 
septic powers. It is well known that the pres¬ 
ence of moisture and the atmosphere are re¬ 
quisite to induce decay; that heat hastens and 
cold retards its progress. Now all the animal 
tissues, whether muscular or cellular, contain 
a certain amount of water, whilst the fluids, 
which are not withdrawn from the animal in 
bleeding, contain a large amount of water; these 
fluids contain several substances of a most com¬ 
plex nature, high atomic weight, and facile de¬ 
composition, to which the excess of moisture 
greatly assists. In proportion to its entire 
weight, none of our domestic animals contain 
so small a proportionate amount of muscle and 
tissue as the hog, the major part consisting of fat, 
which, from its more simple chemical composi¬ 
tion, is less liable to decay, or becoming, as it 
is commonly termed, “ reasty,” or “ rusty 
This rustiness will generally be found on ex¬ 
amination to have commenced in the decay of 
the enveloping or cellular tissue. 
Common salt absorbs moisture where an ex¬ 
cess is present, and yields the moisture so ab¬ 
sorbed on exposure to a moderately dry atmos¬ 
phere. These properties, in connection with 
the fact that salt is an agreeable condiment, 
render this substance, irrespective of its cheap¬ 
ness and general distribution, the most fitting 
antiseptic that can be applied. I am inclined 
to consider the ultimate action of salt in a great 
measure as mechanical, whilst that of saltpetre, 
(nitrate of potash,) as entirely chemical. When 
a quantity of dry salt is applied to pork recently 
killed, and thus left in a dry apartment, the salt 
will soon assume a moist appearance in conse¬ 
quence of the union of the moisture in the meat 
with the salt, eventually forming a liquid called 
brine. If this brine and moist salt is now 
thrown away, and fresh dry salt applied, the 
whole of the moisture in the meat may be ex¬ 
tracted with the exception of that moisture 
which is retained by the greater chemical affin¬ 
ity of the animal fibre. Meat so treated would, 
no doubt, keep well, but it would be excessively 
salt. In the course of salting meat, the animal 
tissues become saturated with a solution more 
or less strong, according to circumstances, of 
salt. In drying, the water in the brine is evap¬ 
orated, the meat becomes to a certain extent 
desiccated, many of the pores are filled with 
and the exterior parts become covered with an 
efflorescence of salt; the moisture having been 
in a great measure extracted, combined with the 
presence of a considerable quantity of salt not 
only in the tissue but as an exterior coating, 
preserves the meat from the action of the at¬ 
mosphere, provided it is kept in a dry place. 
Salt, alone, will not give that agreeable red 
color so much admired in preserved meats; this 
is accomplished by using a small quantity of 
saltpetre. The change of color caused by using 
saltpetre is a pretty fair proof that a chemical 
combination takes place; a further proof is 
that the muscular fibres are rendered decidedly 
firmer when used, and when in excess, causes 
the muscular part of the meat to become harsh¬ 
ly hard, or, as it is commonly termed, stringy 
and tough.— Jour. Royal Ag. Soc. 
SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
“ It is vastly strange if this is so great an im¬ 
provement over the old-fashioned mode of plow¬ 
ing, that so few are found to practise it. In fact, 
nobody practises it. A few fancy farmers have 
tried it, with indifferent success, and the great 
mass of farmers have failed to be convinced of 
its advantages. The cost of such a process 
will deter them from even attempting it, unless 
the benefits be great and manifest.” 
I clip the above from a Connecticut paper, 
(the Sentinel of Middletown,) but hope it is 
not a true indication of the state of agricultural 
intelligence in that state, although I am aware 
some of her farmers are about as much in the 
dark ages as they were a century or two ago. 
To question the benefit of deep plowing, at this 
day, shows a lamentable want of intelligence. 
To say “ nobody, in fact, practises it,” only 
means a small circle of the nobodies of the edit¬ 
or’s acquaintances. The sneering remark that 
none but a few fancy farmers have ever tried 
the subsoil plow in Connecticut, is proving too 
