REVIEW OF OCTOBER NUMBER OF THE AGRICULTURIST. 
349 
her to devour her young. Abortion seldom 
takes place with the sow: the symptoms of 
such are similar to those of approaching partu¬ 
rition, but more intense. When this is likely to 
take place, a veterinary surgeon, if within call, 
should be requested to attend. As a general 
rule, a sow ought not to be allowed to breed after 
she has entered her fifth year, nor boars after 
the seventh. 
Swine are troubled with several diseases, the 
most common being a species of leprosy, com¬ 
monly known by the name of measles, which, 
and the other more serious diseases, would re¬ 
quire a separate treatise to do justice to the 
subject. —Royal Agricultural Society's Journal. 
The above concludes the able article on pork, 
bacon, and ham. It is not exactly applicable to 
the system pursued in the United States of rear¬ 
ing and fattening pigs, and curing their meat; 
nevertheless, it contains so many excellent gene¬ 
ral hints, and is written with so much ability, 
that we deemed it highly worthy the attention 
of our readers. 
-- 
REVIEW OF OCTOBER NUMBER OF THE AGRI¬ 
CULTURIST. 
f Prospectus of The Plow .—This is the title of 
the first article in the October number of the 
Agriculturist, followed . by an article under the 
head of Editors’ Table, which tells us that at 
the close of this year, The Plow will take the 
place of our old familiar journal, and the third 
officer be promoted to the command of the ship. 
I hope his long experience will enable him to 
sail the new craft safely to the end of a pros¬ 
perous voyage. No one, now, can object to 
take passage with him on account of the fare, 
for it seems to me reduced below a living price. 
Fifty cents a year for a paper like the Agricultu¬ 
rist, is certainly dog cheap, and ought to insure 
the largest circulation ever given to an agricul¬ 
tural paper in America. If anybody ever reads 
the scribbling of your Reviewer, (you say they 
do,) I hope they will read this declaration. It 
is the duty, yes, positive duty of every reader, 
not only to subscribe himself for The Plow, 
but to procure half a dozen of his neighbors to 
join him. This should be done to show the 
publisher or proprietors of the new paper, that 
the public appreciate their motives in making 
this great reduction, which is to increase its cir¬ 
culation and consequent usefulness. Come then, 
brother farmers, let us give our old friend a 
benefit. Only a bushel of potatoes for a monthly 
visitor, while every number will be worth more 
to you than the cost of the whole twelve. If 
the name of such a veteran writer in agricultural 
papers, as that of the editor of The Plow, will 
not take the reef out of your purse strings, the 
attempt need never be made again to induce 
farmers to read. 
A Farmer's Kitchen of Old Times. —Alas, yes! 
old times have passed away, and what have the 
new times brought us instead of the happy 
scene so graphically described in the article 
now under review? In reading, I was insensi¬ 
bly carried back to the days of my youth; aye, 
and to my own sweet Mary, mother of her who 
now bears the name, and calls me by the en¬ 
dearing appellation of father; but not so dear 
as the appellation given me by her mother. 
None but one born upon the soil of New Eng¬ 
land could ever write such a history of a fire¬ 
side scene in an old-fashioned farm house. 
Pork — Bacon — Ham. — No. 7.—These articles 
all contain more or less very crude matter, mixed 
up with much that is valuable. The postulate 
in the first sentence of the present number is of 
this character. The hardness or solidity of 
pork depends as much upon the quality as 
quantity of food. Pork fatted upon beech mast, 
is a soft, flabby substance, and exhibits the char¬ 
acteristics of that described by this writer, in 
consequence of being ill fed. He says lean 
pork will be too salt, and like the Westphalian 
hams, have to be freshened before it can be 
eaten. This is all an error in salting. If only 
just enough salt is given the meat to make it 
palatable, it can be preserved fully as well and 
will make far sweeter bacon. Six pounds of 
salt to a hundred pounds of bacon is ample; but 
it never should be put in pickle. If you will 
use a spoonful of sugar or molasses to each ham 
or shoulder, and a little pinch of saltpetre, you 
will not need so much salt as even the above 
small quantity. This writer speaks of the ne¬ 
cessity of rubbing the salt well into the skin of 
the meat. If this is necessary in England, it is 
not so in this country. If the flesh part is well 
salted, - 1 will insure the whole. I have saved 
hams perfectly, in that way, which weighed 
forty-five pounds each, and better ham never 
was eaten. But I certainly did not smoke them 
according to the directions of this writer, and I 
don’t believe it is possible to make good hams, 
if his directions are followed. The best bacon 
in the world is made in the open, log smoke 
houses of Virginia, North Carolina, and other 
southern and western states, where the air has 
free circulation and the meat never feels the 
heat of the fire used to create the smoke. 
Importation of Merino Sheep .—Ear better for 
