4 
could not keep up our fires. After we deter¬ 
mine on a day, we stroll over to one or more 
neighbors and say, “Say, Jack or Jim, come 
over and help me kill hogs such a day, and 
bring your help,” and nothing less than sick¬ 
ness keeps them away. Now comes one of 
cur peculiarities—we are as a rule opposed to 
handling ho 1 ; water. If we spill cold water 
on ourselves, we only hurt our clothes and 
temper, while the effect of hot water would 
be more serious, so instead of heating water 
we make a fire out-of-doors and put iu 
our irons—pieces of railroad iron, old cast¬ 
ings or any otherjjcouvenieut articles. Near¬ 
ly every one has a collection of his own. 
Then we fill our scalding cask or trough with 
cold water, fix up a platform on which to 
clean and a place to hang the carcasses up. 
By this time the irons are hot; put in one or 
two pieces--enough to make the water hot, 
and you are ready to begin work. 
Poor porkers! Their abode is surrounded 
by a gang of men and boys attired in all man¬ 
ner of toggs that would put “Joseph’s coat of 
many colors” in the shade. One of the grun- 
ters selected for the first victim is grabbed, 
fired out of the pen, and has his throat cut by 
the master of ceremony. Then a shovelful 
of wood ashes is put into the water which is 
brought to the proper degree of temperature. 
The hog is then scalded and passed on to the 
cleaning table, and as many more are treated 
iu the same way as there are hands to handle 
at one time. After the hogs are clean of 
hair, we gambrel them and hang them up for 
the final scrape down and the removal of the 
iutestines. As soon as they are cold we take 
them down and find out who has come closest 
to their weights—not by the old Dutch 
method of balancing a hog on the end of a 
plank placed across a fence,with enough stone 
on the other end to make the plank balance 
evenly, and then guessing the weight of the 
stones; but by using a good pair of scales or 
steel-yards. As soon as the body is cold 
enough to be cut up, the hams and shoulders 
should be sugar-cured. We usually dry-salt 
them right on a table or bench in the cellar 
with the following mixture: salt (good pack¬ 
ing) 10 pounds, brown sugar, four pounds, 
saltpeter, two ounces, to each 100 pounds of 
ham. Lay them skin down, and rub on all of 
the mixture you can make stay on 
and repeat as often as it is absorbed. 
Four or five applications are usually required. 
In about four weeks they will be ready to 
smoke. Smoke them a nice brown. Let them 
dry off well; then bag them, giving the bags 
a good coat of whitewash, and hang them up 
in some cool, dry place, and no one will ever 
know the difference between them and the 
best city cured. Be sure to trim off all loose 
pieces. 
Tae side pork is better dry-salted than if 
put in brine. Use about half the quantity of 
sugar used with bam. Pack the sides snugly 
in a cask with plenty of salt, and brine will 
form. After a couple of months, if the meat 
is likely to get too salty, take it up and hang 
it iu the smoke-house till it is wanted for U6e 
This is the usual custom here. Heads and 
hocks are usually put up in brine and worked 
off to the best advantage. The odds and ends 
of lean meat from hams, shoulders and side 
meat, with all other suitable scraps, are made 
into sausage. This is usually made the day 
after butchering, with the aid of a good cut¬ 
ter. But this operation is too familiar for 
description. If one wishes he can keep sau¬ 
sage from one season to another by packing it 
in earthen jars and pouring^ver it hot lard 
enough to cover it. 
The lard is usually tried out in large kettles 
in the open air, and stored away either in tin 
or earthen receptacles for the use of the house¬ 
wife, and it is to be hoped she treats the fam¬ 
ily to a good supply of fried cakes. Thus we 
have traced the Southern hog through his 
short career from infancy to the pork barrel, 
Kent Co., Del. a. g. s. 
A FEW MARYLAND MESSES. 
One of the most essential things iu pork is 
the breed. I do not mean that it is absolutely 
necessary to raise Chester-Whites, Essex or 
any other particular breed, but I wish to 
emphasize the fact that there is a vast differ¬ 
ence between the meat of the thoroughbred 
and that of the scrub. For fineness of meat, 
“marbled” fat and small bones I have settled 
upon the Berkshire, but I do not pretend to 
say that this breed is the best for every one. 
A Berkshire pig farrowed in April should 
weigh iu December about l.*50 pounds net— 
though sometimes he doesn’t—and at about 
that time the killing is generally done in this 
locality. The weather should be just cold 
enough to stiffen the dressed hogs the night 
after they are killed—about 20° Fahr. In the 
morning the carcasses are taken to the meat 
house, aud cut up. The heads are first cut 
off; then the^ribs are cut with a hatchet close 
up on each side of the back-bone and with a 
knife following the hatchet the two sides are 
cut off, leaving the back-bone strip, or“cliine.” 
From this chine the strip of fat is torn off for 
lard and it is then cut up in three pieces ready 
for curing. Next we cut off and trim the 
hams and shoulders, saving the fat pieces for 
lard and the lean mixed with fat, for sausage. 
Now we have left the sides proper or “mid¬ 
dlings.” These may be cutup inconvenient- 
sized pieces for curing; or, if for home use, 
they may be taken out to be eaten fresh aud 
the strip of tenderloin and fat underneath may 
be cut off. The tenderloin is rather too 
choice to be salted away as middlings. We 
generally save as much as will keep fresh and 
put the rest into sausage. 
I feel a little doubtful about giviug a recipe 
for sausage-making, as every lady has her 
own handed down from mother to daughter 
(for this is woman's work, though the men 
folks must turn the sausage mills); still I will 
give one for the benefit of those who have no 
better. After the trimmings and tenderloin— 
the greater the proportion of tenderloin, the 
better the sausage—have been run through the 
mill, the meat is spread on a table and the 
seasoning is thoroughly worked in, in the fol¬ 
lowing proportion; to every nine pounds of 
meat use six teaspoonfuls each of salt aud pep 
per, and 12 teaspoonfuls of powdered sage. The 
teaspoon should be full—not level nor yet 
heaped Now fry a little cake and taste. If 
it is seasoned to suit, rush the meat through 
the mill again, pack tightly in jars and pour 
melted lard over it to exclude air, and set the 
jars in a cool place until the sausage is 
wanted. 
Now we will go back to our hog, or rather 
to what is left of him—the head. Cut it in 
halves. Put the jowls in with the meat to be 
cured. Trim the eyes, ears, and snouts, from 
the faces, put some of them with the jowls, 
and with some make the following: Boil one 
face, one heart, and one liver until the meat 
drops apart, strain it, pick out the fragments 
of bone, run the meat through the sausage 
mill, season to taste and you have “pudding.” 
This has to be heated when eaten. Dou t 
throw out the water in which the pudding w r as 
cooked, but thicken it rather thicker than 
mush with a mixture of three parts of corn- 
meal and one part of buckwheat meal; put 
the mixture into shallow vessels and when 
cold it will harden and may be sliced and 
fried. This is “scrapple” so-called from be¬ 
ing made of scraps, I suppose. 
Last and most easily done is the curing of 
the meat—at any rate, it is the easiest work 
with me. Rub it well with coarse salt, stack 
it up, sprinkling a little salt on each layer, 
and allow it to cure for about six weeks, and 
then it may be smoked as desired, and if the 
hog was a well-bred, respectable animal, I 
don’t think there will be any trouble about 
his not being eaten. p. b. crosby. 
Baltimore Co., Md. 
THE HOOSIER WAY. 
Our mode of making sausage and curing 
side meat is as follows: 
We trim very liberally and closely for 
sausage and lard. The sausage meat is cut 
into small slices, so as to be put into the chop¬ 
per without trouble. I use the Enterprise, which 
is the best I ever had. We season the meat 
before we grind it. We try to have the pro¬ 
portion about three-fourths lean aud one- 
fourth fat pork, which we slice ready for the 
cutter. To 40 pounds of the meat so prepared, 
we take one pound of salt, one teacupful of 
finely pulverized sage (the Wilson bone-mill 
pulverizes it very nicely), one fourth of a 
pound of black pepper, or half that of pul¬ 
verized red pepper. We season before grind¬ 
ing, by laying the meat in a pan or tub and 
sprinkling the salt, pepper and sage over it, 
layer by layer. The pepper can be more 
evenly spread by using the pepper-box. 
We then mix the meat by hand slightly, 
and when it has gone though the chopper 
it is in condition to be put away. In this way 
the seasoning is more thoroughly done, with 
less labor than it could be done by adding the 
seasoning after the grinding. The meat we 
want for present use we pack in jars, and set 
these away in a cool place. What .we keep 
for summer use we make into cakes and fry 
ready for the table. These cakes we pack 
closely into two-gallon jars, a size very con¬ 
venient to handle. We pour the fryings 
over the meat and if, when a jar is full, the 
fryings have not quite covered the meat, we 
melt enough lard to cover it, and then put a 
plate over it, bottom up. As the lard cools it 
shrinks somewhat. We then pour melted lard 
over the edge of the plate until it is fully cov¬ 
ered. Then we tie a cloth over the jar and 
put it away in a cool, dry place. To prepare 
the sausage meat for the table, we take out 
what we want aud heat it thoroughly. 
We have had such sausage meat almost 
daily on the table during this week (Nov. 10 
to 17) and it is as good and fresh as it was 
when put up last January. 
If a person should fear that he could not 
distribute the seasoning evenly enough, he 
might divide his meat into 10 or 20-pound 
parts, and divide the seasoning in the same 
way. 
I make pickled pork of my side meat, using 
eight-gallon stone jars, which I prefer 
to kegs or barrels, because the wood is liable 
to be tainted, and the jars can be scalded and 
made sweet for the next year. In packing, 
I salt heavily and then make a brine, using all 
the salt that can be dissilved in the boiling 
water. I skim the brine well and when it is 
cold, pour it over the pork and put sufficient 
weight on to keep the meat under the brine. 
We are using such meat now and it is perfect¬ 
ly sweet and pure. In curing the joints, we 
rub fine salt on the fleshy sides and pack them 
in a barrel, small ends down. After they 
have stood there a day or two, we make a 
pickle by taking eight pounds of salt, two 
pounds of sugar, two ounces of saltpeter aud 
two ounces of soda to four gallons of water, 
making enough in that proportion to cover 
the meat. In four to six weeks, according to 
the size of the joints, they should be hung 
up to dry, and be smoked thoroughly with 
green hickory wood or corn-cobs I pre¬ 
fer stone jars for storing the lard to either 
tin or wooden vessels. 
The hogs mostly raised in this vicinity are 
Poland-Chinas, Berkshires, and Chester- 
Whites, and they are preferred in the order 
named. More hogs are marketed when 
one year old and under than when over a 
year. Killing among the farmers commences 
as soon in the fall as the pork can be saved— 
from November on—but the first killing is 
done merely to get a present supply of fresh 
meat. The main stock of meat is laid up by 
killing through January and the first half of 
February. In a general way it may be said 
that our killing extends from cool weather in 
November to the first of March. 
The method of raising aud fattening hogs is 
to pasture them on grass and stubble fields, fin¬ 
ishing up with corn. When there is corn on 
hand it is fed by some of our farmers while the 
hogs are fed on clover, that being the main 
pasture for hogs. s. b h. 
Crawfordsville, Ind. 
A VETERAN’S VIEWS. 
For hams aud bacon make a brine as fol¬ 
lows: For long-keeping use seven pounds of 
the best salt; for use during cool weather, six 
pounds of salt for 100 pounds of meat. Put 
into this pickle six pounds of brown sugar 
and four ounces of saltpeter. Pack the meat 
in a sweet, clean cask and cover with the 
above pickle. Leave the meat in this for six 
weeks and then take it out and smoke it. I 
do not make sausage except a little for family 
use. The lean parts of the pigs are made into 
headcheese. This includes the legs, heads and 
trimmings. Fat pieces and fat trimmings 
are made into lard. f. d. curtis. 
Saratoga Co., N. Y. 
HOG NOTES. 
According to the latest report of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture, there are in this 
country 44,000,000 swine, or 73 for every 100 
inhabitants. The proportion has been as high 
as SO to 100; but we export considerably less 
now than we did some years ago, and fat 
animals are turned off at an earlier age; thus 
more animals are slaughtered in proportion 
to the total at a given time, so that probably 
as much pork per head is used now in this 
country as at any former time. In the sea on 
of,1887-1888-3ay, from April, in ’87,the opening 
of the “summer packing” season to March 31, 
’88, the close of the “winter packing ” season, 
the number of hogs slaughtered at the various 
pork-packing establishments is put at 16,615, 
257, against 17,303,228 in 1886—7. Of the 
victims in 1887—8, 11,532,707 met their fate in 
Western States; 4,759,550 in the Eastern 
States, and 225,000 on the Pacific Coast. The 
Department of Agriculture estimates that 
nearly 13,000,000, swine were also slaughtered 
on the farms throughout the country in 1887 
—8, which would make a total aggregate of, 
say, 29,000,000 victims in that twelvemonth. 
* * * 
During the last 27 years we have exported 
only an average of 15 per cent of our hog pro¬ 
duction. Our exports have averaged about 
2,800.000 hogs a year, or 560,000,000 pounds, 
allowing 200 pounds of cured product to each 
animal. Our exports have consisted of live 
hogs, bacon, hams, pork and lard. Last year 
we exported 75,3S3 hogs; 419,922,955 pounds 
of bacon and hams; 86,621,069 pounds of pork 
and 321,533,746 pounds of lard. Our heaviest 
exports were in 1880 when we sent abroad 83 
432 hogs; 759,773,109 pounds of bacon and 
bams; 95,949,780 pounds of pork, and 374,979, 
286 pounds of lard. Last year our exports of 
hogvcost only $7.49 per head; of bacon and 
hams, 7.9 cents, and of lard, 7.1 cents. The 
highest prices ever obtained, however, for 
hogs, were in 1866, when our exports aver¬ 
aged $16 25 per head; while in 1865, our ex¬ 
ports of bacon and hams cost 22.9 cents per 
pound; - pork, 16.4 cents, and lard 20 5 cents. 
* * * 
In the Tenth Census year—1880—there were 
on farms in the United States 47,681,700 swine 
The total number and the proportion in the 
different States have altered little since then. 
At that time Iowa led with 6,034,316: 
then came Illinois with 5,170.266; Missouri 
with 4.553 123; Indiana, 3,186,413; Ohio, 
3,141,333; Kentucky, 2,225 225; Tennessee, 
2,160,495; Texas. 1.950,371; Kansas, 1,787,969; 
Arkansas, 1,565,098. Of the other States 
Colorado had the fewest, 7,656: then iu an 
ascending grade came Rhode Island with 
14,121; Delaware, 48,186; Connecticut, 63,690; 
and Maine, 74 369 The Territories were all 
poorly supplied, Wyoming having the fewest 
—567—and Dakota, the most—63,394. There 
is no doubt that the number of swine has 
increased much more proportionately in the 
Territories than in any other part of the 
country during the last nine years. The great 
corn-producing States are also the great meat- 
producing States, although in the case of* 
swine, aud,indeed,of other meat-producing an¬ 
imals,the number produced in each State is not 
in exact proportion to the amount of corn 
produced therein. Still in the Census year 
the nine great hog-producing States came the 
first among the corn-producing States, in this 
order, however; round millions of bushels 
only are given, aud, of course, the crop was 
that of 1889:—Illinois, 325; Iowa, 275; Mis¬ 
souri, 202; Indiana, 115; Ohio, 111; Kansas, 
105; Kentucky 73; Nebraska, 65; Tennessee, 
62. Then there is a jump of four States be¬ 
fore Texas is reached with 24 million bushels 
and then another jump of three States before 
Arkansas is reached with 24 million bushels. 
Still the general rule holds emphatically 
good, “The more corn, the more hogs.” 
START THE PIGS RIGHT. 
No luck about securing good pigs; care and 
attention needed ; what should be done; 
only one way to make sure ; why so many 
Jail. 
This is about the way many proceed to 
raise pigs:—In the first place, they begin by 
using a sow or boar that is too young and the 
result is either no pigs, a small litter, or else 
they are weak and lack vitality. Another 
bad result from such a course is to weaken the 
sow and boar, stunting their growth and for¬ 
ever imparing their usefulness as breeders 
They should be at least a year old before use- 
ing for breeding. The next serious mistake 
that many farmers make, is to turn the sow 
in with the boar, before she is ready for ser¬ 
vice, leaving her there a month or so, trusting 
to “luck” for a service, and not knowing 
whether such service has taken place or not— 
by such a course exhausting the energies of 
both animals. But by far, the worst feature 
about such a “ way of doing things” is that 
the breeder has no record of the exact date of 
s°rvice, which it is very important to know, 
to be successful. 
I often hear a farmer say, “My sow is due 
with pigs some time in March, but I don’t 
know the date.” Stick a pin right in here, 
for this is the very point wherein so many 
failures to raise pigs occur. A sow, on an 
average, will come in heat once in three or 
four weeks. Watch your animals, and when 
they reach that state, and it is the date you 
wish, turn them in with your boar, and re¬ 
main present yourself until you see that a 
proper service is performed, and then immed¬ 
iately return your sow to her pen as one 
service is as effectual as a dozen would be, 
and I believe more so. You now know the 
exact date, the importance of which we shall 
see farther on, and you will not have to guess 
at anything. 
The advantage of knowing all this is that 
as the sow approaches her date, you can 
change her feed to suit her condition. Know¬ 
ing her to be due at such a date, you can 
safely book orders for such and such litters, 
and your customer knows at just what time 
he may expect his purchase. But what is 
more important than all, you know exactly 
when, to a day, to prepare a place for your 
sow to have her family in, and can arrange to 
be present at that date. To have some one 
else attend to this is not as well, and to leave 
the sow to herself, trusting to “luck,” is only 
to invite failure. 
A pig, contrary to a general belief, is a 
very intelligent animal, and I do not know of 
one that succumbs so readily to kind treat¬ 
ment, unless it be a high-bred dog. They dis¬ 
tinguish very quickly between the presence 
of a stranger and their regular attendant and 
they never object to the latter’s presence in 
their pen when they are giving birth to young 
