886 
8 
bering not over 16 pieces, including the regu¬ 
lar proportion of flank and shoulder cuts 
placed four layers on edge without excessive 
crowding or bruising, shall be packed in each 
barrel, with not less than 30 pounds of coarse 
salt, the barrel to be filled with brine of full 
streugih; or 30 pounds of coarse suit, and in 
addition thereto fifteen pounds of salt, the 
barrel to lie filled with cold water. 
Put mk Mess Pork should lie made from the 
shoulders and sides of hogs weighing from 100 
to 175 pounds net, to lie cut a-s nearly as practi¬ 
cable into square pieces of four pounds each, 
the shank of the shoulder to be cut off close to 
the breast. One bundled and ninety pounds 
of green meat in the proportion of 20 pieces of 
shoulder cuts to 30 pieces of side cuts shall be 
properly packed in each barrel, with not less 
than 20pounds of coarse salt, the barrel to be 
filled with brine of full strength; or 20 pounds 
of coarse salt, and in addition thereto, 15 
pounds of salt, the barrel to be filled with cold 
water. There shall also be put into each barrel 
12 pounds of saltpeter. 
Extra. Prime Pork should be made from 
heavy, untrimuied shoulders, cut into three 
pieces; the leg to be cut off close to the breast, 
and in all other respects to be cut, selected,and 
packed as mesa pork. 
Light Mess Pork should be made from 
sides of reasonably well-fatted hogs; and in all 
other respects be cut, selected and packed the 
same as mess pork, except that as many as 22 
pieces may be put into each barrel. 
Back pork should be made from backs of 
of hogs after the bellies have been taken off, 
cut into pieces of about six pounds each, and 
iu all other respects to bo cut, selected, and 
packed in t he same manner as mess pork. 
Extra 8iiocuder pork should be made 
from heavy t rimmed shoulders, cut into three 
pieces: the leg to be cut off close to the breast, 
and in all other respects to be cut, selected, 
and packed in t he same manner as mess pork. 
Extra clear pork should lie made from 
the sides of extra heavy, well-fatted hogs, 
the backbone and ribs to be taken out, the 
number of pieces in each barred not to exceed 
14, and in all other respects to be cut, selected, 
and packed in the same manner as mess pork. 
Clear pork should b» made from the sides 
of extra heavy .well fatted bogs, the back-bone 
and half the rib next the baekbouo to be taken 
out. the number of pieces iu each barrel not to 
exceed fourteen, and in all other respects to be 
cut, selected, aud packed in the same manner 
as mess pork. 
Clear back pork should be made from the 
backs of heavy, well fatted hogs, after the bel¬ 
lies have been taken off and the back-bone and 
ribs takcu out, cut into pieces of about six 
pounds each, aud in all other respects to be 
packed in the same manner as mess pork. 
Romps should lie trimmed with only enough 
taken off to make them neat and smooth; the 
tails to be cut off close, and in all oiAier re¬ 
spects to bo cut, selected, and packed in the 
same manner as mess pork. 
EXTENT OP THE TRADE. 
These are cuts for the home trade, aud 
styles for euriug and packing, and also for 
the British market, Some of these cuts are in 
imitation of those which are the most popular 
on the other side. Some of the most extensive 
pork packing establishments in this coun¬ 
try are owned and conducted by foreigners or 
were established by them, aud they have 
branch houses in Great Britain. The packing 
trade is moving westward, aud recently it 1ms 
been started at Omaha on a large scale. It is 
also increasing in Kansas City and becoming 
loss at Cincinnati and Minneapolis. Few peo¬ 
ple realize the extent of the pork business in 
this couutry. The hog pays the balance iu our 
foreign exchanges, and furnishes more meat 
food for the people than anything else. [We 
object to its supplying the butter.] The ag¬ 
gregate number of hogs of all ages now 
slaughtered annually in the United States is 
estimated at. about 30,000,000. averaging in 
dressed weight 175 pounds each.or5,250,000,000 
pounds of gross product, making a total of 
cured moats, lard, ami other products of 4,725,- 
000,000 pounds. 
(£fjc |>‘oultn v 1)anX 
NEST BOX AND PERCH. 
This is one of the neatest aud handiest con¬ 
trivances for the purpose that I have ever 
seen. Fig. 405 is a view of the front, and one 
end. Fig. 400 is a bird's-eye view of the inte¬ 
rior. Thu box is six Met long, 21 inches wide 
and 12 inches high. The entrance to the nests 
is at one end, and along a passage buck of 
them. The nests are 10x12 inches square, the 
passage nine inches wide. A strip, S, four 
inches wide, running lengthwise of the box, 
back of the nests, serves to confine the materi¬ 
al comprising the nests aud to prevent the 
eggs from rolling into the passage. At the 
end of the passage, opposite the entrance, a 
hole three inches square is cut to admit air 
aud light. The eggs are gathered by opening 
the shutter in front. The perch, P, stands 
three inches above the top of the box. It may 
be extended 20 or 30 inches beyond either end 
of the box if more roosting room is desired. 
There is uo bottom to the box; it rests on the 
floor of the poultry house, and when it is de¬ 
sired to disinfect, paint, whitewash or apply 
insecticides, it can be picked up and carried 
out, the nest material swept up and burned, 
the floor scalded, dashed with lime, kerosene 
or other insecticides and the entire affair rnado 
clean and sweet iu a jiffy. 
The nests 1 icing hidden from the other fowls 
and most of the light excluded, the danger of 
eggs being broken or eaten is reduced to a 
tagious poultry diseases will lie lessened, and 
the waste product will be fed to advantage. 
This idea is sound. It will work well. 
The English papers are discussing the pro 
per meaning of the terras cock, hen, cockerel 
and pullet. The idea appears to be that birds 
under one year old are cockerels or pullets. It 
is customary to speak of ‘'chickens.” Many 
farmers speak of their entire stock, young 
and old, as a flock of chickens. 
minimum. 
GRUNDY. 
Christian Co., Ill. 
POULTRY NOTES. 
On a narrow strip of ground just around 
our poultry yards, we are going to sow rye. 
It will be handy for green feed just when the 
hens need it. We are only waiting for a good 
rain now. The ground is as dry as a chip at 
present. 
We have planted two plum trees in each of 
our three yarils. They are protected by means 
of flat stakes driven closely together around 
the trees, so far away that the hens eaunot 
reach them. 
Next Spring, when the hens first begin to 
stop laying, and when eggs go down in price, 
we expect to turn the hens all into two yards. 
This will give the third yard for oats, 
millet, or other forage crop. The cow 
will enjoy this, and it will go far towards 
keeping her. It will leave a good stubble for 
tbe hens to work over, aud clean the soil in 
good shape. This will be cheaper then throw¬ 
ing out the surface soil and putting new soil 
iiv.ir, 
CORRESPONDENTS 7 VIEWS. 
FARM HELP. 
Where can the farmer go to obtain good 
help, worth the cost? Cheap labor is the most 
unprofitable. No good farmer wants cheap 
hands. Near the city it is next to impossible 
to get skilled farm labor at any price. The 
temptation is great to employ cheap or tramp 
labor. Such service means a season of worry¬ 
ing and fretting over cm .'dess mistakes. Often 
the profits of aseasou an rained by such cheap 
work. Cheap labor costs to * much, yet good, 
intelligent farm labor is underpaid. A smart 
and capable young man is quick to see that he 
can make more money iu a trade than he can 
on the farm, and have more time to himself. 
The trouble Is that too much of the money for 
farm products goes into the hands of those 
who simply handle them. Consumers pay as 
much relatively for farm products as they do 
for other things. A quart of strawberries 
which nets the grower two cents, retails for 10 
cents, and a pound of butter which retails at 
30 cents nets the produc r from 15 to 20 cents, 
and so on through the list. A swarm of mid¬ 
dlemen, buyers, transportation companies, 
etc., take the legitimate profits of the farmer 
away from him. Unjust discrimination and 
£.rifixt7Ue\ 
NEST BOX AND PERCH. Fig. 405. 
Jf&errc/— /ugA. 
Air'/lotr 
JjZn. 
Fig. 406. 
iu. It ivill give two years of manuring by the 
hens ami one year of cropping. 
We hope to keep lice out of the flock by not 
letting them get iu. The houses are lined in¬ 
side with tarred paper. Before the cold 
weather we mean to put. a good coating of tar 
all over this. Lice can’t stand tar. We make 
a business every now ami then of dustiug the 
fowls with insect powder. This is done at 
night while the liens are on the roosts. Take 
the hens from the roosts, hold them up by the 
legs and dust a pinch of the powder over their 
backs and under the wings. Twojpersous can 
easily treat a dozen fowls iu 15 minutes. If 
wo did not think this paid we should not do it. 
We expect to improve the laying qualities 
of our hens by setting eggs 'rom our best 
layers. We mean to see which our best lay¬ 
ers are and to mark their eggs for setting, As 
a rule, asquare, “blocky,” broad-chested bird, 
is a better layer than a long and slim bird. If 
we expect a calf from a good butter cow to 
make a good butter cow in her turn, there is 
uo reason why we should not expect an egg 
from our best layer to produce a good layer. 
There is more in pedigree than there is iu ex¬ 
terior markings. 
The Agricultural Gazette says that the 
time is coining when no good system of rota¬ 
tion of crops will be complete without poultry. 
It is proposed to move the fowls about from 
year hi year to different fields. By means 
of light wire uetting runs and houses on 
wheels this can be easily done. The design is 
to plow ami cultivate the field in which the 
hens have spent a year. Iu this way the hens 
will manure the fields, the dangers from con¬ 
unjust compensation make farming hard work 
and render farm labor difficult to obtain. The 
average pay of a locomotive engineer is al 
most #4 per day. This work does not require 
any more skill than it does to tarm successful¬ 
ly and yet what former clears, as the result 
of his own labor, $1,200 a year? A brakeman 
or fireman can get $50 per month. The same 
grade of labor on the farm would ruin the 
farmer at over 820per mouth aud board. It 
requires as much skill to hoe corn or haudle a 
cultivator as it does to couple cal's or handle 
freight, and it is far more laborious. The far¬ 
mer should be able to pay his hands as much 
as men of the same grade of intelligence 
could receive iuany form of labor. Until he 
can do this, farm labor will be scarce and of 
miserable quality. The fact is that the han- 
dlers of farm products get so much more than 
their share of the compensation that they can 
pay higher wages than fanners eau pay for 
the same grade of work. 
Something must be done to equalize the 
compensation of labor. Farm products are 
worth so much iu the hands of the con¬ 
sumer. The farmer must get more of this 
price and be enabled to improve the quality of 
labor by paying more for it. He must study 
out methods of getting his produce to market 
more cheaply. It must pass through fewer 
hands. Co-operatiou among farmers will work 
good and tbe support of laws that shall justly 
equalize transportation rates must be encour¬ 
aged- .t. H. o. 
Queens Co., N. Y. 
LR. N.-Y.—The real profits iu farming do 
not appear in the amount of money actually 
laid up at the close of the year. If the engi¬ 
neer gets $4 per day for his labor, the point is 
how much can he put into the bank after pro¬ 
viding for his family? Let him use the fruits, 
vegetables, milk, etc., that are used in the 
farmer’s home, let him take his family out rid¬ 
ing as often as the good farmer’s family goes, 
and pay the regular price for such entertain¬ 
ment. and how much will ho have left? When 
a boy on the. farm years ago, there used to be 
young men who went to the city or railroads 
to work. The)* would come back at intervals 
with great stories of the money they could 
earn. But somehow they never sctvorl any 
more than theyoimg men working for $15 or 
$18 per mouth and board. The extra money 
earned was more than eaten up by the extra 
expenses. Farmers do support thousands of 
handlers. They do it grumblingly, but they 
do it. all the same. They will continue to do 
it until they organize, study thequestion to the 
bottom and settle it themselves. The vast 
loads carried on the back of agriculture serve 
to show how much wealth lies hidden in the 
good old science for those who dig intelligently 
for it. 
Some Causes of Agricctural Distress. 
—Old farmers who came into this neighbor¬ 
hood 40 years ago paid for their farms with 
wheat at 50 cents, a market 25 miles away and 
merchandise higher than at present. Young 
farmers of the present day, with wheat at 75 
cents and a market at the door, can hardly 
make both ends meet. Why? Politicians at¬ 
tempt to explaiu it all by the magic word 
'“Protection, but the thinking farmer 
fimls other reasons. Besides the natural in¬ 
crease in the value of land, expenses have 
increased. Times have changed. Luxuries of 
the old days are necessaries now. Two things 
do much to k >ep the farmer back to-day. 
These are old debts aud expensive machinery. 
Debts were contracted when wheat sold for 
twice its present price. Now to pay two 
bushels for one from land which yields less, is 
the task of these debt-ridden farmers. Can 
they do it? Could the manager of any legiti¬ 
mate business do it? The question must be 
answered in the near future or some of our 
best farms will pass from the bauds of the 
workers into those of the capitalists. In the 
matter of expensive machinery the farmer 
should adopt these rules: 1. Buy l»o machinery 
until it is absolutely needed. 2. Buy no ma¬ 
chinery until you kuow what you want and 
that the machine is what it is represented to 
be. 3. Buy nothing of tramp agents—buy' 
from headquarters. To the farmer who is out 
of debt these times are as good as any the 
country has knowu There are better bar¬ 
gains to be made now than at any time since 
the war, if one has capital. 
Ionia Co., Mich. L. g. wood. 
Too High a Price —I met an old friend 
the other day, who has just been obliged to 
give up his farm. At least three times that I 
know of, he has taken money that ought to 
have helped pay his mortgage to buy things 
for his boys. These boys have had every 
chance, but they never hive been made to 
work. Life came easy T to them, and they 
seemed to think it always would. They 
are now married aud doing common 
laborer’s work or running farms on 
shares. They never have saved a cent, and 
owe plenty of small bills that they have been 
able to run up on the strength of their father’s 
honesty. My friend says these boys have cost 
him $15 per month per boy. Figure that for 
25 years, and it makes too much money to 
waste, even as a business venture. With 
that amount of money to spend upon a boy’s 
education a good man ought to lie produced— 
a man sound and strong to the core. How 
many farmers are making such men? 
OBSERVER. 
If one-fourth of my hay was mouldy and 
damaged and I had four cows, I would sooner 
sell one cow than to scrimp the four on the 
good hay. That Is my idea, every time. 
Buck Co., Pa. H. t. d. 
Severe drought has taught me one thing 
about growing grape cuttings. Beds of cut¬ 
tings that were copiously watered came on 
better than ever before. I was once inclined 
to depend upon mulching aud the natural 
rainfall, but hereafter I shall water copiously 
unless Nature does it for me. D, s. .u. 
Watertown, N. Y. 
Good.— I dug on my farm a Rural Blush 
Potato that weighs six pounds. It is very 
irregular iu shape. How is that for a giant? 
Lake Co., Ohio. p. e. d. 
The picture of my Chevoit ram, in the 
Rural of Oct. 9, was flue. He took first pre¬ 
mium at the New York State Fair. He now 
weighs 275 pounds. He has taken eight first 
premiums aud has never been beaten. 
Otsego Co., N. Y. \vm. curry. 
Many farmers have been ruined by the 
practice of lending their name as security for 
