20 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Jan. 
S ‘iSHKHI .•I'--'- EP5E 
sssssmsmssmssEim&m&BsnsBiBm 
farm accounts. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —As a better system of keeping j 
farm accounts might be adopted, than is generally prae- j 
iiced, I will give an outline of the way in which I keep , 
mine, in hopes that those who pursue no system will 
avail themselves of its advantages, and that those who 
have a better will make it known for the public good. 
Nov, 
5. 
I C. Johnson, 
1 
1 
Drawing manure on heap. 
i 
3« 
W. Stebbins. 
J 
5-1 
Capping wall bet. 5 & b. 
3 b 
6. 
1 C. Johnson, 
1 
4 
Plowing for barley,. 
3b 
u 
| W. Stebbins, 
1 
1 
Steaming potatos for hogs, 
38 
The first two columns are for the date—the third for j 
the name of the person employed—the fourth for the j 
time employed—fifth, for the number of the lot on ! 
which the work is done—sixth, for the statement or 
synopsis of the work done, and the two last for the 
amount of the day's wages. 
In the first place, it will be necessary to have the farm 
divided into convenient lots; to have them all number¬ 
ed, and to have a map of the same. You will then be 
enabled to keep an exact account of the expense which 
every crop subjects you to, and decide which are the 
best and most profitable crops to raise. In order to 
keep an accurate book, the account should be put down 
punctually every night after the labors of the day are 
over, and the time required for this duty will be so tri¬ 
fling that at the end of the year one will consider him¬ 
self paid an hundred fold in the satisfaction he will 
obtain upon looking over his book to see what he has 
done—when, where, and by whom done, and how much 
he has realized or sunk by the operation. 
To the scientific farmer, it will show the course of 
treatment each field has been subjected to as far back as 
the date of his book—the time required for the maturing 
of crops, &c., &e. This book should be considered a 
part of the realty, and always remain in the possession 
of the person occupying the farm. 
E. Y. W. Dox. 
ON CURING BEEF AND PORK- 
L. Tucker, Esq. —In your October number, you 
expressed a wish to be informed of the “ results ” of 
curing pork with hot brine. My practice is to cut the 
pork into five or six pound pieces, take off all the lean, 
and then pack the pieces m a barrel, with a plenty of 
rock salt at bottom and between the layers. A brine, 
as strong as salt will make it, is boiled and skimmed, 
and poured boiling hot on to the pork—enough of the 
brine to cover the pork. When I say a 'plenty of rock 
salt, I am aware that I speak indefinitely. But I have 
never measured the salt used. Probably I use half a 
bushel to a hundred pounds. No more salt will be dis¬ 
solved than is taken from the water by the pork. What 
remains after the pork is gone, is as good as new for a 
second curing. So there is no loss in using more than 
enough. I have practiced this mode of curing pork for 
fourteen years with unfailing success. 
It is extremely difficult to cure pork that is divested 
of the lean, with cold brine. The inspection laws of 
Connecticut direct pork to be salted with thirty-five 
pounds of St. Ubes, Isle of May, Lisbon or Turk's 
Island salt, (Rock salt,) exclusive of the pickle “made 
of fresh water as strong as salt will make it, and three 
ounces of salt-petre to one hundred pounds of pork.” 
The pickle is always applied cold. Pork for exporta¬ 
tion is well preserved in this manner. But it must be 
remarked, that it is packed with the lean attached. If 
the lean is all taken off, I have found that it generally 
spoils, in case it is thick pork. 
As my pork is bought in the hog, it always comes to 
me cooled; so that I cannot speak from experience as 
to the safety of packing it before the animal heat has 
left it. But there is good reason for believing that all 
meats are as well cured before they are cold as after; 
perhaps better, provided the salt is properly applied . Forty 
years ago, I met with some important suggestions on 
this subject in Jackson’s “ Reflections on the Commerce 
of the Mediterranean;” which, as appears to me, are 
worthy of attention at the present day. I therefore 
send you an extract, in which is described the mode in 
which beef was cured at Tunis, (coast of Africa,) for 
the use of British shipping in that port. 
“ We killed upwards of forty bullocks in the hottest 
season, and, by observing the following method, never - 
spoiled one ounce of meat. The animal should be kill¬ 
ed as quietly as possible. As soon as he is skinned and 
quartered, begin to cut up in six pound pieces, not 
larger, particularly the thick parts. 
Take half a pound of black pepper, half a pound of red 
or Cayenne pepper, half a pound of the best salt-petre, 
all beat or ground very fine; mix these three well to¬ 
gether, then mix them with about three quarts of very 
fine'* salt; this mixture is .sufficient for eight hundred 
weight of beef. 
As the pieces are brought from the person cutting up, 
first sprinkle the pieces with the spice [mixture above 
described,] and introduce a little into all the thickest 
parts; if it cannot be done otherwise, make a small in¬ 
cision with a knife. The first salter, after rubbing salt 
and spice well into the meat, should take and mold the 
piece, the same as washing a shirt upon aboard; this 
may be very easily done, and the meat being lately killed, 
is soft and pliable; this molding opens the grain of the 
meat, which will make it imbibe the spice and salt 
much quicker than the common method of salting. The 
first salter hands his pieces over to the second salter, 
who molds and rubs the salt well into the meat, and if 
he observes occasion, introduces the spice; when the 
second salter has finished his piece, he folds it up as 
close as possible, and hands it to the packer at the har¬ 
ness tubs, who must be stationed near him; the packer 
must be careful to pack his harness tubs as close as pos¬ 
sible. 
All the work must be carried on in the shade, where 
there is a strong current of air; this being a very mate¬ 
rial point in curing the meat in a hot climate. Meat 
may be cured in this manner with the greatest safety , when 
the thermometer in the shade is at 110 degrees , the extreme 
heat assisting the curing. A good sized bullock of six 
or seven hundred weight may be killed and salted within 
the hour. 
The person who attends with the spice near the first 
salter has the greatest trust imposed upon him; besides 
the spice, he should be well satisfied that the piece is 
sufficiently salted before he permits the first salter to hand 
the piece over to the second salter. 
All the salt should be very fine, and the packer besides 
sprinkling the bottom of his harness tubs, should be 
careful to put plenty of salt between each tier of rqeat, 
which is very soon turned into the finest pickle. The 
pickle will nearly cover the meat as fast as the packer 
can stow it away. 
By this method there is no doubt that the meat is per¬ 
fectly cured in three hours from the time of killing the bul¬ 
lock; the salt-petre in a very little time strikes through 
the meat; however, it is always better to let it lie in 
the harness tubs till the following morning, when it 
will have an exceeding pleasant smell on opening the 
harness tubs, then take it out and pack it in tight bar¬ 
rels, with its own pickle. 
Provisions cured in this manner will keep during the 
longest voyages, are more wdiolesome and more palata¬ 
ble than any other, and a sure preventive against the 
scurvy, partly owing to the spices that are made use of 
in the curing; and also, that a careful cook may always 
make good soup from this meat, as the salt is very easily 
extracted; for the same operation which served to im¬ 
pregnate the meat with the salt [molding?] will also 
serve to extract it.” 
The subject of curing meats, has not received the at¬ 
tention of chemists as much as the agricultural and 
commercial interests of the world seem to require. It 
is a problem of incalculable importance, how we can 
best preserve both flesh and fish; especially, how we 
can do it with just salt enough to be agreeable to the 
palate, without the trouble of extracting it. Pork and 
