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466 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jonx, 1900. 
HOW TO SALT AND SMOKE MEAT 
is an article in the American Acker und Garten Zeitung. The modus operandi 
therein advised is the following:— | 
After cutting up the hog, throw the pieces into a cask with cold water 
for three or four hours, change the water once or twice until it is no more 
coloured by blood; then hang to dry in a drying-room for five or six hours, 
Meanwhile, mix well together ten parts of salt, half-part of sugar, half-part of 
roughly-eround coriander seeds, and one-tenth part of purified pulverise 
saltpetre. Rub this well into the meat, and prepare a brine in the Bro ai 
of 17 quarts of water, 6 quarts of salt, and +-pint of the pulverised saltpetre- 
This brine is boiled for about half-an-hour, while it is constantly stirred 10 = 
prevent the burning of the saltpetre. Place the meat with the skin downwards 
until the cask is full, pour the cold brine on to it until filled up to two-thirds 
of its height, and place a weight of 150 Ib. to 200 lb. on the cover to press the 
meat down into the cask. After two or three days you may observe a yellow 
scum oyer the cover, which must be removed. After sixteen to twenty days 
take the meat out, place it in another cask, this time with the skin upwards, 
and pour the pickle on it again. Smaller hams, bacon, and tongues do not 
require to remain more than ten to fourteen days in the pickle. Hams will look 
a vermilion colour, even the bones, and they are very juicy. The coriander 
prevents any fermentation. The smoking of hams, &e., deprives them of part 
of the water; certain constituents of the smoke (empyreumatical oils at 
creosote) enter and increase the durability, but the smoke must be continuous 
and dry—not watery. The wood must, therefore, be quite dry, and it is better 
not to use any from pines or firs, which give a bad taste. ‘The heat of the 
smoke should not exceed 54 degrees Fahr., or part of the fat will exude and get 
a yellow colour. Sausages made from liver require from one to two days+ 
other sausages, about eight days; bacon, fourteen days; hams, frequently three 
to four weeks. 
Another shorter way of curing is to rub a mixture of thirty-two parts of 
salt and one part of saltpetre into the yet warm meat, to sprinkle as much bran 
over it as will cling, wrap it into a newspaper, and smoke it as before. To keep 
hams in the warm months it is best to pack them into a box placed in a dy 
place and containing dry and sifted wood ashes.’ Butchers frequently use 4 
quick way of smoking. hey take fifty parts of raw wood vinegar, 100 parts of 
water, and two and a-half parts of juniper oil, into which they dip the meat for 
some seconds and hang it up to dry in a room hot enough to make the fat soft. 
After the drying they dip again three or four times, and always leave the meat 
to dry three days. They can also use a paint brush instead of dipping. 
LE UL A a 
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THE MOST PROFITABLE PIG. : 
The pig which is deep in the heart and round in the ribs will of necessity 
produce a larger quantity of first-class bacon—viz., prime back and ribs—than 
an animal that is light-chested and flat-sided. This is one of the most valuable 
arts of the animal, and it is therefore desirable to add as much as possible t0 
its weight. Looking at the matter from a breeder's and pig-feeder’s standpoint 
the pig that is deep in the heart and round or well sprung in the ribs Wt 
certainly be a good feeder, because he has plenty of room for his stomach, livet) 
heart, and all the main organs. Roundness of rib nearly always indicates a 
good constitution ; flatness of rib the reverse. A pig well sprung in the aur 
will carry considerably more meat on the bone, and have the ribs Detter clothe 
with flesh, than one of different conformation. 
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CHARACTER OF PORK. 
= There is a vast difference in the quality of pork. Some is sweet, tender, 
and juicy. Some is directly the reverse. Teed is largely responsible for th! 
difference. In experiments, conducted for the purpose of determining th? 
= influence of food on the quality of pork, it has been found that milk, barley 
