40 
journal  op  itoPPiutiLTUnP  Affi  OOfTioP  gardenPR. 
Jiiiy  i,  i§37i 
a  small  quantity  of  the  whole.  We  find  it  the  best  course  to  take 
a  straight  piece  off  before  salting,  and  we  {‘render”  it  with  the  rest 
of  the  inside  fat.  Then,  again,  in  the  hams.  Who  but  knows  that 
rounded  end  that  makes  so  good  a  beginning,  and  must  at  the  last 
be  supplemented  with  lean  beef  or  potted  meat  to  make  it  go  down 
at  all  ? 
There  is  a  great  deal  of  meat  spoiled  every  season  by  (1)  under¬ 
curing,  (2)  overcuring.  We  do  not  care  to  kill  our  pigs  too  early 
in  the  season  ;  in  close  muggy  weather  thick  sides  and  big  hams 
have  no  chance  of  curing  properly.  Some  people  have  such  an 
®x^gg6rated  idea  of  the  value  of  saltpetre.  True,  it  imparts  a 
beautiful  red  tinge,  but  it  also  is  very  hardening  in  its  effect  on  the 
lean  of  the  meat.  A  pennyworth  is  quite  sufficient  for  a  .30-stone 
pig.  The  salting  process  is  often  hurried,  the  meat  not  turned 
and  rubbed  sufficiently  often,  and  the  curing  room  close  and 
damp. 
No  good  bacon  can  be  made  unless  there  is  ample  time  allowed 
for  gradual  and  steady  drying.  How  much  “  reasty  ”  bacon  is 
trimmed  off  rashers  and  boiling  pieces  every  year  simply  because 
the  drying  room  has  been  too  hot  and  the  process  too  long.  Much 
bacon  is  lost  every  year  through  the  attacks  of  the  bacon  weevil 
Once  that  wretched  insect  gets  into  a  chamber  it  is  almost  impos¬ 
sible  to  eradicate  it. 
We  recommend  in  cases  where  there  is  the  slightest  suspicion 
of  such  an  enemy  that  the  bacon  and  ham,  immediately  it  is  dried 
should  be  coated  with  limewash,  sewn  up  closely  (not  tied)  in 
cotton  stuff,  and  limewashed  again. 
Some  people  keep  their  bacon  in  chests  full  of  lime.  It  is 
certainly  safe  from  the  attacks  of  mice  and  insect  life,  but  a  good 
deal  of  “  outside  ”  is  made.  Some,  again,  prefer  malt  culms  ;  but 
these,  to  our  thinking,  impart  an  unpleasant  fiavour. 
Our  English  market  has  of  late  years  been  fiooded  with  millions 
of  tons  of  foreign  produce,  which,  being  sold  at  a  low  price,  has 
met  a  ready  market.  It  certainly  is  sound  meat,  but  so  tasteless 
and  insipid  in  character  ;  this  is  possibly  from  want  of  proper 
drying.  It  also  has  another  great  fault — it  wastes  so  in  the  cooking. 
An  effort  is  now  being  started  in  one  of  the  large  pig-producing 
parts  of  Yorkshire  to  turn  out  ham  and  bacon  wholesale,  in  fact 
on  the  American  factory  system. 
Who  but  has  read  of  the  fame  of  York  hams  ?  Well,  there  is  a 
little  town  about  fifteen  miles  from  York,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ouse,  a  great  Potato  and  corn  growing  district,  called  Selby.  The 
lord  regnant  in  those  parts  is  the  Earl  of  Londesborough,  a  nobleman 
with  vast  estates,  a  nobleman  always  the  first  to  forward  any 
scheme  for  the  betterment  of  his  numerous  tenantry  and  his 
hundreds  of  employes.  The  pigs  are  there  of  a  fine  type  ;  the 
food  is  there  in  unlimited  quantities,  the  energy  and  the  skill  are 
there,  and  the  work  only  needed  a  little  start  and  a  little  encourage¬ 
ment.  Already  Selby  and  the  immediate  neighbourhood  annually 
breed  27,000  pigs,  the  greater  portion  of  which  are  sent  South, 
and  there  must  be  scmethir  g  in  the  quality,  or  the  demand  would 
not  be  so  great. 
If  this  be  the  result  of  individual  effort  we  are  not  ov(r- 
sanguine  when  we  prophesy  far  greater  achievements  for  the 
newly  formed  bacon  factory.  Denmark  has  had  the  pull  of  us 
some  time  in  regard  to  factory  or  co-operative  butter.  The 
farmers  were  not  slow  to  find  out  that  uniformity  could  not  be 
attained  when  each  farmer  made  up  his  few  lbs.  of  butter  at  home. 
They  grasped  the  situation,  and  took  the  world  by  storm  with  their 
tons  of  prime  butter;  all  of  which  was  absolutely  of  one  quality 
and  colour.  Just  glance  for  a  moment  at  a  few  facts  respecting 
Danish  bacon  factories  and  the  impetus  they  have  given  Danish 
trade. 
Up  to  1887  the  shipments  of  bacon  from  that  country  never 
exceeded  15,000  tons.  In  that  year  the  exports  were  doubled,  and 
the  following  year  nearly  trebled.  Bacon  factories  are  at  the 
bottom  of  this  wonderful  advance.  Denmark  has  not  the 
population  of  Yorkshire,  and  yet  she  has  no  less  than  sixty 
factories,  one-third  of  which  are  co-operative.  Roughly  estimated 
the  value  of  the  bacon  industry  in  Denmark  cannot  fall  far  short 
of  2^  millions  sterling  ;  that  and  the  butter  trade  fairly  “  make  ” 
Denmark. 
From  our  personal  knowledge  of  Selby  and  the  adjacent 
district,  from  our  knowledge  of  the  men  who  are  the  promoters  of 
the  scheme,  we  have  little  doubt  but  that  the  bacon  factory  of 
Selby  will,  when  fairly  in  working  order,  come  to  be  numbered 
amongst  the  great  commercial  enterprises  of  Yorkshire,  a  credit  to 
its  originators  and  a  profit  to  its  proprietors. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Thunderstorms  have  quickly  broken  up  the  short  spell  of  fine 
weather  inaugurated  by  the  Queen’s  Jubilee,  and  farmers  with  a  large 
breadth  of  grass  in  swathe  are  anxiously  studying  the  weather  forecasts. 
With  the  commencement  of  July  we  invariably  have  more  or  less  of 
electrical  disturbance,  and  it  behoves  every  haymaker  now  to  make 
hay  while  the  sun  shines,  fur  storms  must  be  expected. 
With  thundery  weather  we  have  a  considerable  increase  of  tempera¬ 
ture — a  very  welcome  change,  for  both  Swedes  and  Turnips  were  coming 
very  slowly  to  the  hoe  ;  and  as  rapid  growth  in  the  early  stages  is  very 
essential  to  success  in  Turnip  growing,  humid  warmth  was  just  the 
thing  we  were  longing  for.  Wheats  are  in  full  fiower,  in  some  cases 
getting  past  that  stage.  We  are  hoping  that  the  straw,  which  at  present 
is  rather  short,  may  lengthen  out  considerably.  Barley,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  quite  high  enough,  and  may  become  badly  laid  by  heavy 
rains. 
We  are  about  drilling  a  piece  of  Rape  for  autumn  feed  ;  we  are  in 
doubt  which  is  the  better  system,  drilling  in  rows  or  broadcasting.  In 
the  present  case  the  land  is  not  quite  clean,  and  can  hardly  be  made  so 
without  completely  working  it  as  a  summer  fallow,  so  we  are  adopting 
the  drilling  plan,  as  with  rows  20  inches  apart  we  can  keep  the  horse  hoe 
at  work  between  the  rows  until  the  plants  begin  to  cover  in.  Then, 
again,  less  seed  is  required,  for  3  lbs.  per  acre  is  enough  in  rows, 
whereas  broadcast  7  or  8  lbs.  would  be  none  too  little. 
It  might  not  appear  likely  that  much  benefit  would  accrue  from 
striking  out  or  thinning  the  plants  of  Rape  in  the  rows,  but  we  have 
proved  the  value  of  such  thinning — the  plants  grow  more  rapidly,  with 
a  much  sourer  and  stronger  leaf,  whilst  if  a  portion  of  the  crop  be 
thinned  out  and  a  portion  left  thick,  the  sheep  when  folded  will  eat  off 
the  thinned  portion  level  with  the  ground,  leaving  no  stalk,  whilst  the 
untbinned  portion  will  be  a  mass  of  hard  fibry  stalks,  that  no  animal 
will  consume. 
With  haymaking  to  complete,  the  great  bulk  of  the  root  crops  to  hoe 
and  clean,  and  the  stock  of  winter  coals  to  get  in,  there  will  be  no  lack 
of  work  before  harvest,  which  may  be  here  sooner  than  we  expect  if  we 
are  favoured  with  any  great  heat  during  the  next  week  or  two. 
The  “Live  Stock  Joubnal.” — The  summer  number  of  this 
excellent  periodical  contains  two  coloured  plates,  and  two  plates  from 
wood  engravings.  There  are  also  a  large  number  of  engravings  through¬ 
out  the  text,  every  page  in  fact  being  illustrated  with  portraits  of  live 
stock.  The  articles  are  numerous  and  well  written.  The  progress  of 
stock-breeding  during  the  Queen’s  reign  receives  due  attention. 
MBTKOROLOQIOAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
OAMDHN  SqUABB,  LOBDON. 
Lat.  11®  MMO"  N. ;  Long.  0®  8/  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Datb. 
9  A.M. 
In  thb  Day. 
Bain. 
1897. 
June 
and 
July. 
1  Barometer 
1  at  32®,  and 
1  Sea  Level.  | 
Hygrometer. 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot. 
Shade  Tem- 
peratnre. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Bun. 
On 
Grass. 
Inchs. 
leg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Inchs 
Sunday  . . .. 
27 
29924 
62*8 
69  2 
N.E. 
62-4 
72-2 
66-7 
107-8 
62-7 
0232 
Monday  .... 
28 
■9-949 
68*3 
64-2 
N. 
62-1 
78*2 
69-4 
1184 
65-2 
0*052 
Tuesday  ,. .. 
29 
■29*960 
63-3 
61-4 
S.W. 
63*6 
77*1 
62*3 
121-0 
69*1 
Wednesday 
80 
30*026 
69*9 
60*6 
N.W. 
63*4 
77-1 
61*4 
114-6 
48-2 
_ 
Thursday  ., 
1 
30*029 
66-3 
61-9 
N.E. 
63*4 
78-1 
64*2 
116*8 
48*7 
Friday  .... 
2 
3J-151 
59-4 
67*1 
N. 
64-9 
65-2 
57  9 
70*8 
54-4 
Saturday  . . 
3 
30-023 
66*6 
60*3 
W. 
63-1 
72  6 
68-0 
114-0 
63  9 
— 
30*009 
65-2 
60-7 
63-3 
74-4 
57  6 
109-1 
53-2 
0-284 
REMARKS. 
27th.— Overcast  early  ;  heavy  rain  from  10.16  A  M.  to  11.30  A.M.,  and  some  sunshine  in 
afternoon. 
28th. — Overcast  till  10  a.m.  ;  frequently  sunny  after;  overcast  evening;  and  rain  from 
8  30  to  lO  P.M.,  followed  by  liuhtniug 
29th. — Dull  and  damp  early  ;  cloudy  morning ;  sunny  afternoon. 
30th. — Bright  sun  all  morning  ;  cloud  from  0.30  P.6I. 
Jst. — Bright  sunshine  almost  throughout. 
2nd. — Overcast  all  day. 
3rd. — Alternate  cloud  and  sunshine  all  day. 
Another  fine  seasonable  Week ;  nights  very  warm.— Q.  J,  SymomS. 
