Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1879-12-05
FARM AND PRESIDE

l
given by the /" Massachusetts Ploughman''
"a reliable sources. m ncz.its
| The sailing Of clean side pork is very
simple process. and he must be a simple-
ton who makes mistake in this business.
There is no danger of sailing it too much,
as it will only absorb certain amount.
The only dangerin curing clear pork is in
/ packing it before the animal heat IS all
lgone. More pork is lost from this cause
than from all others combined. No def
mite rule can be laid down as to the time
required tor perks becoming thoroughly
cool. This will depend somewhat on the
thickness OF the pork, but more on the
state OF the weather. The outside often
feels cools when the inside may be warm.
In ordinary November weather q hog
should be allowed to hang thirty-six
hours before it is packed and if, on
cutting it up the thermometer applied
to the fresh cut surface indicates rise of
temperature, packing should be deferred
still longer. The pork should be cut in
strips about four inches wide, aud packed
with the skin next to the sides of the
barrel. q layer Of best rock salt being first
placed on the bottom, and SO alternating
with layers Of salt and pork tillithe barrel
is full. care being taken to pack each
layer SO comractly that it will not rise.
Some make brine and add it to the pork
after it has lain in the salt for two or three
days, but pure water is just as good if suf-
ficient salt has been used in packing. If
brine Is used, it must be thoroughly cold
before it is applied. A little saltpetre,
half a pound to the barrel, will give the
pork aslight rosy tinge much admired by
many, while others prefer the pure white
which salt alone gives.
The curing of bacon is an entirely
different process. In cutting pork for
bacon it il usual to leave some lean meat
ih the strips, and if these were sailed as
thoroughly as is clear fat pork. this lean
meat would become intolerably hard and
stringy. Bacon is, better therefore,
it dry sailed, as it is called that is, not
put into brine, but rubbed with fine salt
and sugar or molasses mixed together. If
the rubbing is thoroughly done, using six
pounds Of salt and pound of sugar or
pint Of molasses to hundred pounds of
pork, sufficient salt will be absorbed to
keep these strips of bacon sweet for an in
definite time. Ii, however, the strips are
Unusually thick the rubbing must be con-
tfnued after ten days or fortnight.
Bacon IS the everyday breakfast Of
Southern planters, and If our farmers
used more bacon and less clear salt pork,
they would find it both economical and
healthy. o. = ,51s.}
Beef Is best cured much in the same way
Ss recommended for bacon, only we should
always put in quarter pound of saltpetre
along with the six pounds OF salt and the
pound Of sugar. A reddish hue in beef is
desired by every one. and the saltpetre
has also antiseptic effect. With large
pieces Of beef the rubbing must be repeat
ed except when it is designed for drying,
when one rubbing is sufficient, as the dry
ing forms tight covering which keeps
out the air and prevents the putrefactlve
tendency. In some warm and dry climates
all the curing which beef requires is hang
ing in the sun on some branch of tree,
where the air circulates on all sides of it
and soon forms a membranous-like cover
ing, The common practice of putting
beef and hams into brine is objectiona-
BE, as the brine extracts more or less of
the juices of the meat, which are mostly
retained if the meat is dry-cuIed. .f
Another process in curing hams and
dried beef is smoking. Most persons think
this gives q good as well as an additional
favor to the meat; but some cannot en-
dure the smoky favor, and think it relict
Of the barbarian of our Celtic fathers
Who cured their meat in their big CHM
neys. Whether the flavor Is good or bad
depends much on the material used in
generating the smoke. Corn cObs make a
good smoke as also do birch und hickory
chips, but pine and most light woods COM
Ihunicate an unpleasant flavor. Great
care must be exercised in smoking not to
create so much heat as to cook as well as
cure the meat. To avoid this it Is well to
have two apartments in the smoke house,
one for the cobs or chips and the other for
the meat, but one is sufficient if only the
meat is hung up high enough, and the fire
il kept smouldering.
A New REMEDY FOR TooTHAcHE.-
Or. T. G. Osborn, in the "Medical Brief,''
states that his cook came to him with a
swollen cheek, asking for something to re-
lieve the toothache with which she had
been suffering all night. He was on the
point of sending her TO dentist when it
occurred to him that there was in the
house a vial Of compound tincture of
henZoin.
AFTER cleansing the decayed tooth,
be says, ST saturated pledget of cotton
lint with the tincture, and packed it well
into the cavity, hoping this would suffice
fpr the time. and told her to come back in
two or three hours if she was not relieved.
was turning away, when she said it might
not be necessary, perhaps. as the pain was
already gone. Surprising her faith had a
large share in the relief, would not allow
myself to think that the medicine had any,
thing to do with the cure any more than
so much hot water would have had. But
when I arrived at my office, two other pa
TENTS were awaiting me with the same
affiiction, and determined by way of ex-
pertinent to use the same remedy. Tony
agreeable surprise. both patients declared
themselves immediately relieved, and
begged vial of the tincture for future
use. During the winter number Of SIM
liar cases applied, and were Instantly re-
lleved by the same treatment, all express
ing much satisfaction with the remedy.