The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1882-02-25
Utilizing the Hog Product at Home.

Uuiiizing the Hog PRODUCT at Home.
a portion of the leisure time during
the winter can be very well spent upon
the hog product, because this can be
done at profit to the sirmer Under
theyusual custom of marketing the hog
Giva. certain men get rich out of profits
made by handling the product. II it
was the custom for farmers TO work up
their own hogs, having no one between
themselves and the retailer; or at least
as now, with. their poultry and fruits,
no ono between them and the commits
sion man, better prices would be real
lied from rearing and feeding the farm
pig. The hog is sold, say, at five cents
His ham is cured and sold to the con-
sumner at fourteen cents to sixteen cents.
His side meat, in the form of breakfast
bacon Ga dainty dish used upon, the
most fashionable tables), is now retail
ing at eighteen cents Hogs are
shipped to Chicago and other markets.
refuse and all costing alike in freight:
the product worked up and shipped
back hundreds of miles, and sold at
round prices in the very localities where
the hogs were reared and fed.
In The case of shipping wool to dis
lance that it may go into the hands of
expert manufacturers, there is reason
able excuse. Those who are prepared
to make salable fabrics from raw ma
terial do not live at the crossroads.
The freight on the wool, also, as well as
on the cloth, is light. But with the hog
product the case is different. Men do
live at the crossroads, and at most farms
hntXUnnn -hn L., 4
prevent the shipping of hogs to distant
markets, the product to double on the
load; two profits being made in the car
rying, two more by commission men,
one at the shipping and the other at the
selling point, another by the packer and
curer, and sixth by the retailer. And,
don't be startled if we add another, viz,
percentage to the commission man
who sells for the curer.
We have practiced the curing and sell
ing of the cured product, to the extent
of 80 to 100 head, at the farm, and know
how simple and easy task il is. Not
hard work, like swinging the AK or
maui; not driving work, like the rou-
tine of harvest, but light, under-shelter
work, requiring no hurry. Cut up and
trim the hams, shoulders and side meat
neatly, using the trimmings for sau-
sage or to 90 into the lard kettle, or
partly for both. Cord up the hams,
shoulders and sides in the cellar, on
plank, using liberal layer of sugar,
salt and saltpeter on the hams-and on
the Others if you like. If you do not
get through this chore in your leisure
hours of one day, the meat will keep,
and you can finish during the next, or
the third At about the end of each
week, shake the layer off into box or
tub. Add fresh sugar, etc, to the mix
ture, and rub this into the flesh side,
again putting on liberal coating,
cording up as. before. Four or five such
landings will fit the meat for the
smoke-house. This may be temporary
structure, made of 2x4 scantling and
pine boards, covered with the same, and
if twelve feet square, will do for the
hams and bacon of thirty or forty hogs.
A small arched furnace, built few feet
away, beneath the surface, with brick,
will afford a safe and economical mode
of distributing smoke to the meat When
nicely Drowned, you are ready to sup
ply your own table, and sell fifteen-cent
hog meat to the retailer. Nothing can
be easier or more simple. AS compared
to it, dairying is, in any of its modes,
complicated Working up our wool
product, as stated, is beyond our reach,
but to permit seven profits to be made
off one of our leading products, this
going, perhaps, across two or three
States, where common, low priced, un-
skilled labor does what should be done
upon the farm at home, should not be
so generally permitted The selling of
this product before our eyes. with the
seven profits added, is reflection upon
our modes. National Lie Stock
Journal.