The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-27
A NEW JERSEY Triple
INsIDIOUs TEABERRY JACK AT IT'S
BEST IN HOG-KILLING TIME.
a Festival in Which Prize Hogs, Big
Dinners and the Native Bever-
age Are Prime Ingredients.
Philadelphia Record.

Just at this season of the year the
inhabitants of Burlington county, New
Jersey, are winding up their big hog
and teaberry season, and it is the most
joyous of the year. Next to the prize
hog, ''teaberry jack" fills a long-felt
want. 1t is a beverage indigenous to
this part of the State, and rarely, if
ever, found elsewhere 1t is a combina-
ton of native ingredients. all of which
are raised on the soil where the jack
is made. The formula is not furnished
with each bottle. but, judged from its
effects. it must have proof as high
as brandy and be a near relative to the
alcohol of commerce "Teaberry jack
is made out of apple-jack which is kept
in secluded spot until it becomes
brownish amber and has the odor of
age. In the distillation and afterward
the app1e-jack is mixed with crushed
teaberrfes, sometimes called winter
green plums, or checkerberrics. They
have the same flavor as wintergreen
and the taste gives flavor to the apple
jack in which the liquors original
flavor is merged The odor is a combi-
nation Of apple blossoms and mountain
teaberries, which is so fascinating that
the amount of alcohol in the drink is
forgotten. There is no burning or
harsh taste while the teaberry jack is
trickling down the throat; there is none
of that rasping which whisky often
causes when it is unmixed with water
Water is not needed with teaberry jack
to make it palatable; it needs no dilu-
ton. The natives drink it without
water, and it's strength is indicated to
the eye or the taste only in the size Of
the glass, which is the ordinary glass
of country barroom-smaller in size
The teaberry drinker is expected to fill
his glass. close both eyes and gulp it
down
The season for teaberry jack is the
hog-killing time in the winter, when all
the outdoor work is done on the farm
and the hogs are fat. Old teaberry is
valued most. but it is hard to keep it
year after year; its taste is so good and
the Inhabitants require much of it
during the winter.
The farmers aim to make a profit on
everything they raise on their farms
except teaberry jack and fat hogs.
These they raise for their own glorifica-
ton and pleasure. Every one of these
farmers selects few of the most prom
Using of his pigs for the fat hog contest
and nourished with care from their
youth upward. They are picked out
from the other pigs and are fed with
everything that can make them fat. and
with as much of it as they will eat
The other pigs are only commodities
raised for the butcher and sale, and
must show profit over the cost of
their care and feed.
By winter everything is ready for the
great event of the neighborhGod All
the farmers, with their wives, children,
hired men and relatives, have been kept
Informed for weeks on the growth and
size of their respective entries for the
great champion killing of the fat hogs
1t is the event of the neighborhood, for
1t decides who is the best farmer. The
children of the family have taken an
interest in the pigs as soon as they were
selected for the contest, and they have
compared notes with the other children
in the neighborhood. The hogs may be
secretly weighed, but the expert Jersey
man Of this section is so good a Judge
of the weight of hog that he can guess
within l per cent. Of the weight of the
latest.
At last the day arrives for the prize
hog killing, and it rarely rains ON that
occasion. Nature in this part of the
State takes care of that The day is
cold and crisp, with so much sunshine
that it is more enjoyable out of doors
than within. The biggest farm house
in the neighborhocd is selected as the
meeting place. and all the people for
miles around are notified The fat
hogs are brought in the morning in
comfortable wagons. To make them
walk would be to reduce their weight
Every man may select his own hog
killer. but the choice usually falls on
two or three men who have built I'D
reputation by years of painstaking
effort The people gather after break
fast. They drive up in all kinds of
vehicles. buggies, carriages and wagons.
The politicians Of the county attend.
as matter of course. 1t is vote-mak-
ing time as well. They meet their con-
stituents there on terms of friendship
and cheerfulness that are, possible on
no other occasion. Strangers are rarely
present, unless those can be called
strangers who have moved away and
come back for this gala day of all the
year.
All. THE COOKS.
Inside the farm house the cooks are
busy at work. The farmers wives are
glad to have this occasion to display
their skill in the culinary art They
cook and wait on the tables and talk
over the gossip of the year. The home
cooking cannot be surpassed. Oyster
soup, with the oysters crowding hard
the crackers which have been cooked
with them. chickens. turkeys, steaks
and all kinds of meat, With celery, jel-
lies and stuffing. everything raised near
by. Then there are all kinds of vege-
tables raised on the farms and picked
out for this great occasion There are
pies of all kinds without number
pumpkin, mince, apple, custard, lemon,
in all sizes and all home made The
beverage is teaberry jack. There may
be other sorts of liquor around, but
teaberry jack is the appropriate drink
that goes with this beautiful dinner.
There is coffee for the women and for
those who do not drink anything
stronger. The teaberry jack is for the
men, and there is plenty of it,
In the morning the champion porkers
are killed and stretched in line from
stout poles by the feet their heads
swinging clear of the ground They
are masses of white fat cleaning in
the sunshine. Their feet are small. and
no muscles are seen in the legs or shout
ders. The shapes of their limbs are
lost in fat, their ribs are buried in fat
a foot deep. Some of them have not
walked for weeks. for their legs were
not able to carry around their immense
forms. The visitors walk around and in
spect the hogs. The older men tell
stories of the fat hogs of their youth,
while the small boys point out the par
ticular hog which they helped to fatten,
and fight with other small boys who