The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1904-06-25
Save Your Bacon.

From the American Farmer. indianapolis,
Old-fashioned ham, like SO many other good
things, threatens under prevailing conditions
10 be added to the lost arts. Farmers by the
thousands. instead Of curing their bacon, as IN
the past, have actually got TO depending ex
elusively for their meat supplies upon tae
packing houses. They buy the saltPeter-
burned, creosote- doped bacon and hams that
are put through by the patent process IN q few
hours, and are no more like the old, slowly
cured, carefully smoked meat of the country
smokehouse than fresh picked fruit is like the
hand painted variety. Who calls for ham
nowadays in q dining car or cafe or At a hotel
table? Only the man that has never tasted
the kind we used to have al home. where We
took time 10 cure and smoke them Tighi--ihe
kind that makes you hungry TO smell It eook-
ing. This is serious question aud not merely
one of sentiment, for the poor curing 10 the
packing houses has disastrous effect apon
the demand and consequently the prices OF
hog products. Ii is mes, therefore, from mere
sentimental reasons, but for commercial and
economic purposes that We protest against the
get.rich-quiek methods prevailing al the pack
ing houses. All farmers should resume cur
ing their own meats, at least enough for home
consumption, and il viii also pay 10 put prop
erly cured meats on the market in competition
with the packing house denominations
We verify believe that If a carload OF first
class Maryland or Virginia hams should be
shipped to Chicago or Indianapolis and served
on the hotel tables they would produce YER
liable sensation. The poor, benighted guests
would think something entirely neg under the
sun was before them. After they once stuck
their tooth in this morsel Of the gods they
would never again be content with the coarse,
over. salted, creosoted and saltpetered packing
L. Macleod arA ris,fa
ham has long been world famous and those
States undoubtedly produce the best bacon on
earth, but none of It Is ever seen IN Western
markets. The best is all consumed IN those
States and but little is ever seen of the plan
tation where il is made. Thus II comes to pass
that people who live right in the heart of the
hog belt, in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, know
not bacon at its best. Go TO visit an old fash
toned Maryland or Virginia family, wait untll
you are asked whether you want old or new
ham, take bite of the ''streaked midding'
served at dinner with greens, or pinch Of
hog iowl, and you will at once realize that you
never before understood what could be made
out of hog. The best results cant be OBJ
tanned from great, big, fat, lubberly hogs,
with thick ears, coarse bones, rough hair.
weighing four or FIVE hundred pounds. Il IS
their method of growing the hog, as well as
their curing methods, which gives the quality
to the meat The first considerable is giving
him time to grow. The true ''bacon hog is
kept thrifty until somewhat matured ssithout
becoming too heavy to properly cure for the
table. A good bacon hog is necessarily a
slow-growing hog Nor do they sickle as to
breeds. They can make their fine bacon out
of any kind of hog, if allowed to LOOK after the
breeding, feeding and curing. Even the old
razor-back, with his lean frame and sharp
snout, will be changed into hams and mid
dlings TO delight an epicure. The pigs which
come in the fall are roughed through the mild
winter with little corn, foraging in the woods
for most Of their keep. During the following
summer they range at large in the woods, or
chards aad pastures. In the fall they are taken
in and given quick fat on corn, little grain
being required to fatten themi If the mast and
fruit crops have been average. They will be
about fifteen months old at time of slaughter
and will dress out $50 pounds. Then the cur
ingl 1t seems useless TO try to do It like the
Maryland and Virginians, who have method
all their own and produce results that have
never been equalled elsewhere. 1t is not a
quick, but a long process, extending with the
smoking over several months, and if our Wes-
tern farmers could get taste of the meat when
it comes out IN the spring they would surely
desire to know how it is done.