Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1916-01-21

any, especially when he is himself |
the original producer of the meat |
which the packer sells him through |
the corner store. 1t has not been the |
policy of this paper to offer much |
advice on this subject. We have al
ways preferred to let the readers OF |
the paper do the talking.
1t takes no expert in bookkeeping |
20 tell where the farmer will finish |
who sells his products particularly
his meat at wholesale and buys il
back at retail The. man who takes
the hogs to his own packing plant is
Certai nto win. for not only does he
get the pork at his own price and
sell il in the same way, but he also
gets a fine income from by-products
which no farmer can save. He Oper-
ates his business on an overcapital-
lied basis; gets money at one-half
the price paid by the farmer and has,
in addition, every advantage in the
transportation. Hog killing day is
not an annual calendar event, as it'll
used to be on every farm. In too
rany places it mas passed away,
along with the knitting and the spin
ming and the weaving. Our new
standards of living in town and coun-
| try have eliminated these simple vir-
tues of early days. OF late years
there have been evidences of a wide
spread return to some of these tasks
as a measure of economy. And sure
lly when the powerful packers drive
i 90 -,
months such a revival of wholesale
farm work is distinctly necessary.
No American farmer should spend a
dollar this winter for meat which he
can produce at home. Merely for the
sake of illustration let us suppose
that one half of the six and one-half
million farms in this country should
stop buying packing house products!
Can't you imagine the result?
Year after year in a certain county
in Texas, buyer for one of the pack
ing houses has bought all of the hogs
l-at his own price. But one year he
discovered to his surprise that not
one farmer had a single hog for sale.
He was referred to one man for his
information. That man told Mr..
Buyer about the price the county had
set for it's hogs, and he went away
/ angry. But he returned and he then
bought the hogs from the one man
representing all the farmers of that
county. There's a lesson in this sto-
Iry. You know it already.
Cured Meat for Home Use
One correspondent gives his views
as follows on the home curing of the
meat:
There is no reason why home-cur-
1 ed pork and hams should not be as
good all the year round as that which
comes from the packers. Before cur
ing is begun he meat must be cooled
but not frozen. A good barrel that
won't leak is suitable. First be sure
. that it is thoroughly clean.
/. To prepare sugar-cured meat, rub
; the pieces with salt and allow it to
drain over night. Pack in the clean
barrel. For every 100 pounds of the
meat use brine made of 10 pounds
of salt, pounds of brown sugar. and
ounces of saltpeter, and A gallons
t. of hot water; the brine to be boiled
and cooled befoe using. Bacon
should be salted from four to five
weeks and ham from seven to eight
> weeks.
permanent smoke house is the
cheapest in the long run, as 1t gives
by far the best results, but it need
not be an expensive house. 1t can
be any size to suit the owners need
but 1t should be eight feet high and
should have some ventilation to pre-
vent the meat from overheating. II
is best to have the fire pot outside
with a flue to conduct the smoke
freely over the meat. A good fueI
for smoking meat is green maple
smothered with sawdust. The time
allowed for smoking depends on the
size of the meats, and also on the
individual tastes.
An Easy Way to Butcher
Here are some suggestions on the
u butchering job from another correc
pondent:
= A cheap and handy scalding out
fit which any farmer who kills hi
own meat can afford, consists of TIVE
tight wooden casks, or large barrels
connected by feet of iron pipe. Th'
\ ends of the pipe are threaded, with ;
large nut on the inside and anOthe
on the outside of each barrel, ant
" washers and rubber packing betweel
he Joints to make them tight. !
fire is started under the center of tn
pipe and water poured into the bar
A. rel fun thest from the crane end, Il
= passing through the hot pipe the wat
= er soon reaches the boiling point II
y the scalding barrel.
a. The lifting crane is made to turl
is round on a pivot as desired. 1t mus
r be well braced. The scalding is don
in the barrel next to the crane, ant
I'd when the supply of water needs re
le penishing it should be poured in tn
10 barrel farthest away. Water ma
y, be dipped out of it for washing of