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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 82

Bacon

Bacon.

That bacon should occupy such a low position as it appears to do among the productions of this colony, both for home consumption and for export, is to be wondered at. This can only be attributed to the ancient and unscientific way in which the business appears to be carried out at present; for if it were conducted in all its branches, as in England and America, by the selection of the right breed of pigs, the proper method of feeding, and finally, the curing-process, it would be a simple and easy business to manage, and one certain to be successful.

Fifty years ago, Ireland and the County of Wilts were almost the only places from which England drew her bacon-supply. It was then of a very inferior quality, the Irish especially so, and prices ranged from 40s. to 60s. per 112 lb. Since then great page 27 improvements in the feed of pigs and in the cure have been made, and now the bacon, which is sent out from the factories fresh-cured all the year round, is pronounced perfect. As the quality improved the demand increased, and consequently prices advanced, until they now range in London from 74s. to 84s. per 112 lb. The Americans and Germans send large quantities of bacon to the English markets. The German is of good quality, but the American is inferior. In spite of these fresh supplies, however, there can be no fear of over-stocking the English market, for the largest London bacon merchants state that they hardly know where to look for an adequate supply, the demand is so great and so continually increasing. The premises of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company's works at Belfast, for a very small outlay, could be made the finest bacon-curing establishment in the world.

The main point in bacon-curing is to get the pork properly cooled down before salting, and then to keep it in a temperature of about 40° Fahr. for from eight to twelve days. If this is properly done success must assuredly follow.

Before good bacon, however, can be made anywhere, it is absolutely necessary that the farmers should do their part of the business properly. First of all, care should be taken in selecting the right breed of pigs. The fine-bred small-bone pigs are pretty to look at, but are not at all the right class for bacon purposes : they are simply rolls of fat, and altogether unsuited for the London market. What is wanted is a long deep-sided animal, of quick growth, one that will grow to a weight of 160 lb. in six or seven months. Pigs of about this weight are the most suitable size for bacon for the London market, though the English country markets will take them up to 200 lb., but at a reduced price. The fat on the back should be about 2 or 2½ inches deep. Thin, small sides, such as are often cured here, would scarcely be looked at at any price. A Berkshire hog and Waterford sow, for growth for bacon, cannot be surpassed.

The next point is a most important one, viz., the method of feeding. If the feed is wrong, all the best arrangements and appliances can never make good bacon. The matter is very simple, and the little extra cost incurred would soon be repaid by the increased price obtainable for well-fed pigs. Having obtained the proper breed, let the pigs run in the paddocks for page 28 four or five months, giving them 1 lb. or more of dry beans, peas, or other grain every morning, in order to add solidity to the fat while feeding on clover or grass. Then, when they have attained to a sufficient growth, put them into proper sties, six to eight together, and feed with barley or oatmeal, which would be no worse with a mixture of inferior wheat-meal. Skim-milk or whey should be given if possible, but, in the absence of both, boiled potatoes mixed with the meal make a good substitute. The Irish feed their pigs largely on inferior potatoes and meal.

If farmers would only attend to these points, and a beginning could be made at the Freezing Company's works at Belfast, or some similar place with equal advantages, in a very short time the bacon-trade in New Zealand would be revolutionized. The people here do not trouble to inquire for bacon during the summer months, for the simple reason, as it was in England fifty years since, that there is none of good quality to be found, and a sight even of the ancient red rusty stuff, which is purchased at a long price, is enough to turn every one against it. If fresh supplies of good quality were turned out from the factory as soon as made, the consumption in New Zealand would soon be increased, to say nothing of the export trade to the neighbouring colonies and to England, which could be carried on very profitably.

A few words as to the methods used in the cure of bacon may be necessary.

Yorkshire hams, for quality and flavour, are reputed the world over. This is mainly attributed to the mode by which the pigs are fed. The curing-process is exceedingly simple. In the first place the hair is removed by hot water. When the pork is ready for salting, from 6 to 8 oz. of saltpetre for 100 lb. of pork is used, then salt is rubbed on, and the whole placed in a wooden or stone trough. The pork is turned every other day, the parts at top being placed at the bottom in the brine. The time required is, according to the size of the hog, from twelve to fifteen days. It is then dried in a warm room, where the fire is constant. After two months it is removed to a dry place, where light can be excluded. The hams will keep for years without any deterioration, and retain their fine flavour to the last. York bacon, however, finds its market chiefly in the manufacturing centres.

Wiltshire bacon occupies the first rank in the London market. The cure is altogether different to that of the Yorkshire, and has page 29 been greatly improved during the last thirty years. The former custom was to cover the slaughtered pig with straw and burn off the hair. This process was slow and expensive. Other methods have in recent years been invented. The pig is drawn through a hot cylinder and the hair removed. Mr. T. Harris, of Calne, Wiltshire, has built an oven in the form of a cylinder; it is heated with wood; then, by an ingenious contrivance, the pig is run into the centre of the oven, and the hair is removed in a few seconds; then it is passed on to several operators, cleansed, split, and removed to the curing-room underground. In the centre of this department is a large well, containing not less than 1,000 tons of ice, which in hot weather reduces the temperature down to 40° Fahr. Here, in the course of twelve hours, all the animal heat is extracted. The next step in the curing-process is the use of a pump syringe, by means of which clear strong brine is forced into the thickest parts of the ham and flitch. Saltpetre and coarse salt is then applied. As many as twenty sides are piled up one upon the other. The pork is turned three or four times and fresh salt added if required. When sufficiently cured it is washed, placed upon a block, mopped with pea-meal, placed in the smoke-chamber, where it remains three or four days; then sent off to market. This is the process Wiltshire bacon passes through. The secret of curing bacon in hot summer weather is the cooling chamber.

ln regard to the cure of bacon in New Zealand ice may be said to be out of the question; but the refrigerator is preferable to ice. A chamber of 70° Fahr. can be reduced to 30° Fahr. zero in twenty minutes. In hot weather a chamber reduced to about 40° Fahr. is all that is required. By this method the trade in bacon would be revolutionized, and a quality second to none would be manufactured for the markets. It is clear that a large remunerative trade may be done in bacon fed and cured well. After pork has been in salt twelve days four sides may be placed in a box with a little salt and shipped off to England. In fact the bacon would cure on the way; all that would be be required is a chamber with a temperature of from 40° to 50° Fahr. New Zealand is as fine as any climate in the world for breeding and feeding pigs, and bacon will at no distant date form an important part of colonial merchandise and a source of wealth.

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The importation into the United Kingdom of bacon and hams in 1878 amounted to 4,263,901 cwt., the value of which was £8,611,590; and of lard, 908,187 cwt., of the value of £1,786,925.

The quantity of bacon imported into the United Kingdom for 1880 and 1881 was 8,229,713 cwt., valued at £3 10s. per cwt.

By Authority: George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.—1883.

page 31

Mr. J. H. Monrad, Palmerston North, has supplied the following tables and form of register for register for recording yield of milk:—

Jan. Oct. Feb. Nov. Mar. Dec. April Jan. May Feb. June Mar. July April Aug. May Sept. June Oct. July Nov. Aug. Dec. Sept. 1 ..7 1.. 7 1.. 5 1.. 5 1..4 1.. 7 1..6 1.. 7 1.. 7 1.. 7 1..7 1.. 6 2.. 8 2.. 8 2.. 6 2.. 6 2.. 5 2.. 8 2.. 7 2.. 8 2.. 8 2.. 8 2.. 8 2.. 7 3.. 9 3.. 9 3.. 7 3.. 7 3.. 6 3.. 9 3.. 6 3.. 9 3.. 9 3.. 9 3.. 9 3.. 8 4..10 4..10 4..8 4.. 8 4.. 7 4..10 4.. 9 4..10 4..10 4..10 4..10 4.. 9 5..11 5..11 5..9 5.. 9 5.. 8 5..11 5..10 5..11 5.. 11 5..11 5..11 5..10 6..13 6..12 6..10 6..10 6.. 9 6..12 6..11 6..12 6..12 6..12 6..12 6..11 7..13 7..13 7..11 7..11 7..10 7..13 7..12 7..13 7..13 7..13 7..13 7..12 8..14 8 ..14 8..12 8..12 8..11 8..14 8..13 8..14 8..14 8..14 8.. 14 8.. 13 9..15 9..15 9..13 9..13 9..12 9..15 9..14 9..15 9..15 9..15 9..15 9..14 10..16 10..16 10..14 10..14 10..13 10..16 10..I5 10..16 10..16 10..16 10..16 10..15 11..17 11..17 11..15 11..15 11..14 11..17 11..16 11..17 11..17 11..17 11..17 11..16 12..18 12..18 12..16 12..16 12..15 12..18 12..17 12..I8 12..18 12..18 12..18 12..17 13..19 13..19 13..17 13..17 13..16 18..19 13..18 13..19 13..19 13..19 13..19 13..18 14..20 14..20 14..18 14..18 14..17 14..20 14..19 14..20 14..30 14..20 14..20 14..19 15..21 15..21 15..19 16..19 15..18 15..21 15..20 15..21 15..21 15..21 I5..21 15..20 16 22 16..22 16..20 16..20 16..19 15..32 16..21 16..22 16..22 16..22 16..22 16..21 17..23 17..23 17..21 17..21 17..20 17..23 17..22 17..23 17..23 17..23 17..23 17..22 18..24 18..24 18..22 18..22 18..21 18..34 18..23 18..24 18..24 18..24 18..24 18..23 19..25 19..25 19..23 19..23 19..22 19..35 19..24 19..25 19..25 19..25 19..25 19..24 20..26 20..26 20..24 20..24 20..23 20..26 20..25 30..26 20..26 20..26 20..26 20..25 21..27 21.. 27 21..25 21..25 21..24 21..27 21..26 21..27 21..27 21..27 21..27 21..26 22..28 22..28 22..26 22..26 22..25 22..28 22..27 22..28 22..28 22..28 22..28 22..27 23..29 23..29 23..27 23..27 23..26 23..39 23..28 33..29 23..29 23..29 23..29 23..28 24..30 24..30 24..28 24..28 24..27 24..30 24..29 24..30 24..30 24..30 24..30 24..29 25 ..31 Dec. 25..29 25..29 25..28 25..31 25.. 30 25. .31 July 25..31 25..31 25. .30 Nov. 25..1 26..30 26..30 Mar. April May June 25.. 1 Aug. Sept. Oct. 26.. 1 27..31 27..31 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 1 26.. 2 Jan Feb. 26.. 2 27.. 2 27..3 28.. 1 28... 1 27.. 2 27.. 2 27.. 2 27.. 2 27.. 3 27.. 2 27..2 27.. 2 28..3 28.. 4 28.. 3 28.. 3 28.. 3 28.. 3 28.. 4 28.. 3 28.. 3 28.. 3 29..4 29.. 2 29.. 2 29.. 4 29.. 4 39.. 4 29.. 4 29.. 5 29.. 4 29.. 4 29.. 4 30..5 30.. 3 30.. 3 30.. 5 30.. 5 30.. 5 30.. 5 30.. 6 30.. 5 30.. 5 30.. 5 31.. 6 31.. 4 31.. 6 31.. 6 31.. 6 31.. 6 31.. 6

Stock-Breeders' Guide.

Showing when Forty Weeks will expire from any Day in year.

page 32
No. Name. Age at Calving. Out ofDate of Calving. Date of Bulling. Name of Bull. Date of Drying-off.Date to Calve.Remarks. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Register of Cows on Farm, Season 188 to 188.

No. Name. Milk-yield in Pounds. A.M. P.M Total. Total. Total Week. Percentage of Cream. Remarks

Milk-Record for Week ending, 188.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Week Endings Total Average Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c. Milk, lb. Cream p.c.

Summary of Milk-Record, ending, 188.

Note,—One day in the week is filed as record-day. The total yield for the week is obtained by taking the total yield on record-day, at average, and multiplying by seven. The percentage of cream is obtained by stirring the milk of each cow well, and setting part of it in the cremo-mêtre (graduated glass tube). Ten pounds is reckoned as one gallon : in reality it is 10.283 pounds.

By Authority : George Didsbury, Government Printer, Wellington.—1883.