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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 58

Bacon Curing

Bacon Curing.

I should now like to make a few remarks on bacon-curing. Since coming to New Zealand I have often wondered that bacon should occupy such a low position as it appears to do amongst the page 20 productions of this Colony, both for home consumption and for export. This can only be attributed, I think, to the ancient and unscientific way in which the business appears to be carried out at present; for I feel sure that if it were conducted in all its branches as it is now in England—from the selection of the right class of pigs, the proper method of feeding, and finally in the curing process—it would be a most simple and easy business to manage, and one of the most certain of success that I know of.

Fifty years ago, Ireland and the County of Wilts were about 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 50s. to 60s. per cwt Since then great improvements in the feed and in the cure have been made, and now the article 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 have advanced, until they now range in London from 74s. to 84s. per cwt. After some time, the Americans and Germans began to send in large quantities of bacon to the English markets. The German is of good quality, but the American is very inferior. In spite of these fresh supplies however, there can be no fear of over-stocking the English market, for some of the largest London merchants told me last summer that they hardly knew where to look for an adequate supply, the demand was so great, and so continually increasing. I thought at the time this was a grand opportunity for New Zealand to step in and help to supply this deficiency, and by so doing she would receive a rich return. I have often thought since then how it could best be done, and the other day, whilst going over the premises of the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company's works at Belfast, I was convinced that I was on the spot where, for a very small outlay, could be made the finest bacon-curing establishment in the world. Everything is there, nothing wanted but a good curing room on the ground floor. 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 deg. Fah. from eight to twelve days. If this is properly done, success must assuredly follow.

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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, great care should be taken in selecting the right class of pigs. The fine-bred small-boned 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 into eight score of pounds in six or seven months. Pigs of about 160lbs. weight are the most suitable size for bacon for the London market, though the English country markets will take them up to 180lbs., but at a reduced price. The fat on the back should be about two to two-and-a-half 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 are fine specimens for growth for bacon.

The next point I would touch upon is a most important one, viz., the method of feeding. Here, I would impress upon our farmers, that if the feed is wrong, all the best arrangements and appliances in the world 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 them run in the paddocks for four or five months, giving them a pint 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, five or ten 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 would make a good substitute. The Irish feed their pigs largely on inferior potatoes and meal.

If our farmers would only attend to these two or three 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, I am confident that the bacon trade page 22 in New Zealand would be revolutionized. The people here do not trouble to enquire 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 every week, the consumption in New Zealand would soon be more than doubled, to say nothing of the export trade to the neighbouring Colonies and to England which could very profitably be carried on.

I notice there is to be an International Exhibition in Calcutta shortly. Now New Zealand ought to exhibit all her dairy produce there—cheese, butter, and bacon. England does a large trade with India in these articles, and I see no reason why, if we were properly represented there, and exhibits sent, a large share of that trade should not come to this Colony, for we most certainly have numerous advantages over the Old Country to give us a good handicap in the matter.

In conclusion, I fear no contradiction, when I say that New Zealand is as fine a country as there is in the world for rearing and feeding pigs, and where a thousand are now reared there should be a hundred times that quantity, and I feel sure that if only one factory is started on the lines I have suggested, it will not be long before that result is reached, and it must end in a permanent source of wealth to all concerned.

Wilsons & Horton, Printers, Auckland.