have never practiced this, and have never lost any.

When the meat is ready for smoking, dip the hocks of the joints in
ground black pepper and dust the raw surface thickly with it. Sacks,
after this treatment, may be used for double security, and I think
bacon high and dry is sweeter than packed in any substance. For
sugar-cured hams we append the best recipe we have ever used, though
troublesome.

_English Recipe for Sugar-Curing Hams_.--So soon as the meat comes
from the butcher's hand rub it thoroughly with the salt. Repeat this
four days, keeping the meat where it can drain. The fourth day rub
it with saltpetre and a handful of common salt, allowing one pound of
saltpetre to seventy pounds of meat. Now mix one pound of brown sugar
and one of molasses, rub over the ham every day for a fortnight, and
then smoke with hickory chips or cobs. Hams should be hung highest
in meat-houses, because there they are less liable to the attacks of
insects, for insects do not so much infest high places--unlike human
pests.

_Pickle_.--Make eight gallons of brine strong enough to float an egg;
add two pounds of brown sugar or a quart of molasses, and four ounces
of saltpetre; boil and skim clean, and pour cold on your meat. Meat
intended for smoking should remain in pickle about four weeks. This
pickle can be boiled over, and with a fresh cup of sugar and salt
used all summer. Some persons use as much soda as saltpetre. It will
correct acidity, but we think impairs the meat.

WASHING PREPARATION.--Take a 1/4 of a pound of soap, a 1/4 of a
pound of soda, and a 1/4 of a pound of quicklime. Cut up the soup and