In too many instances farmers do not have the proper facilities for curing hams, and do not see to it that such are at hand, an important point in success in this direction. A general cure which would make a good ham under proper conditions would include as follows: To each 100 lbs. of ham use seven and a half pounds Liverpool fine salt, one and one-half pounds granulated sugar and four ounces saltpeter. Weigh the meat and the ingredients in the above proportions, rub the meat thoroughly with this mixture and pack closely in a tierce. Fill the tierce with water and roll every seven days until cured, which in a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees would require about fifty days for a medium ham. Large hams take about ten days more for curing. When wanted for smoking, wash the hams in water or soak for twelve hours. Hang in the smokehouse and smoke slowly forty-eight hours and you will have a very good ham. While this is not the exact formula followed in big packing houses, any more than are other special recipes given here, it is a general ham cure that will make a first-class ham in every respect if proper attention is given it.

Another method of pickling hams and shoulders, preparatory to smoking, includes the use of molasses. Though somewhat different from the above formula, the careful following of directions cannot fail to succeed admirably. To four quarts of fine salt and two ounces of pulverized saltpeter, add sufficient molasses to make a pasty mixture. The hams having hung in a dry, cool place for three or four days after cutting up, are to be covered all over with the mixture, more thickly on the flesh side, and laid skin side down for three or four days. In the meantime, make a pickle of the following proportions, the quantities here named being for 100 lbs. of hams. Coarse salt, seven pounds; brown sugar, five pounds; saltpeter, two ounces; pearl ash or potash, one-half ounce; soft water, four gallons. Heat gradually and as the skim rises remove it. Continue to do this as long as any skim rises, and when it ceases, allow the pickle to cool. When the hams have remained the proper time immersed in this mixture, cover the bottom of a clean, sweet barrel with salt about half an inch deep. Pack in the hams as closely as possible, cover them with the pickle, and place over them a follower with weights to keep them down. Small hams of fifteen pounds and less, also shoulders, should remain in the pickle for five weeks; larger ones will require six to eight weeks, according to size. Let them dry well before smoking.