A first-class ham--A general cure for ham and shoulders--Pickling preparatory to smoking--Westphalian hams. CHAPTER X.--DRY SALTING BACON AND SIDES. Proper proportion of salt to meat--Other preservatives--Applying the salt--Best distribution of the salt--Time required in curing--Pork for the south. CHAPTER XI.--SMOKING AND SMOKEHOUSES. Treatment previous to smoking--Simple but effective smokehouses--Controlling the fire in smoke formation--Materials to produce best flavor--The choice of weather--Variety in smokehouses. CHAPTER XII.--KEEPING HAMS AND BACON. The ideal meat house--Best temperature and surroundings--Precautions against skippers--To exclude the bugs entirely. CHAPTER XIII.--SIDE LIGHTS ON PORK MAKING. Growth of the big packing houses--Average weight of live hogs--"Net to gross"--Relative weights of various portions of the carcass. CHAPTER XIV.--PACKING HOUSE CUTS OF PORK. Descriptions of the leading cuts of meat known as the speculative commodities in the pork product--Mess pork, short ribs, shoulders and hams, English bacon, varieties of lard. CHAPTER XV.--MAGNITUDE OF THE SWINE INDUSTRY. Importance of the foreign demand--Statistics of the trade--Receipts at leading points--Prices for a series of years--Co-operative curing houses in Denmark. CHAPTER XVI.--DISCOVERING THE MERITS OF ROAST PIG. The immortal Charles Lamb on the art of roasting--An oriental luxury of luxuries. CHAPTER XVII.--RECIPES FOR COOKING AND SERVING PORK. Success in the kitchen--Prize methods of best cooks--Unapproachable list of especially prepared recipes--Roasts, pork pie, cooking bacon, pork and beans, serving chops and cutlets, use of spare ribs, the New England boiled dinner, ham and sausage, etc. INTRODUCTION. Hog killing and pork making on the farm have become almost lost arts in these days of mammoth packing establishments which handle such enormous numbers of swine at all seasons of the year. Yet the progressive farmer of to-day should not only provide his own fresh and cured pork for family use, but also should be able to supply at remunerative prices such persons in his neighborhood as appreciate the excellence and general merit of country or "homemade" pork product. This is true, also, though naturally in a less degree, of the townsman who fattens one or two pigs on the family kitchen slops, adding sufficient grain ration to finish off the pork for autumn slaughter.