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Publishers Newswire Announced Today its Latest List of Books to Bookmark, for Q4/2008
REDONDO BEACH, Calif. -- Publishers Newswire, an online resource for small publishers, as well as lesser known and first-time book authors, has announced its latest quarterly 'Books to Bookmark' list, for Q4/2008. This list is a round-up of new and interesting books which are often missed due to not originating from big name authors, or major New York book publishing houses.

Book, 'Letters From Heroes', captures triumphs of the men and women who served in World War I and II
GILROY, Calif. -- The hardships, struggles, hopes and triumphs of the men and women who served in World War I and World War II is wonderfully captured in 'Letters From Heroes' (ISBN: 978-1-58909-570-0), by Edward T. Cook, a new book just published by Bookstand Publishing. This poignant collection of real letters from real servicemen allow the reader to see things through the eyes of these soldiers and understand their thoughts about war, training, sickness, the enemy and even their food.

In New Book, Mystery of the 6,000 Year Old Science and Art of Astrology Has Been Solved
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Author of the new book, ASTROMASKS (ISBN: 978-0-615-23386-4), Vijay Rishii Ph.D., announced today that his book reveals the secret code behind the ancient and controversial science of astrology. The author decodes astrology using a new concept of complementary pairs, and gives new meanings to the zodiac signs and their real connection to humans on earth, which has never been done before in the entire history of astrology.

The Book of Household Management - Mrs. Isabella Beeton

M >> Mrs. Isabella Beeton >> The Book of Household Management

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120


_Time_.--Fore-quarter of lamb weighing 10 lbs., 1-3/4 to 2 hours.

_Average cost_, 10d. to 1s. per lb. _Sufficient_ for 7 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_,--grass lamb, from Easter to Michaelmas.


BOILED LEG OF LAMB A LA BECHAMEL.

751. INGREDIENTS.--Leg of lamb, Bechamel sauce, No. 367.

_Mode_.--Do not choose a very large joint, but one weighing about 5 lbs.
Have ready a saucepan of boiling water, into which plunge the lamb, and
when it boils up again, draw it to the side of the fire, and let the
water cool a little. Then stew very gently for about 1-1/4 hour,
reckoning from the time that the water begins to simmer. Make some
Bechamel by recipe No. 367, dish the lamb, pour the sauce over it, and
garnish with tufts of boiled cauliflower or carrots. When liked, melted
butter may be substituted for the Bechamel: this is a more simple
method, but not nearly so nice. Send to table with it some of the sauce
in a tureen, and boiled cauliflowers or spinach, with whichever
vegetable the dish is garnished.

_Time_.--1-1/4 hour after the water simmers.

_Average cost_, 10d. to 1s. per lb. _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


ROAST LEG OF LAMB.

752. INGREDIENTS.--Lamb, a little salt.

[Illustration: LEG OF LAMB.]

_Mode_.--Place the joint at a good distance from the fire at first, and
baste well the whole time it is cooking. When nearly done, draw it
nearer the fire to acquire a nice brown colour. Sprinkle a little fine
salt over the meat, empty the dripping-pan of its contents; pour in a
little boiling water, and strain this over the meat. Serve with mint
sauce and a fresh salad, and for vegetables send peas, spinach, or
cauliflowers to table with it.

_Time_.--A leg of lamb weighing 5 lbs., 1-1/2 hour.

_Average cost_, 10d. to 1s. per lb. _Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


BRAISED LOIN OF LAMB.

[Illustration: LOIN OF LAMB.]

753. INGREDIENTS.--1 loin of lamb, a few slices of bacon, 1 bunch of
green onions, 5 or 6 young carrots, a bunch of savoury herbs, 2 blades
of pounded mace, 1 pint of stock, salt to taste.

_Mode_.--Bone a loin of lamb, and line the bottom of a stewpan just
capable of holding it, with a few thin slices of fat bacon; add the
remaining ingredients, cover the meat with a few more slices of bacon,
pour in the stock, and simmer very _gently_ for 2 hours; take it up, dry
it, strain and reduce the gravy to a glaze, with which glaze the meat,
and serve it either on stewed peas, spinach, or stewed cucumbers.

_Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 11d. per lb.

_Sufficient for_ 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.

[Illustration: SADDLE OF LAMB. RIBS OF LAMB.]

ROAST SADDLE OF LAMB.

754. INGREDIENTS.--Lamb; a little salt.

_Mode_.--This joint is now very much in vogue, and is generally
considered a nice one for a small party. Have ready a clear brisk fire;
put down the joint at a little distance, to prevent the fat from
scorching, and keep it well basted all the time it is cooking. Serve
with mint sauce and a fresh salad, and send to table with it, either
peas, cauliflowers, or spinach.

_Time_.--A small saddle, 1-1/2 hour; a large one, 2 hours.

_Average cost_, 10d. to 1s. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.

_Note_.--Loin and ribs of lamb are roasted in the same manner, and
served with the same sauces as the above. A loin will take about 1-1/4
hour; ribs, from 1 to 1-1/4 hour.


ROAST SHOULDER OF LAMB.

755. INGREDIENTS.--Lamb; a little salt.

_Mode_.--Have ready a clear brisk fire, and put down the joint at a
sufficient distance from it, that the fat may not burn. Keep constantly
basting until done, and serve with a little gravy made in the
dripping-pan, and send mint sauce to table with it. Peas, spinach, or
cauliflowers are the usual vegetables served with lamb, and also a fresh
salad.

_Time_.--A shoulder of lamb rather more than 1 hour.

_Average cost_, 10s. to 1s. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


SHOULDER OF LAMB STUFFED.

756. INGREDIENTS.--Shoulder of lamb, forcemeat No. 417, trimmings of
veal or beef, 2 onions, 1/2 head of celery, 1 faggot of savoury herbs, a
few slices of fat bacon, 1 quart of stock No. 105.

_Mode_.--Take the blade-bone out of a shoulder of lamb, fill up its
place with forcemeat, and sew it up with coarse thread. Put it into a
stewpan with a few slices of bacon under and over the lamb, and add the
remaining ingredients. Stew very gently for rather more than 2 hours.
Reduce the gravy, with which glaze the meat, and serve with peas, stewed
cucumbers, or sorrel sauce.

_Time_.--Rather more than 2 hours. _Average cost_, 10d. to 1s. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


LAMB'S SWEETBREADS, LARDED, AND ASPARAGUS (an Entree).

757. INGREDIENTS.--2 or 3 sweetbreads, 1/2 pint of veal stock, white
pepper and salt to taste, a small bunch of green onions, 1 blade of
pounded mace, thickening of butter and flour, 2 eggs, nearly 1/2 pint of
cream, 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley, a very little grated nutmeg.

_Mode_.--Soak the sweetbreads in lukewarm water, and put them into a
saucepan with sufficient boiling water to cover them, and let them
simmer for 10 minutes; then take them out and put them into cold water.
Now lard them, lay them in a stewpan, add the stock, seasoning, onions,
mace, and a thickening of butter and flour, and stew gently for 1/4 hour
or 20 minutes. Beat up the egg with the cream, to which add the minced
parsley and a very little grated nutmeg. Put this to the other
ingredients; stir it well till quite hot, but do not let it boil after
the cream is added, or it will curdle. Have ready some asparagus-tops,
boiled; add these to the sweetbreads, and serve.

_Time_.--Altogether 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. each.

_Sufficient_--3 sweetbreads for 1 entree.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


ANOTHER WAY TO DRESS SWEETBREADS (an Entree).

758. INGREDIENTS.--Sweetbreads, egg and bread crumbs, 1/2 pint of gravy,
No. 442, 1/2 glass of sherry.

_Mode_.--Soak the sweetbreads in water for an hour, and throw them into
boiling water to render them firm. Let them stew gently for about 1/4
hour, take them out and put them into a cloth to drain all the water
from them. Brush them over with egg, sprinkle them with bread crumbs,
and either brown them in the oven or before the fire. Have ready the
above quantity of gravy, to which add 1/2 glass of sherry; dish the
sweetbreads, pour the gravy under them, and garnish with water-cresses.

_Time_.--Rather more than 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d.
each.

_Sufficient_--3 sweetbreads for 1 entree.

_Seasonable_ from Easter to Michaelmas.


MUTTON AND LAMB CARVING.

HAUNCH OF MUTTON.

[Illustration: HAUNCH OF MUTTON.]

759. A deep cut should, in the first place, be made quite down to the
bone, across the knuckle-end of the joint, along the line 1 to 2. This
will let the gravy escape; and then it should be carved, in not too of
the haunch, in the direction of the line from 4 to 3.

[Illustration: LEG OF MUTTON.]

LEG OF MUTTON.

760. This homely, but capital English joint, is almost invariably served
at table as shown in the engraving. The carving of it is not very
difficult: the knife should be carried sharply down in the direction of
the line from 1 to 2, and slices taken from either side, as the guests
may desire, some liking the knuckle-end, as well done, and others
preferring the more underdone part. The fat should be sought near the
line 3 to 4. Some connoisseurs are fond of having this joint dished with
the under-side uppermost, so as to get at the finely-grained meat lying
under that part of the meat, known as the Pope's eye; but this is an
extravagant fashion, and one that will hardly find favour in the eyes of
many economical British housewives and housekeepers.


LOIN OF MUTTON.

[Illustration: LOIN OF MUTTON.]

761. There is one point in connection with carving a loin of mutton
which includes every other; that is, that the joint should be thoroughly
well jointed by the butcher before it is cooked. This knack of jointing
requires practice and the proper tools; and no one but the butcher is
supposed to have these. If the bones be not well jointed, the carving of
a loin of mutton is not a gracious business; whereas, if that has been
attended to, it is an easy and untroublesome task. The knife should be
inserted at fig. 1, and after feeling your way between the bones, it
should be carried sharply in the direction of the line 1 to 2. As there
are some people who prefer the outside cut, while others do not like it,
the question as to their choice of this should be asked.


SADDLE OF MUTTON.

[Illustration: SADDLE OF MUTTON.]

762. Although we have heard, at various intervals, growlings expressed
at the inevitable "saddle of mutton" at the dinner-parties of our middle
classes, yet we doubt whether any other joint is better liked, when it
has been well hung and artistically cooked. There is a diversity of
opinion respecting the mode of sending this joint to table; but it has
only reference to whether or no there shall be any portion of the tail,
or, if so, how many joints of the tail. We ourselves prefer the mode as
shown in our coloured illustration "O;" but others may, upon equally
good grounds, like the way shown in the engraving on this page. Some
trim the tail with a paper frill. The carving is not difficult: it is
usually cut in the direction of the line from 2 to 1, quite down to the
bones, in evenly-sliced pieces. A fashion, however, patronized by some,
is to carve it obliquely, in the direction of the line from 4 to 3; in
which case the joint would be turned round the other way, having the
tail end on the right of the carver.


SHOULDER OF MUTTON.

[Illustration: SHOULDER OF MUTTON.]

763. This is a joint not difficult to carve. The knife should be drawn
from the outer edge of the shoulder in the direction of the line from 1
to 2, until the bone of the shoulder is reached. As many slices as can
be carved in this manner should be taken, and afterwards the meat lying
on either side of the blade-bone should be served, by carving in the
direction of 3 to 4 and 3 to 4. The uppermost side of the shoulder being
now finished, the joint should be turned, and slices taken off along its
whole length. There are some who prefer this under-side of the shoulder
for its juicy flesh, although the grain of the meat is not so fine as
that on the other side.


FORE-QUARTER OF LAMB.

[Illustration: FORE-QUARTER OF LAMB.]

764. We always think that a good and practised carver delights in the
manipulation of this joint, for there is a little field for his judgment
and dexterity which does not always occur. The separation of the
shoulder from the breast is the first point to be attended to; this is
done by passing the knife lightly round the dotted line, as shown by the
figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, so as to cut through the skin, and then, by
raising with a little force the shoulder, into which the fork should be
firmly fixed, it will come away with just a little more exercise of the
knife. In dividing the shoulder and breast, the carver should take care
not to cut away too much of the meat from the latter, as that would
rather spoil its appearance when the shoulder is removed. The breast and
shoulder being separated, it is usual to lay a small piece of butter,
and sprinkle a little cayenne, lemon-juice, and salt between them; and
when this is melted and incorporated with the meat and gravy, the
shoulder may, as more convenient, be removed into another dish. The,
next operation is to separate the ribs from the brisket, by cutting
through the meat on the line 5 to 6. The joint is then ready to be
served to the guests; the ribs being carved in the direction of the
lines from 9 to 10, and the brisket from 7 to 8. The carver should ask
those at the table what parts they prefer-ribs, brisket, or a piece of
the shoulder.


LEG OF LAMB, LOIN OF LAMB, SADDLE OF LAMB, SHOULDER OF LAMB,

are carved in the same manner as the corresponding joints of mutton.
(_See_ Nos. 760, 761, 762, 763.)




[Illustration]

CHAPTER XVI.


GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE COMMON HOG.

765. THE HOG belongs to the order _Mammalia_, the genus _Sus scrofa_,
and the species _Pachydermata_, or thick-skinned; and its generic
characters are, a small head, with long flexible snout truncated; 42
teeth, divided into 4 upper incisors, converging, 6 lower incisors,
projecting, 2 upper and 2 lower canine, or tusks,--the former short, the
latter projecting, formidable, and sharp, and 14 molars in each jaw;
cloven feet furnished with 4 toes, and tail, small, short, and twisted;
while, in some varieties, this appendage is altogether wanting.

766. FROM THE NUMBER AND POSITION OF THE TEETH, physiologists are
enabled to define the nature and functions of the animal; and from those
of the _Sus_, or hog, it is evident that he is as much a _grinder_ as a
_biter_, or can live as well on vegetable as on animal food; though a
mixture of both is plainly indicated as the character of food most
conducive to the integrity and health of its physical system.

767. THUS THE PIG TRIBE, though not a ruminating mammal, as might be
inferred from the number of its molar teeth, is yet a link between the
_herbivorous_ and the _carnivorous_ tribes, and is consequently what is
known as an _omnivorous_ quadruped; or, in other words, capable of
converting any kind of aliment into nutriment.

768. THOUGH THE HOOF IN THE HOG is, as a general rule, cloven, there are
several remarkable exceptions, as in the species native to Norway,
Illyria, Sardinia, and _formerly_ to the Berkshire variety of the
British domesticated pig, in which the hoof is entire and _un_cleft.

769. WHATEVER DIFFERENCE IN ITS PHYSICAL NATURE, climate and soil may
produce in this animal, his functional characteristics are the same in
whatever part of the world he may be found; and whether in the trackless
forests of South America, the coral isles of Polynesia, the jungles of
India, or the spicy brakes of Sumatra, he is everywhere known for his
gluttony, laziness, and indifference to the character and quality of his
food. And though he occasionally shows an epicure's relish for a
succulent plant or a luscious carrot, which he will discuss with all his
salivary organs keenly excited, he will, the next moment, turn with
equal gusto to some carrion offal that might excite the forbearance of
the unscrupulous cormorant. It is this coarse and repulsive mode of
feeding that has, in every country and language, obtained for him the
opprobrium of being "an unclean animal."

770. IN THE MOSAICAL LAW, the pig is condemned as an unclean beast, and
consequently interdicted to the Israelites, as unfit for human food.
"And the swine, though he divideth the hoof and be cloven-footed, yet he
cheweth not the cud. He is unclean to you."--Lev. xi. 7. Strict,
however, as the law was respecting the cud-chewing and hoof-divided
animals, the Jews, with their usual perversity and violation of the
divine commands, seem afterwards to have ignored the prohibition; for,
unless they ate pork, it is difficult to conceive for what purpose they
kept troves of swine, as from the circumstance recorded in Matthew
xviii. 32, when Jesus was in Galilee, and the devils, cast out of the
two men, were permitted to enter the herd of swine that were feeding on
the hills in the neighbourhood of the Sea of Tiberias, it is very
evident they did. There is only one interpretation by which we can
account for a prohibition that debarred the Jews from so many foods
which we regard as nutritious luxuries, that, being fat and the texture
more hard of digestion than other meats, they were likely, in a hot dry
climate, where vigorous exercise could seldom be taken, to produce
disease, and especially cutaneous affections; indeed, in this light, as
a code of sanitary ethics, the book of Leviticus is the most admirable
system of moral government ever conceived for man's benefit.

771. SETTING HIS COARSE FEEDING AND SLOVENLY HABITS OUT OF THE QUESTION,
there is no domestic animal so profitable or so useful to man as the
much-maligned pig, or any that yields him a more varied or more
luxurious repast. The prolific powers of the pig are extraordinary, even
under the restraint of domestication; but when left to run wild in
favourable situations, as in the islands of the South Pacific, the
result, in a few years, from two animals put on shore and left
undisturbed, is truly surprising; for they breed so fast, and have such
numerous litters, that unless killed off in vast numbers both for the
use of the inhabitants and as fresh provisions for ships' crews, they
would degenerate into vermin. In this country the pig has usually two
litters, or farrows, in a year, the breeding seasons being April and
October; and the period the female goes with her young is about four
months,--16 weeks or 122 days. The number produced at each litter
depends upon the character of the breed; 12 being the average number in
the small variety, and 10 in the large; in the mixed breeds, however,
the average is between 10 and 15, and in some instances has reached as
many as 20. But however few, or however many, young pigs there may be to
the farrow, there is always one who is the dwarf of the family circle, a
poor, little, shrivelled, half-starved anatomy, with a small melancholy
voice, a staggering gait, a woe-begone countenance, and a thread of a
tail, whose existence the complacent mother ignores, his plethoric
brothers and sisters repudiate, and for whose emaciated jaws there is
never a spare or supplemental teat, till one of the favoured
gormandizers, overtaken by momentary oblivion, drops the lacteal
fountain, and gives the little squeaking straggler the chance of a
momentary mouthful. This miserable little object, which may be seen
bringing up the rear of every litter, is called the Tony pig, or the
_Anthony_; so named, it is presumed, from being the one always assigned
to the Church, when tithe was taken in kind; and as St. Anthony was the
patron of husbandry, his name was given in a sort of bitter derision to
the starveling that constituted his dues; for whether there are ten or
fifteen farrows to the litter, the Anthony is always the last of the
family to come into the world.

772. FROM THE GROSSNESS OF HIS FEEDING, the large amount of aliment he
consumes, his gluttonous way of eating it, from his slothful habits,
laziness, and indulgence in sleep, the pig is particularly liable to
disease, and especially indigestion, heartburn, and affections of the
skin.

773. TO COUNTERACT THE CONSEQUENCE OF A VIOLATION OF THE PHYSICAL LAWS,
a powerful monitor in the brain of the pig teaches him to seek for
relief and medicine. To open the pores of his skin, blocked up with mud,
and excite perspiration, he resorts to a tree, a stump, or his
trough--anything rough and angular, and using it as a curry-comb to his
body, obtains the luxury of a scratch and the benefit of cuticular
evaporation; he next proceeds with his long supple snout to grub up
antiscorbutic roots, cooling salads of mallow and dandelion, and,
greatest treat of all, he stumbles on a piece of chalk or a mouthful of
delicious cinder, which, he knows by instinct, is the most sovereign
remedy in the world for that hot, unpleasant sensation he has had all
the morning at his stomach.


774. IT IS A REMARKABLE FACT that, though every one who keeps a pig
knows how prone he is to disease, how that disease injures the quality
of the meat, and how eagerly he pounces on a bit of coal or cinder, or
any coarse dry substance that will adulterate the rich food on which he
lives, and by affording soda to his system, correct the vitiated fluids
of his body,--yet very few have the judgment to act on what they see,
and by supplying the pig with a few shovelfuls of cinders in his sty,
save the necessity of his rooting for what is so needful to his health.
Instead of this, however, and without supplying the animal with what its
instinct craves for, his nostril is bored with a red-hot iron, and a
ring clinched in his nose to prevent rooting for what he feels to be
absolutely necessary for his health; and ignoring the fact that, in a
domestic state at least, the pig lives on the richest of all
food,--scraps of cooked animal substances, boiled vegetables, bread, and
other items, given in that concentrated essence of aliment for a
quadruped called wash, and that he eats to repletion, takes no exercise,
and finally sleeps all the twenty-four hours he is not eating, and then,
when the animal at last seeks for those medicinal aids which would
obviate the evil of such a forcing diet, his keeper, instead of meeting
his animal instinct by human reason, and giving him what he seeks, has
the inhumanity to torture him by a ring, that, keeping up a perpetual
"raw" in the pig's snout, prevents his digging for those corrective
drugs which would remove the evils of his artificial existence.

775. THOUGH SUBJECT TO SO MANY DISEASES, no domestic animal is more
easily kept in health, cleanliness, and comfort, and this without the
necessity of "ringing," or any excessive desire of the hog to roam,
break through his sty, or plough up his _pound_. Whatever the kind of
food may be on which the pig is being fed or fattened, a teaspoonful or
more of salt should always be given in his mess of food, and a little
heap of well-burnt cinders, with occasional bits of chalk, should always
be kept by the side of his trough, as well as a vessel of clean water:
his pound, or the front part of his sty, should be totally free from
straw, the brick flooring being every day swept out and sprinkled with a
layer of sand. His lair, or sleeping apartment, should be well sheltered
by roof and sides from cold, wet, and all changes of weather, and the
bed made up of a good supply of clean straw, sufficiently deep to enable
the pig to burrow his unprotected body beneath it. All the refuse of the
garden, in the shape of roots, leaves, and stalks, should be placed in a
corner of his pound or feeding-chamber, for the delectation of his
leisure moments; and once a week, on the family washing-day, a pail of
warm soap-suds should be taken into his sty, and, by means of a
scrubbing-brush and soap, his back, shoulders, and flanks should be well
cleaned, a pail of clean warm water being thrown over his body at the
conclusion, before he is allowed to retreat to his clean straw to dry
himself. By this means, the excessive nutrition of his aliment will be
corrected, a more perfect digestion insured, and, by opening the pores
of the skin, a more vigorous state of health acquired than could have
been obtained under any other system.

776. WE HAVE ALREADY SAID that no other animal yields man so _many_
kinds and varieties of luxurious food as is supplied to him by the flesh
of the hog differently prepared; for almost every part of the animal,
either fresh, salted, or dried, is used for food; and even those viscera
not so employed are of the utmost utility in a domestic point of view.

777. THOUGH DESTITUTE OF THE HIDE, HORNS, AND HOOFS, constituting the
offal of most domestic animals, the pig is not behind the other mammalia
in its usefulness to man. Its skin, especially that of the boar, from
its extreme closeness of texture, when tanned, is employed for the seats
of saddles, to cover powder, shot, and drinking-flasks; and the hair,
according to its colour, flexibility, and stubbornness, is manufactured
into tooth, nail, and hairbrushes,--others into hat, clothes, and
shoe-brushes; while the longer and finer qualities are made into long
and short brooms and painters' brushes; and a still more rigid
description, under the name of "bristles," are used by the shoemaker as
needles for the passage of his wax-end. Besides so many benefits and
useful services conferred on man by this valuable animal, his fat, in a
commercial sense, is quite as important as his flesh, and brings a price
equal to the best joints in the carcase. This fat is rendered, or melted
out of the caul, or membrane in which it is contained, by boiling water,
and, while liquid, run into prepared bladders, when, under the name of
_lard_, it becomes an article of extensive trade and value.

778. OF THE NUMEROUS VARIETIES OF THE DOMESTICATED HOG, the following
list of breeds may be accepted as the best, presenting severally all
those qualities aimed at in the rearing of domestic stock, as affecting
both the breeder and the consumer. _Native_--Berkshire, Essex, York, and
Cumberland; _Foreign_--the Chinese. Before, however, proceeding with the
consideration of the different orders, in the series we have placed
them, it will be necessary to make a few remarks relative to the pig
generally. In the first place, the _Black Pig_ is regarded by breeders
as the best and most eligible animal, not only from the fineness and
delicacy of the skin, but because it is less affected by the heat in
summer, and far less subject to cuticular disease than either the white
or brindled hog, but more particularly from its kindlier nature and
greater aptitude to fatten.


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