inside it stout cleats, to hold the cross bars for the meat. Hang
the meat upon them--but not until the hogshead is in place. Cut a hole
in the bottom as big as the top of a large barrel. Working through this
hole, arrange the meat, then put below a headless barrel, the top
resting against the hogshead-heading, the bottom upon supports of gas
pipe, iron, or even piled bricks. Between the supports set an iron
vessel--build your hickory smoke-fires in it, smothering them carefully,
and letting the smoke, with a sufficiency of air, well up, through
barrel, hogshead, etc. Or one might even rig up a smoking hogshead in an
attic, providing the chimney were tall enough to cool smoke
properly--and lead smoke out to it through a length of drain pipe.

These are but suggestions--the contriving mind will doubtless invent
other and better ones. Smoking must go on for five weeks at least. Six
will be better, slacking toward the end. But two may be made to answer
by the use of what is called "liquid smoke" whose other name is crude
pyroligneous acid. A product of wood distillation, it has been proved
harmless in use, but use is nevertheless forbidden to commercial makers.
The meat, after breaking bulk, is dipped in it three times at fairly
brief intervals, hung up, drained, and smoked. From the liquid smoke it
will have acquired as much acid saving-grace, as from four weeks of old
fashioned smoking.

A smokehouse needs to be kept dark, dry, and cool, also well ventilated.
Use fine screen wire over all openings, and make windows very small,
with coarse, sleazy crash in the sash rather than glass inside the
screens. Darkness prevents or discourages the maggot-fly. To discourage
him still further cover the cut sides of hams and shoulders before
hanging up with molasses made very thick with ground black pepper. They
will not absolutely require canvassing and dipping in whitewash after if
the peppering is thorough. But to be on the safe side--canvas and dip.
Make the whitewash with a foundation of thick paste--and be sure it
covers every thread of the canvas. Hams perfectly cured and canvassed
keep indefinitely in the right sort of smokehouse--but there is not much
gain in flavor after they are three years old.

In rendering lard try out leaf fat to itself--it yields the very finest.
Cut out the kidneys carefully, and remove any bit of lean, then pull
off the thin inner skin, and cut up the leaves--into bits about two
inches wide and fo