The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton

sugar, 3/4 lb. of salt, 1 oz. of saltpetre, 1/2 a teacupful of vinegar. _Mode_.--Rub the hams well with common salt, and leave them for a day or two to drain; then rub well in, the above proportion of sugar, salt, saltpetre, and vinegar, and turn them every other day. Keep them in the pickle 1 month, drain them, and send them to be smoked over a wood fire for 3 weeks or a month. _Time_.--To remain in the pickle 1 month. To be smoked 3 weeks or 1 month. _Sufficient_.--The above proportion of pickle sufficient for 1 ham. _Seasonable_.--Hams should be pickled from October to March. NOVEL WAY OF RECOVERING A STOLEN PIG.--It is a well-known fact, that in Ireland the pig is, in every respect, a domesticated animal, sharing often both the bed and board of the family, and making an outer ring to the domestic circle, as, seated round the pot of potatoes, they partake of the midday meal called dinner. An Irishman upon one occasion having lost an interesting member of his household, in the form of a promising young porker, consulted his priest on the occasion, and having hinted at the person he suspected of purloining the "illegant slip of a pig" he was advised to take no further notice of the matter, but leave the issue to his spiritual adviser. Next Sunday his reverence, after mass, came to the front of the altar-rails, and looking very hard at the supposed culprit, exclaimed, "Who stole Pat Doolan's pig?" To this inquiry there was of course no answer;--the priest did not expect there would be any. The following Sunday the same query was propounded a little stronger--"Who of you was it, I say, who stole poor Pat Doolan's pig?" It now became evident that the culprit was a hardened sinner; so on the third Sunday, instead of repeating the unsatisfactory inquiry, the priest, after, as usual, eyeing the obdurate offender, said, in a tone of pious sorrow, "Mike Regan, Mike Regan, you treat me with contempt!" That night, when the family was all asleep, the latch of the door was noiselessly lifted, and the "illegant slip of a pig" cautiously slipped into the cabin. TO SMOKE HAMS AND FISH AT HOME.