Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of pork, and cover with one inch salt, continuing thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will hold. Pack as tight as possible, and keep the pork always under the brine. i88 ON HABITS AND MANNERS. HAMS. For six hams make a brine strong enough to bear a potato ; add one-fourth lb. saltpetre, dissolved in warm water, and sugar enough to make the mixture slightly sweet. Soak the hams in this for ten or twelve days ; take them out, and, when thoroughly dry, smoke until they are of a deep brown. Then wrap in cotton cloth, or brown paper, and pack in a box or barrel, with coarse salt enough to com- pletely cover them. Hams cured in this way may be kept for two or three years. COFFEE. The best coffee pot is one so arranged that the grounds do not get into the coffee at all ; and this end is reached by means of a little cylinder with a fine sieve at the bottom, which stands on top the coffee-pot. The ground coffee is put in this cylinder, and the boiling water being poured into it, drains int* the pot below. This insures clear, strong coffee, without further trouble, and is the simplest pos- sible method. TEA. Put the tea, in the proportion of one teaspoonful to each person, into the pot (which should first have been heated), pour boiling water on it, and set it for five minutes where it will keep hot without boiling. ij^ts on Agriculture. BY F. RICHARDSON. Written for the Southern Workman. More people make their living directly by agriculture than by any other calling ; and famine would overtake all civilized nations if one year's crop should fail. Agriculture is, therefore, called the "King of Arts/' So universal is its bearing upon the interests of all classes, that no man's head can be considered well furnished, till he knows the general principles ot farming. Professional men of nearly all kinds are continually brought in contact with farmers. Especially is this the case with teachers in the Southern States. And the more exact and detailed a teacher's information is on agricultural matters, the more he may enjoy the respect and confidence of those practical men who are the leaders of pub- lic opinion in rural communities. To command the respect of practical men, however, the student must know how narrow are the limits within which book knowledge is worth anything. Books cannot convey the skill of touch which enables its owner to select a valuable OK HABITS AND MANNERS. animal by the quality of its hair ; nor can they give the practiced eye, which decides at a glance whether grass is at the proper stage for cutting, or whether a clay field should be plowed to-day or left till it is drier. Nor can books de- termine whether this farm is worth ten dollars per acre more than that, and whether cattle farming in any particular locality is likely to pay better than raising grain. On all such matters the mere book theorist in agriculture would be as much at sea as the young physician who has his volumes at his fingers' ends, and can prescribe for any disease which may be named to him, but cannot decide what is the matter, in his first case.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of pork, and cover with one inch salt, continuing thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will hold. Pack as tight as possible, and keep the pork always under the brine. HAMS. For six hams make a brine strong enough to bear a potato ; add one-fourth lb. saltpetre, dissolved in warm water, and sugar enough to make the mixture slightly sweet. Soak the hams in this for ten or twelve days ; take them out, and, when thoroughly dry, smoke until they are of a deep brown. Then wrap in cotton cloth, or brown paper, and pack in a box or barrel, with coarse salt enough to completely cover them. Hams cured in this way may be kept for two or three years. COFFEE. The best coffee pot is one so arranged that the grounds do not get into the coffee at all ; and this end is reached by means of a little cylinder with a fine sieve at the bottom, which stands on top the coffee-pot. The ground coffee is put in this cylinder, and the boiling water being poured into it, drains into the pot below. This insures clear, strong coffee, without further trouble, and is the simplest possible method. TEA. Put the tea, in the proportion of one teaspoonful to each person, into the pot (which should first have been heated), pour boiling water on it, and set it for five minutes where it will keep hot without boiling. Hints on Agriculture. BY F. RICHARDSON. Written for the Southern Workman. More people make their living directly by agriculture than by any other calling ; and famine would overtake all civilized nations if one year's crop should fail. Agriculture is, therefore, called the "King of Arts/' So universal is its bearing upon the interests of all classes, that no man's head can be considered well furnished, till he knows the general principles ot farming. Professional men of nearly all kinds are continually brought in contact with farmers. Especially is this the case with teachers in the Southern States. And the more exact and detailed a teacher's information is on agricultural matters, the more he may enjoy the respect and confidence of those practical men who are the leaders of public opinion in rural communities. To command the respect of practical men, however, the student must know how narrow are the limits within which book knowledge is worth anything. Books cannot convey the skill of touch which enables its owner to select a valuable animal by the quality of its hair ; nor can they give the practiced eye, which decides at a glance whether grass is at the proper stage for cutting, or whether a clay field should be plowed to-day or left till it is drier. Nor can books determine whether this farm is worth ten dollars per acre more than that, and whether cattle farming in any particular locality is likely to pay better than raising grain. On all such matters the mere book theorist in agriculture would be as much at sea as the young physician who has his volumes at his fingers' ends, and can prescribe for any disease which may be named to him, but cannot decide what is the matter, in his first case.

On habits and manners