156. The feet, the cheeks, and other bone, being considered, the _bacon and lard_, taken together, would not exceed _sixpence a pound_. Irish bacon is "_cheaper_." Yes, _lower-priced_. But, I will engage that a pound of mine, when it comes _out_ of the pot (to say nothing of the _taste_,) shall weigh as much as a _pound and a half_ of Irish, or any dairy or slop-fed bacon, when that comes out of the pot. No, no: the farmers joke when they say, that their bacon _costs them more than_ they could buy bacon for. They know well what it is they are doing; and besides, they always forget, or, rather, remember not to say, that the fatting of a large hog yields them three or four load of dung, really worth more than ten or fifteen of common yard dung. In short, without hogs, farming _could not go on_; and it never has gone on in any country in the world. The hogs are the great _stay_ of the whole concern. They are _much in small space_; they make no _show_, as flocks and herds do; but with out them, the cultivation of the land would be a poor, a miserably barren concern.
157. _VERY FAT_ Mutton may be salted to great advantage, and also smoked, and may be kept thus a long while. Not the shoulders and legs, but the _back_ of the sheep. I have never made any flitch of _sheep-bacon_; but I will; for there is nothing like having a _store_ of meat in a house. The running to the butchers daily is a ridiculous thing. The very idea of being fed, of a _family_ being fed, by daily supplies, has something in it perfectly _tormenting_. One half of the time of a mistress of a house, the affairs of which are carried on in this way, is taken up in talking about what is to be got for dinner, and in negotiations with the butcher. One single moment spent at table beyond what is absolutely necessary, is a moment very shamefully spent; but, to suffer a system of domestic economy, which unnecessarily wastes daily an hour or two of the mistress's time in hunting for the provision for the repast, is a shame indeed; and when we consider how much time is generally spent in this and in equally absurd ways, it is no wonder that we see so little performed by numerous individuals as they do perform during the course of their lives.