KEHOUSE.]

[Illustration: FIG. 21. FIRE, KETTLE AND TRACK.]

SMOKING MEATS IN A SMALL WAY.

A fairly good substitute for a smokehouse, where it is desired to
improvise something for temporary use in smoking hams or other meat, may
be found in a large cask or barrel, arranged as shown in the engraving,
Fig. 22. To make this effective, a small pit should be dug, and a flat
stone or a brick placed across it, upon which the edge of the cask will
rest. Half of the pit is beneath the barrel and half of it outside. The
head and bottom may be removed, or a hole can be cut in the bottom a
little larger than the portion of the pit beneath the cask. The head or
cover is removed, while the hams are hung upon cross sticks. These rest
upon two cross bars, made to pass through holes bored in the sides of the
cask, near the top. The head is then laid upon the cask and covered with
sacks to confine the smoke. Some coals are put into the pit outside of the
cask, and the fire is fed with damp corn cobs, hardwood chips, or fine
brush. The pit is covered with a flat stone, by which the fire may be
regulated, and it is removed when necessary to add more fuel.

[Illustration: FIG. 22. A BARREL SMOKEHOUSE.]

ANOTHER BARREL SMOKEHOUSE.

For those who have only the hams and other meats from one or two hogs to
smoke, a practicable smokehouse, like that shown in Fig. 23, will serve
the purpose fairly well. A large barrel or good-sized cask should be
used, with both heads removed. A hole about a foot deep is dug to receive
it, and then a trench of about the same depth and six or eight feet long,
leading to the fireplace. In this trench can be laid old stovepipe and the
ground filled in around it. The meat to be smoked is suspended in the
barrel and the lid put on, but putting pieces under it, so there will be
enough draft to draw the smoke through. By having the fire some distance
from the meat, one gets the desired amount of smoke and avoids having the
meat overheated.

[Illustration: FIG. 23. BARREL SMOKEHOUSE WITH FRENCH DRAFT.]

CHAPTER XII.

KEEPING BACONS AND HAMS.

The ideal meat house or smokehouse is a tall frame structure, twelve by
fifteen or fifteen by eighteen feet, underpinned solidly with brick set a
foot or more into the ground, or with a double set of sills, the bottom
set being buried in the soil. This mode of underpinning is designed to
prevent thieves from digging under the wall and into the house. Stout,