Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1880 — Disagreeable but Necessary Work. [ARTICLE]

Disagreeable but Necessary Work.

The bulk of the hog crop of the country is sold on foot to drovers and shippers to be slaughtered at the immense packing establishments near all large cities, although experiment has repeatedly proven that in many, if not all, localities the farmer realizes more profit by marketing the cured product. This fact is accounted for largely in two reasons. One is, growers need the money represented in the year’s hog crop, and prefer to realize on it at tne earliest possible time rather than wait for the process of curing. Ignorance in regard to slaughtering, curing and preserving the pork, with poor facilities for this branch of business, constitutes the other reason.

On nearly every farm at least as many hogs are butchered annually as are needed for home consumption; it would therefore pay each farmer to provide himself with suitable scalding vessels, gambrels, scaffolds, sharp knives, etc., and acquaint himself with the operations of butchering, packing and curing, so that this most onerous dut\ shall De made as light as possible to all concerned, with a desirable product gained. A good scalding vessel for farm use, ana commended by Cobum in his manual bn “Swine Husbandry,” is a heavy box, six or seven feet long, thirty inches wide at the bottom and twenty to twenty-four inches deep, with sides somewhat flaring. This is provided with a sheet-iron bottom, well supported on the under side, and should be set over a stone or brick foundation, in which there is a chamber for making sufficient fire to readily heat the water, and by which it can be kept hot for the required length of time. At its rear end should be a pipe or chimney, and the sides may be Danced up with earth. On the bottom of the vat must be laid wooden strips on a slatted frame to prevent the hog from coming in direct contact with the iron bottom. When this or a similar vessel is not practicable, a box sunk into the ground or a hogshead partly let into the ground and slightly inclined will answer, though difficulty is experienced with such arrangements in keeping the water at the right temperature. A stout pole or rau scaffold sloping up from the scalding vessel ’to a height of three feet will facilitate both cleaning of the carcass and lifting it. Hogs should be forced to fast for twelve hours before slaughtering to assist the process of “ridding” the lard. A very cold temperature is not desirable, but it should be low enough to secure a freeze at night, with prospect for several days of clear weather. A cold northwest wind with clear sky indicates suitable weather, but an east wind, no matter how cold, implies an .unsettled condition, with prospect of moist atmosphere. A mean daily temperature of forty degrees is considered favorable by experienced butchers for curing pork. After the hog has been secured for sticking it should be turned square on its back, with the head held firmly so that the striker will be sure to sever its main arteries without allowing the knife to penetrate or injure either shoulder. Coburn does not consider it desirable to pierce the-heart, but prefers to let the animal die from loss of blood, which it will do in the space

of about five minutes, ft properly stuck the blood will immediately leap from the gash in a stream. A mode largely employed is making an incision across the neck, just in front of the breast-bone, and inserting the knife directly into the heart, and then turning the victim loose to bleed and die. Knocking on the head with an axe is objectionable on the soore that it makes the brain braised and bloody, and thus injures a product esteemed by many persons. Only so many hogs should be killed at one time as can be scalded before the blood becomes cold and clotted. When these are scalded, cleaned and hung up, another lot may be butchered, and so on until the entire number are dispatched. In scalding the animal is immersed for a few seconds, and then by means of a rope or other contrivance raised out of the water to allow the air to strike it thoroughly, and then immersed again. When the hair readily leaves the skin, especially on the head, legs and feet, the hog should be removed from the water at onoe and speedily stripped of its hair. Sharp knives should follow, scraping every part from the head towards the tail, the way the hair grows; the reverse motion of the knife will cut the skin when warm and soft. The authority already quoted advises when this is done that the hind legs be freely cut into below the gambrel joint to reach both main corns, under which the gambrel should be entered. It is also recommended that the gambrel be of strong wood—hickory or oak is best—and from 24 to 30 inches long, according to the size of the hog; it ought also to be notched on the upper side of each end to prevent the legs from slipping off. Posts or forks should be so set that a strong pole resting on them will be'in part over the platform about six feet from the ground, and on this the hogs can be hung and slipped along towards either end o9t of the way after they have been thoroughly scraped and washed down with warm water. Opening the hog should be done by some one familiar with such work, and inexperienced hands are advised to receive tneir first lesson from an expert rather than from written instructions. As fast as the entrails can be rid of the lard they should be removed, the mouth propped open and all blood carefully washed out with cold water from mouth, neck, and interior of the carcass. The next, and an all important point, is to allow the carcass, well spread on the gambrel, to hang until relieved of animal heat. It must be thoroughly cold in all its parts to insure successful curing.— N. Y. World.