44 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



end of the vat is a contrivance for lifting them out of the scalding water, two at a time, unless 

 quite large, by the power of one man operating a lever, which elevates them to the scraping- 

 table. This table is about five feet wide and twenty-five long, and has eight or nine men 

 arranged on each side, and usually has as many hogs on it at a time, each pair of men per- 

 forming a separate part of the work of removing the bristles and hair. Thus, the first pair 

 of jnen remove the bristles, only such as are worth saving for brush-makers, taking only a 

 double-handful from the back of each hog, which are deposited in a barrel or box. fc The hog 

 is then given a single turn onward to the next pair, who, with scrapers, remove the hair from 

 one side, then turn it over to the next pair, who scrape the other side; the next scrape the 

 head and legs ; the next shave one side with sharp knives ; the next do the same to the other 

 side ; and the next, the head and legs ; and each pair of men have to perform their part of the 

 work in only twelve seconds of time, or at the rate of five hogs in a minute for three or four hours 

 at a time ! Arrived at the end of this table with the hair all removed, a pair of men put in 

 the gambril stick and swing the carcass off on the wheel. This wheel is about ten feet in 

 diameter, and revolves on a perpendicular shaft reaching from the floor to the ceiling, the 

 height of the wheel being about six feet from the floor. Around its periphery are placed eight 

 large hooks, about four feet apart, on which the hogs are hung to be dressed ; and here, 

 again, we find remarkable despatch secured by the division of labor. As soon as the hog is 

 swung from the table on to one of these hooks, the wheel is given a turn one-eighth of its 

 circuit, which brings the next hook to the table, and carries the hog a distance of four feet, 

 where a couple of men stand ready to dash on it a bucket of clean water, and scrape it down 

 with knives, to remove the loose hair and dirt that may have come from the table. The next 

 move of the wheel carries it four feet farther, where another man cuts open the hog almost 

 in a single second of time, and removes the large intestines, or such as have no fat on them 

 worth saving, and throws them out at an open doorway by his side ; another move of four feet 

 carries it to the next man, who lifts out the remainder of the intestines, the heart, liver, etc., 

 and throws them on to a large table behind him, where four or five men are engaged in sepa- 

 rating the fat and other parts of value ; another move, and a man dashes a bucket of clean 

 water inside, and washes off any filth or blood that may be seen. This completes the clean- 

 ing or dressing process ; and each man at the wheel has to perform his part of the work in 

 twelve seconds of time, as there are only five hogs at once hanging on the wheel, and this 

 number are removed and as many added every minute. The number of men employed, besides 

 drivers outside, is fifty ; so that each man may be said to kill and dress one hog every ten 

 minutes of working-time, or forty in a day. This presents a striking contrast with the man- 

 ner that farmers commonly do their 'hog-killing.' At the last move of the wheel, a stout 

 fellow shoulders the carcass, while another removes the gambril-stick, and backs it off to 

 the other part of the house, where they are hung up for twenty-four hours to cool on hooks, 

 placed in rows on each side of the beams just over a man's head. Here are space and hooks 

 sufficient for 2000 hogs, or a full day's work at killing. The next day, or when cool, they 

 are taken by teams to the packing-house, where the weighing, cutting, sorting, and packing, 

 are all accomplished in the same rapid and systematic manner." 



The Milker's Protector. 



MR. JOHN M. WARE, of Seabrook, New Hampshire, has recently obtained a patent for hold- 

 ing cow's tails still during the operation of milking. The machine is fastened to one of the 

 animal's ham-strings, and the tail is compressed. Mr. Ware styles his discovery the Milker's 

 Protector. His claim is as follows: "I claim the Milker's Protector, constructed as specified 

 viz. a combination of ham-strings and tail nippers applied together, and made to operate as 

 described." 



Self-loading Cart. 



THE constraction of a new self-loading cart, recently patented by S. W. ISoule, of Oswego, 

 New York, is as follows : In outward appearance this cart resembles the ordinary dirt-cart. 

 An opening, however, is made in the middle of the cart body, through which a narrow frame 



