CHAPTER XVI. 

 THE MUTTON CARCASS AND THE PELT. 



Mutton and lamb supply a wealthier class of consumers 

 than beef, pork, or veal. Lamb is ordinarily considered some- 

 thing of a delicacy, while beef and pork are looked upon as staple 

 articles of food. For this reason, the American meat industry 

 was not much concerned with mutton and lamb until rather 

 recent years, or since the country has become more prosperous 

 and wealthy. The proper handling of mutton and lamb necessi- 

 tates more careful and quick slaughtering than is required in 

 the case of beef or pork, and good refrigeration facilities are 

 also very essential. The public taste for mutton and lamb 

 was not created until the development of the refrigerator car 

 nor until the erection of large-scale chill rooms was made possi- 

 ble by artificial refrigeration. The year 1875 marked the advent 

 of these great aids to the packing business. Mutton differs from 

 pork and beef in that it is strictly a fresh meat product and 

 does not lend itself to salting, pickling, smoking, or drying as 

 do pork and beef. Hence mutton became a world commodity 

 only after the development of artificial refrigeration and re- 

 frigerated transportation. Still another reason for the com- 

 paratively recent demand for mutton and lamb is found in the 

 fact that, up to 1870, the great majority of all sheep in America 

 were either purebred or grade Merinos. Good mutton became 

 plentiful only after the use of mutton rams became general on 

 farms and ranges. 



Lamb is usually superior to mature mutton in flavor and 

 general palatability, and the demand for lamb far exceeds the 

 demand for mutton; the wholesale trade consists of two or three 

 times as much lamb as mutton. During the past fifteen years 

 the wholesale trade in lamb and mutton has increased to such 

 an extent as to have doubled during that period; this may be 

 partly due to general prosperity and a larger housewife's allow- 

 ance, and partly to an improvement in the quality of lamb and 

 mutton through better methods of slaughtering and handling. 



Slaughtering. Sheep purchased by packers are driven to 

 the packing plant and allowed to rest a few hours, because ani- 

 mals killed while in an excited condition do not bleed out thor- 



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