FITTING SHEEP 



and dress sheep and lambs for the market; many of which 

 advocate killing by decapitation with the broad-ax. That 

 -decapitation with the broad-ax will quickly terminate a 

 sheep or lamb's existence there is not the slightest doubt, 

 but it is an uncouth, dirty, impracticable method to pursue. 

 I have had practical experience in quite a number of up-to- 

 date slaughter houses, and opportunities for observation in 

 many more, but I have never seen an animal decapitated with 

 this instrument in either yet. 



The sticking knife is what its name implies and is the 

 tool par excellence for dispatching animals intended for 

 conversion into human food. 



Again, the novice tells us that the carcass should be washed 

 both inside and out. What for? pray! Unless dirt and filth 

 has accumulated on the carcass? Why wash what Nature 

 lias seen fit to keep scrupulously clean? An unclean, unskill- 

 ful manipulator of the knife has undoubtedly great cause for 

 washing both the inside and outside of the carcass he has 

 been working on, but a skillful one has no further use for 

 water other than what he uses in rinsing his "wiping cloth." 



Further, the novice will tell you that the wool that comes 

 in contact with the flesh gives the mutton a woolly flavor. 

 The way a professional slaughterman opens the skin of or 

 Presses his sheep entirely prevents the wool coming in con- 

 tact with the flesh, so I can hardly allow this theory to pass 

 unchallenged. 



Here is my theory, which, I am satisfied, is well grounded, 

 from what I have observed after a long and careful study of 

 the subject: When an animal has laid for any considerable 

 time after being killed, gas accumulates or generates in the 

 stomach. This gas has the exact same odor as is carried 



