PACKING BUSINESS OF OHIO. 



The hogs are allowed to run in the woods, and feed on 

 the acorns, &c., till five or six weeks before killing-time, 

 (8th or 10th November,) and are then turned into the 

 Indian-corn fields, to fatten them and harden their flesh. 

 They are usually from eleven to eighteen months old 

 when they are killed ; and the longer they have been in 

 the corn-fields, the better is the pork. 



The packing business of Ohio has been gradually con- 

 centrating itself in Cincinnati, where, in the winter of 

 1847 and 1848, about 420,000 hogs were sold, killed, 

 and packed. The blood is collected in tanks, and with 

 the hair, hoofs, and other offal, is sold to the prussiate 

 of potash manufactories. The carcass is cured either 

 into barrelled pork or into bacon and hams, and the 

 grease rendered into lard of various qualities. Some 

 establishments cure the hams, and after cutting up the 

 rest of the carcass, steam it in large vats, under a pres- 

 sure of seventy pounds to the square inch, and thus 

 reduce the whole to a pulp, bones and all, and draw off 

 the fat. The residue is either thrown away or is carted 

 off for manure. One establishment disposes, in this way, 

 of 30,000 hogs. Of the lard, the finest is exported — 

 much of it to the Havannah — where it is used instead of 

 butter. About thirty factories are engaged in the manu- 

 facture of lard oil and stearine, which is done by com- 

 pressing the lard at a low temperature. The stearine is 

 made into candles on the spot, of which 6000 pounds are 

 manufactured every day, on an average of the whole 



