WHERE PIGS IS PROFITS 107 



to hoist and spread the carcass for splitting. It can 

 all be done on one rig, if one uses a gambrel to 

 spread the hind legs. A pig is never skinned when 

 it is butchered; removing its fell of hair is one of 

 the toughest jobs on the farm. It is done with hot 

 water and a thing that looks like a candle stick, 

 called a hog scraper. The water must not be too 

 hot, lest it cook the hide and set the hair in it for 

 keeps. Yet unless it is hot enough at the start it 

 will cool so quickly in the winter air that it will 

 not loosen the hair at all. For a long time we wor- 

 ried along with gunny sacks, making a shift to soak 

 them in scalding water, steam and scrape one side 

 of the carcass, then turn it over and hot-towel the 

 other. Finally one of my neighbors loaned me a 

 scalding tank. That was a couple of years ago. As 

 so often happens with farm tools that are loaned 

 around it is still here. 



Since we are talking of butchering, this is per- 

 haps the best place to step aside and mention 

 something that has been on my mind since I wrote 

 the first word about home-grown meat in this 

 book. The natural tendency of all normal people 

 is to make pets of farm animals. Especially must 

 the person who cares for them get to know them 

 and like them. One particularly matter-of-fact and 

 scientific poultryman has written that the biggest 

 factor in poultry success is love. It is true: the hens 

 will lay more eggs, the cows give more milk, even 



