494 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



advise them to take a peep iu fair weather at the 

 '• aforesaid premises,*' and I will guarantee in 

 advance that I will make no charge for " ad- 

 vice," but render to the poor services gratis. 

 Wilmington, Oct. 16. 1854. S. Brown. 



HOG KILLING IN CINCINNATI 



AVe spent a couple of hours the last week in Jan- 

 uary, in witnessing the process of killing and 

 dressing hogs, according to the most approved 

 plan, at one of the largest establishments near the 

 Brighton House, Cincinnati. The building and 

 its appurtenances are calculated for dispatching 

 two thousand hogs per day ; and at the rate the 

 bloody work was done while we were present, that 

 number would be done up in less than eight work- 

 ing hours ! The process is as follows : 



The hogs being confined iu pens adjacent, are 

 driven, about twenty at a time up an inclined 

 bridge or passage opening by a doorway at top 

 into a square room ju.-i large enough to hold them; 

 and as soon as the outside door is closed, a man 

 enters from an inside door, and with a hammer of 

 about two pounds weight and three feet length of 

 handle, by a single blow aimed between the eyes, 

 knocks each hog down, so that scarce a squeal or 

 grunt is uttered. In the mean time a second 

 apartment adjoining this is being filled ; so the 

 process continues. Next a couple of men seize 

 the stunned ones by the legs and drag them 

 through the inside doorway on to the bleeding 

 platform, where each^receive^the thrust of a keen 

 blade in the throat, and a torrent of blood runs 

 through the lattice floor. 



After bleeding for a minute or two, they arc 

 slid off this platform directly into the scalding vat, 

 which is about twenty feet long, six wide, and 

 three deep, kept full of water heated by steam, 

 and so arranged that the temperature is easily 

 regulated. The hogs being slid into one end of 

 this vat, are pushed slowly along, by men stand- 

 ing on each side with sho'^i-t poles, turning them 

 over so as to secure uniform scalding, and moving 

 them onward so that each one will reach the op- 

 posite end of the vat in about two minutes from 

 the time it entered. About ten hogs are usually 

 passing through the scalding process at one time. 



At the exit end of the vat is a contrivance for 

 lifting themoutofthescalding water, two at a time 

 unless quite large, by thej^ower of one man oi^er- 

 ating a lever, which elevates them to the scraping 

 table. This table is al)Out five fi^et wide and twen- 

 ty-five long, and has eight or nine men arranged 

 on each side, and usually as many hogs on it at 

 a time, each pair of men performing a separate 

 part of the work of removing the bristles and hair. 

 Thus the first pair of men remove the bristles only, 

 such as are worth saving for brush-makers, tak- 

 ing only a double handful from the back of each 

 hog, which are deposited in a barrel or box. The 

 hog is then given a gingle turn onward to the 

 nest 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 sliarp 

 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 



Arrived at the end of this table, with the hair 

 all removed, a pair of men put in the gambril stick 

 and swing tlie carcase off on the ivheel. This 

 wheel is about ten feet in diameter, and revolves 

 on a perpendicular shaft reaching from the floor 

 to the ci'iling ; the height of the wheel being about 

 six feet from the floor. Around its periphery are 

 placed fight large hooks, a))0ut four feet apart, on 

 which the hogs are hung to.be dressed ; and here 

 again we find remarkable dispatch secured by tlie 

 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 hairs and dirt that may have come from the 

 table. The next move of the wheel carries it four 

 feet further, where another man cuts open the 

 hog almost in a single secend of time, and le- 

 moves the large intestines or such as have no fat 

 on them worth saving, and throws them through 

 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 lieart, liver, 

 &c., and throws them on to a large table behind 

 him, where four or five men are engaged in separa- 

 tmg 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 cleaning 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 em- 

 ployed, (besides drivers outside,) is fifty ; so that 

 eacli 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 

 manner that farmers commonly do their "hog 

 killing." 



x\t the last move of the wheel a stout fellow 

 shoulders the carcase (while another removes the 

 gaujbril-stick) and backs it off to the other part of 

 the house where they are hung up for tweutj'-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 two thousand 

 hogs, or a full day's work at killing. The next 

 day, or when cool, they are taken by teams to the 

 paeking-house in the city, where the weighing, 

 cutting, sorting and packing is all accomplished 

 in the same rapid and systematic manner. — Oltio 

 Cultivator. 



ABOUT CP.ANBEERIES, 



To Keep Cranberries. — Gather them when 

 quite dry, cork them closely in dry bottles, and 

 place in a cool, dry cellar. They will also keep 

 in bottles or in casks of water, the latter being 

 the mode practised in the north of Europe and in 

 this counti-y, and in wliich it is sent a long dis- 

 tance, without injury ; the fruit is put in a per- 

 fect state into tight barrels, filled with water, and 

 headed up. 



Cranberry Jelly. — Make a very strong i??n- 

 twdve seconds of time, or at the rate of five hogs\^^^^]^^^J \ when cold, mix it with a double quau- 

 m a ?7jmz<^e, for three or four hours at a time! h^^y of cranberry juice, pressed and strained; 



