PIG-KILLING. 211 



which will be regulated by his profit therein, will make all the differ- 

 ence, and must be taken into the account. To the farmer (we speak 

 not of others), the profit to be derived by him from feeding porkers 

 or bacon-hogs will depend upon suitability, or the apposite union of 

 circumstances connected with the locality, convenience, and staple 

 returns of his land. It is one thing to keep a few pigs for home 

 consumption, and another to keep them as a source of income." 

 MARTIN. 



PIG-KILLING. 



A pig that is to be killed should be kept without food for the last 

 12 or 16 hours ; a little water must, however, be within his reach. 

 Mr. Henderson advises that in order to prevent the animal from 

 struggling and screaming in the agonies of death, it should in the 

 first place be stunned by a blow on the head. Some advise that the 

 knife should be thrust into the neck so as to sever the artery leading 

 from the heart, while others prefer that the animal should be stuck 

 through the brisket in the direction of the heart, care, however, being 

 taken not to touch the first rib. The blood should then be suffered 

 to drain from the carcass, and the more completely it does so, the 

 better will be the meat, say our English pork- butchers, but those of 

 some parts of the Continent disagree with them, probably because 

 there the pig's flesh is eaten for the most part fresh, or spiced, or 

 cooked in other savory modes, and but seldom pickled or dried, 

 therefore the superabundance of blood in it communicates to it a 

 juicy richness agreeable to their palates. 



Mr. Waterton gives a very graphic description of the slaughter 

 house for swine at Rome, and the proceedings of the pig-killers : 



"As you enter Rome at the Porta del Popolo, a little on your 

 right is the great slaughter-house, with a fine stream of water run- 

 ning through it. It is, probably, inferior to none in Italy for an 

 extensive plan and for judicious arrangements. Here some 700 or 

 800 pigs are killed on every Friday during the winter season. No- 

 thing can exceed the dexterity with which they are despatched. About 

 30 of these large and fat black pigs are driven into a commodious 

 pen, followed by three or four men, each with a sharp skewer in his 

 hand, bent at one end, in order that it may be used with advantage. 

 On entering the pen, these performers, who put you vastly in mind 

 of assassins, make a rush at the hogs, each seizing one by the leg, 

 amid a general yell of horror on the part of the victims. Whilst 

 the hog and the man are struggling on the ground, the latter with the 

 rapidity of thought pushes his skewer betwixt the fore-leg and the 

 body quite into the heart, and then gives it a turn or two. The pig 

 can rise no more, but screams for a minute or so and then expires. 

 This process is continued until they are all despatched, the brute* 



