Dairying  in  Denmark. 
177 
had  seriously  reduced  their  business  in  pigs  and  bacon,  and 
also  that  the  heads  are  sent  to  Ireland,  where  they  are  easily 
sold  at  about  one-half  the  price  of  bacon. 
As  an  example  of  a provincial  pig-killing  and  curing  esta- 
blishment I may  notice  the  “ Svineslagterei  ” at  Holstebro,  in 
Jutland,  the  advertisements  of  which  are  to  be  seen  at  most  of 
the  railway  stations  in  that  part  of  Denmark.  The  proprietors 
ask  specially  for  long  and  half-fat  pigs  weighing  from  1^  to 
2 cwt.  They  keep  a breeding  stock  of  Howard’s  blood,  and 
sell  young  boars  to  their  clients  at  cheap  rates  in  preference  to 
realising  higher  prices  for  them  from  other  farmers  who  dispose 
of  their  fat  pigs  elsewhere.  They  consider  that  this  strain  pro- 
duces more  lean  in  proportion  to  fat  than  the  general  run  of 
pigs  bred  and  fed  on  Danish  farms,  and  they  claim  for  them 
early  maturity  to  the  extent  that  the  pigs  are  fit  for  market  at 
five  months  old  or  a little  more,  instead  of  the  usual  term  of 
seven  months.  With  all  their  care,  however,  they  sometimes 
receive  pigs  which  are  too  fat  for  the  English  market,  and  these 
they  keep  in  a well-arranged  piggery  near  the  railway  station, 
feeding  them  on  until  they  have  sufficient  to  fill  a railway 
truck — about  30 — when  they  export  them  to  Hamburg.  The 
killing  and  curing  are  done  very  systematically  as  follows : — 
The  pig,  having  been  seized  by  one  leg  by  a suitable  apparatus, 
is  hoisted  up  head  downwards,  stuck  in  the  usual  manner,  and 
passed  on  by  a sky-railway  to  the  scalding  room  : having  been 
scalded,  the  carcass  travels  onwards  to  a table  where  two  men 
scrape  it  and  take  off  most  of  the  hair  and  bristles,  and  after- 
wards pass  it  on  to  the  singeing-room,  which  is  at  present  rather 
primitive  in  consequence  of  there  being  no  gas-works  at  Hol- 
stebro. The  carcasses  are  therefore  singed  by  being  surrounded 
with  ignited  straw,  and  this  method  is  found  in  practice  to 
produce  a good  result.  Cutting  up  follows  as  already  described, 
and  great  attention  is  paid  to  the  manner  in  which  this  is  done, 
as  a careless  cutter  will  take  off  from  the  high-priced  parts  a 
large  amount  of  flesh  which  may  properly  be  left  on  them,  thus 
increasing  the  weight  of  the  lower-priced  joints.  In  this,  as  in 
other  businesses,  inattention  to  these  details  not  unfrequently 
means  the  conversion  into  a loss  of  what  might  otherwise  be  a 
profit. 
A novel  feature  in  connection  with  this  company  is  the  esta- 
blishment in  the  town  of  Holstebro  of  a shop  where  the  “ offal  ” 
of  the  pigs  is  sold  direct  to  the  consumers.  A good  demand  is 
found  to  exist  at  the  reasonable  prices  which  are  charged,  but 
which  give  the  proprietors  a return  of  20  per  cent,  more  than 
they  could  get  by  selling  the  offal  en  masse  in  the  usual  way. 
YOL.  XIX.— S.  S. 
N 
