216 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
Dressing and Cutting up Mutton. 
No animal is more easily killed and dressed 
than a sheep, and the only obstacles to killing 
altogether upon the farm or away from the city, 
are, that sheep are so much more economically 
moved on their feet than dead, and suffer so 
much less than neat 
cattle from abstinence 
and thirst. When on 
the road, whether on 
foot or in cars, they 
lose flesh rapidly, 
even if they have the 
best of care, especial- 
ly if they are very fat. 
Farmers have fre- 
quent occasion to kill 
a sheep or a lamb for 
their own tables. No 
fresh meat will keep 
good longer, none is 
healthier, easier di- 
gested, or better food. 
"When properly cook- 
ed, no meat is more 
delicious or satisfying 
than well - fattened 
mutton. There is a 
very strong prejudice 
against it in many 
American families, be- 
cause half-fed Merino 
mutton fried and 
greasy, served upon 
cold platters, eaten 
from cold plates tastes 
woolly, tallows up the 
teeth and is about as 
poor food as can be set 
before a civilized man. 
Whether it is roasted, 
broiled,boiled or fried, 
mutton should be served hot and eaten from hot 
plates ; or, roasted or boiled it should be cold. 
It should never be cooked so as to lose all red- 
dish color, except when old and tough, or when 
stewed, and it should never be eaten rare. Farm- 
ers may often with great economy keep a small 
flock of sheep well fed ; } - arding them nights, to 
be able at all times to kill one for food. We 
have little doubt they would 
find it much cheaper than to 
feed their hands and families 
so much upon salt pork. It 
would besides be healthier. 
When a sheep is killed, 
its legs are tied and its 
throat cut. Perfect bleeding 
is secured by letting the 
head hang down over the 
door-sill, or tricing up one 
hind leg, thus partly sus- 
pending the body. The skin 
is removed by cutting along 
the belly and inside the legs. 
The head and feet are re- 
garded as offal, and besides 
the tongue and brain there is 
little upon the head but dog- 
meat. When dressed for sending to market, 
paunch, stomach, and entrails, with the bladder 
and spleen ("milt") are removed, leaving the 
heart, lungs, and liver, in place. The carcass 
is opened by a stick placed crosswise at the end 
of the ribs, or by pinning the flanks back, as 
shown in fig. 1. The interior should be wiped 
out with a damp cloth, and left sweet and clean. 
When cold, the carcass may be split through 
Fig. 1. — CARCASS OF 
MUTTON. 
the back-bone from the inside with a cleaver or 
knife and mallet. The outside view of one-half 
is shown in figure 2. A cut across the middle 
at the end of the ribs divides the half into fore 
and hind-quarters. Each is often cooked entire 
after being properly "jointed. To "joint" the 
hind-quarter or prepare it for roasting or boil- 
ing, cut through the 
spine at the vertebra?, 
not with a cleaver, 
which makes an un- 
certain cut, but with 
a strong knife and 
mallet ; then cut the 
flesh of the leg free 
from the bone from 
the hock to the stifle 
joint, skewering the 
flesh over the end. 
The fore-quarter is 
often roasted (never 
boiled), and is best 
prepared by cutting 
off the neck proper, 
which makes a fair 
piece for a stew or 
haricot; taking out 
the shoulder-blade 
with as little meat 
adhering as possible, 
cutting between the 
vertebra?, as in pre- 
paring the hind- 
quarter; treating the 
breast ends of the 
ribs in the same waj-, 
so that when cooked 
they miy be easily 
cut apart; taking 
Fig. 2.-HALF OF CARCASS. out tbe bone of 
the leg to the elbow, and, finally, break- 
ing all the ribs across through the middle. 
When the hind-quarter is cut up, the leg a, 
fig. 2, is removed by the cut indicated; this 
leaves the loin b and the flank c. These are 
often roasted together ; cut apart, the flank is 
used for stewing, the loin for chops ; which 
are best broiled. The shoulder is often cut from 
the fore-quarter and cooked by itself. The 
breast e being removed, the ribs d are cut apart 
for fore-quarter chops or cutlets, for frying. 
MR. HARTSHORN'S FENCE. 
Fencing across Streams. 
We give herewith an ingenious and simple 
flood-gate or bars for fencing across streams. A 
model and description of it was sent to the 
Agriculturist by Mr. Asa Hartshorn, of Ashta- 
bula Co., Ohio. The engraving, prepared from 
the neat model, precludes the necessity of a 
particular description. Mr. H. writes as follows : 
"I assisted my father 50 years ago in making 
a set of bars in this way, in New London Co., 
Conn., and they remained good for 30 years or 
more. The posts or crotches should be fasten- 
ed firmly by stones, or be set well into the bank 
of the stream. Two staples and one link are 
required to each bar. These should be made of 
^a-inch iron. The other ends of the bars rest 
on 3 |.,-inch pins. In time of a flood, one or 
more of the bars may float up and swing around 
down stream, and when the water subsides, 
they may be returned to their places. These 
floating bars have the advantage over any other 
gate, as they open and let all flood-wood and 
trash pass. I am an old man and have whittled 
it out, so you can see how it should be on the 
stream. The round top pole rests in the crotch of 
the posts above high water, and in this way any 
stream 25 feet wide can be fenced with safety." 
Fig. 1. — FENCE. 
Fence Posts for " Heavy Land." 
There are many sections in which limestone or 
sandstone rocks or boulders occur abundantly, 
which may be split into slabs of convenient size 
for the purpose indicated in the following sug- 
gestive communication. The}- are not unfre- 
quently used for gate-posts and fence-posts, and 
of course are durable and excellent. "L. W. 
S.," of New Haven, Yt., writes, describing a 
plan which he has had in use and highly ap- 
proves. There are many farms on which it 
may be imitated with profit. Wooden posts are 
expensive on account of the constant care at- 
tending their use from their decay and heaving 
by the frost. A post of this kind is valuable on 
account of the facilky with which the fence may 
be shifted, as it is altogether upon the surface. 
"Take flat stones (ledge limestone is best) 
from 2'|» to 5 feet long, 4 to G inches thick, and 
any convenient width, and drill inch holes 3 inch- 
es deep in one side of each stone, about 18 inch- 
es apart, or 9 inches from the center each way. 
Take s [ 8 -iuch round iron, cut 10 inches long; 
flatten one end about 4 
inches, and punch two 
holes. for screws. This 
is fastened on one side 
of each post with two 
screws, and inserted in 
one of the holes as in 
fig. 2. Then, for the 
brace, take pieces of 
the same-sized iron 25 
inches long, flatten and 
punch as above stated, Fig. 2.— fence-post. 
and insert the round end in the other hole, bend 
the iron to the post, and fasten ; then fill the 
holes with melted brimstone, and you have a 
fence that will keep its place. I built some 25 
rods in this way, three years ago, and it stands 
as true as when first finished. If it heaves in 
the winter, it settles back to its former place." 
Another suggestion comes from Mr. A. E. 
Smith, of New Haven Co., Conn. He recom- 
