1879 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
505 
To Cut Up a Side of Beef. 
When a beef carcass is properly slaughtered and 
dressed (see p. 461, last month), it must hang 12 to 
24 hours that it may cool and set. If the beef is 
cut up before this, the cuts can not be made shape¬ 
ly, and the meat will not keep so well as when the 
animal heat is all out of it. When the meat is cool, 
the side may be divided into two quarters by cut¬ 
ting through it at the dark line which goes through 
the carcass between the figures 3 and 9, shown in 
the engraving. It is then easily handled. Each 
quarter may then be cut up for use or for packing, 
in the following manner. The fore-quarter is di¬ 
vided by the knife and saw from A to J3. The 
upper part is cut into 3 parts ; the neck, marked 1; 
the chuck rib 2, having 4 ribs, which may be cut 
into two pieces, a , b; the standing ribs (3), which 
are cut into 3 pieces as marked. The lower piece is 
•divided as follows : the plate (4) ; the navel (5); 
the shoulder (6); the brisket (7); and the leg (8).^ 
The hind-quarter is divided as follows : the short 
ribs, or sirloin (9), which is cut into three pieces for 
packing, or for roasting, or if used for steak into 
“ porter-house steaksthe sirloin steak (10) is di¬ 
vided for packing into 3 cuts, and for use fresh into 
steaks. The rump or “ aitch bone ” (11) may be 
either cut into steaks or packed, and is excellent 
either way. The round (12) is used for steak or for 
salting, for the latter purpose it is cut into two 
pieces ; the flank (13) is divided into the upper or 
thick flank, a, and the lower and thin flank, b; 
these pieces are either packed or boiled fresh ; the 
hock (14) and shank (15) are used for boiling and 
for soup. The head and tail are skinned, and 
should by no means be thrown away. The head 
is split into two cheeks, which make excellent 
soup, or boiled with the feet and cut into small 
squares may be put away in molds to jelly and for 
eating cold ; the tail 
makes a savory high¬ 
ly gelatinous soup, 
Ox-tail Soup, being 
in great demand at 
the restaurants in 
cold weather. The 
tools required in cut¬ 
ting are, a long- 
bladed sharp knife 
and a meat-saw, a 
fine - toothed, cross¬ 
cut hand-saw will cut 
bone very w T ell; bone 
should always be 
sawed, and not cut 
with an axe. Much 
of the economy in 
using the meat de¬ 
pends upon how it 
is cutup; a joint which would make a roast, or 
steaks, if properly cut, may, by bad cutting, be 
made fit only for salting down, or boiling whole. 
Hay-Knives—Their Uses and Patterns. 
In feeding either hay or straw from a stack, it is 
very desirable to not remove the whole top of the 
stack at first. If this is done, the rains wet the 
fodder down to a considerable distance and spoil 
it, or, at least, destroy its freshness. And when 
snow falls, if the whole large surface is exposed, 
the animals are frequently obliged to eat cold, icy, 
frozen fodder, which must be injurious'; besides it 
is harder to get the hay from the stack to the racks 
when in this condition. A hay-knife is no new farm 
implement, and so long as hay and straw are put 
in stacks, and fed from, there are many reasons for 
their use ; in fact, a much 
more extended use than 
at present. Even in the 
barns hay-knives are often 
of importance. It may 
be that one-half of the 
mow r could be fed out 
first and then filled with 
straw or hay from a 
stack, thus providing for a 
mixture of the two kinds 
of fodder; or a place for 
storing things might be 
provided by first feeding 
out a small end of the 
mow. The advantages in 
using a liay-kuife are so 
many, that.it would seem 
to be a necessary imple¬ 
ment on every farm, and 
I ig. 2. auger handled. we g.; ve illustrations of 
the principal forms now in use. A common 
wood-cutting axe, kept sharp, will answer in 
the absence of the more desirable hay-knife. 
We well remember using the axe for dividing not 
only large mows of hay, but also for hay and straw 
stacks. This-was 40 to 50 years ago, when hay- 
knives were unknown ; but an axe will answer 
fairly now, where a regular liay-knife is not pro¬ 
curable, or when there is but small use for one. 
Figure 1 shows the old American knife, with which 
many a farmer’s boy is familiar. Our personal re¬ 
collection is of one made by the neighboring black¬ 
smith ; its handle was not set out far enough from 
the blade, and it brought the hands against the 
rouglily-cut surface of the standing part of the 
•tack. The handle should be in a plane parallel 
with the blade, and at least four inches away. The 
form, shown in figure 1, 
is the old and common 
one, and with minor mod¬ 
ifications is to be found in 
many different countries. 
The knife shown in fig¬ 
ure 2 is now more com¬ 
monly met with in the im¬ 
plement stores. The blade 
is about 2 feet in length, 
and fastened by rivets to 
the back strap, which is 
continued above and bent 
out in a curve to throw 
the handle, shaped like 
an ordinary auger handle, 
away from the plaue of 
the cutting surface. The 
whole knife is about 30 
inches long. The “ Light¬ 
ning Hay-Knife,” figure 3, 
is the latest. It consists 
of a narrow plate of steel, 
along one side of which 
are eight notches or teeth, 
the lower edge of each 
tooth being made sharp 
and cutting. There are 
two strong handles, and 
so situated that the power 
is expended with the best 
effect. This is a great 
Fig. 3.— “lightning.” * m P r °vement on the old, 
and rather clumsy, knives, 
so long used, and which served an excellent pur¬ 
pose in their day. For cutting out peat, the 
“Lightning” knife must prove very useful. There 
are other styles of liay-knives, among which is the 
shear or V shaped knife. 
Arbitrary Values of Food. —In choosing 
feed for animals, it is not safe to be guided alto¬ 
gether by the chemical constituents. An analysis 
may be useful in comparing one well known food 
with another, and may help us in making up a 
judgment as to proportions and values. But with 
feeding stuffs not well known, a mere analysis may 
be delusive ; for instance, spent hops are shown to 
contain 11.7 per cent of fat, 9.9 per cent of ash, 
and 14.7 per cent of albuminoides. From this they 
would appear to surpass in value the best clover- 
hay, or even to equal cotton-seed meal, in nutritive 
qualities; but as a food for cows few would care 
to experiment with them. This is a broad exam¬ 
ple, but it shows the necessity for discretion in 
forming opinions of the value of such crude foods 
as sedges, rushes, and coarse, wild grasses. Diges¬ 
tibility is of the utmost importance, and must be 
taken into account in estimating the values of food. 
Fine-Grained Whetstones—How Made. 
A few years ago, there was not a fine-grained 
American whetstone in existence ; the stones used 
for sharpening penknives, carpenter’s tools, razors, 
Fig. 1.— WHETSTONE QUABRY. 
and other fine edged cutting tools, were all brought 
from Turkey or Greece, and were known as Turkey 
hones. About 25 years ago it was discovered that 
there was a plenty of the same kind of rock in 
America, and the manufacture of whetstones was 
begun in several places. The stone is known by 
mineralogists, as Novaculite, and is a hard, fine 
grained slate, which contains exceedingly minute 
particles of quartz, but these are so fine, that it 
is impossible to see them with the unaided eye. It 
is the sharp edges of these fine particles of quartz, 
which cut or file the steel of a blade, and grind it 
down to a sharp edge. Novaculite is found in North 
Carolina; in Northern Michigan, near the shores 
of Lake Superior; also in Arkansas, in Ouachita 
and Hot Springs Counties. The best stone in the 
country comes from Hot Springs County, that from 
Ouachita Co. (pronounced Washita) is coarser than 
the former, and is not fit for the best work. Novac¬ 
ulite is found in veins, in quartz, or quartzite rock, 
and at figure 1 is shown a representation of a vein 
of whetstone, opened by a quarry. The stone Is 
broken out in pieces by blasting with powder, and 
the blocks are taken to a mill, and sawn into slabs 
by means of soft iron saws. Soft iron is used be- 
