1914. 
WASTE NOTHING AT BUTCHERING TIME. 
Farm Pork-Making in Illinois. 
ERSONAL EXPERIENCE.—In butchering, va¬ 
rious farmers' have various ways, each one no 
doubt believing his method the best. So it is 
with myself. Having had many years of experience 
in the operation. I wish to relate briefly some things 
which may or may not be of interest to others simi¬ 
larly engaged at this season. For 24 hours previous 
to killing I withhold all feed from the hogs. When 
this is done the entrails are less likely to be ruptured 
than when full, and the work of removing the fat 
adhering thereto is more conveniently done. When 
ready to kill I exercise care to avoid all undue ex¬ 
citement. When the animals are quiet at the time 
of being killed this aids a freer discharge of the 
blood, any of which if retained in the flesh, prevents 
successful curing of the meat and causes it to spoil 
during hot weather. Some men knock their hogs in 
the head with an axe before sticking, others simply 
stick them and let them bleed to death, but the 
method I prefer is to shoot them with a good rifle 
before sticking, being sure that the first ball fired 
enters the brain. I think we should be humane in 
killing hogs and do it as quickly as possible, so ' 
to prevent their suffering. When life is ext net the 
hog is stuck with a knife of medium length with a 
keen edge, the knife being inserted just forward of 
the breast bone and close to it. The blade is then 
turned and thrust full 
length toward the tail, 
being quickly turned 
from right to left to 
sever the veins of the 
neck and avoiding a 
side or shoulder stick, 
or other defective work. 
PREPARING FOR 
THE WORK. — Of 
course before killing 
everything has been 
made ready, water 
heated, gambrels and 
spreading sticks ready, 
etc. It is very impor¬ 
tant to get a good scald, 
so that the hair can be 
easily and quickly re¬ 
moved by the scrapers. 
The water is first 
brought to the boiling 
point, then a small 
quantity of wood ashes 
is put in, which helps 
to loosen the hair and 
remove scurf from the 
skin. The water is al¬ 
lowed to boil briskly for 
a few minutes before be¬ 
ing used. I am not in 
favor of guessing at the 
proper temperature for 
scalding. I use a ther¬ 
mometer with which the 
right temperature can 
be obtained every time 
For large hogs weighing 
around 300 pounds 170 
degrees F. is about 
right, for smaller ones 
the water should not be above 150 or 100 degrees, 
and then the hogs should not be kept in the water 
long. Anyone who has had experience knows 
that it is better to have the water too cold than 
too hot, for in the former case it may be reme¬ 
died by adding hotter water, while in the latter case 
the hair becomes set and the skin cooked tender so 
that with ordinary scraping the skin comes off. 
SCRAPING.—I have a scalding tank with two 
trace chains across it on which the hog is laid. One 
end of each chain is fastened on one side of the tank 
and when the carcass is on the chains two men each 
holding the free end of a chain, let the hog down 
into the water, roll the' body about three or four 
times, and then pull it out to air. The process is 
repeated until the hair “pulls easy.” When the hair 
comes off freely from the legs and ears the scald is 
sufficient. The carcass is then laid on the platform 
and the scraping process begun, the legs and head 
being first cleaned. After the hair is all removed 
the carcass is hung up by means of a rope and pul¬ 
ley blocks to a firm support previously prepared. The 
body is washed by drenching it with hot water, and 
all scurf and stray hairs removed by scraping it 
down with a keen knife. When this is done the car¬ 
cass is given a dash of cold water and the scraping 
continued until the hog is thoroughly clean. 
DRESSING.—To remove the entrails with dis¬ 
patch and cleanliness requires some skill. With a 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
sharp knife I open up the front of the body, taking 
the greatest care not to cut into the intestines. As 
the entrails are being remoi M a large tub is ready 
to receive them. The fat is removed from the en¬ 
trails while they are yet warm. The heart, liver, 
lungs, windpipe and tongue are cut out all together. 
Having placed a cob or piece of wood in the mouth 
to keep the jaws apart, and the spread stick half¬ 
way down the belly to open the sides plenty of clean 
cold water is dashed in until the interior is per¬ 
fectly clean. The carcass is allowed to hang until 
cold and firm. 
CURING.—For dry curing I use the following 
mixture: For every 100 pounds of meat I take three 
pounds of coarse salt, two pounds brown sugar, one 
pound of allspice, two ounces of saltpeter, which is 
well powdered, and one ounce of carbonate of soda. 
These are all well mixed together before being ap¬ 
plied. I rub the meat first with one pound of honey 
for every 100 pounds of meat, then rub with about 
two-thirds of the preparation, until it begins to stick 
well, which is generally in about seven minutes. The 
first two days’ rubbing is the most important, and 
unless the meat cures then it is not In a suitable con¬ 
dition. After such rubbing the meat is stacked 
in a large box, first putting in a thin layer of 
salt at the bottom. A layer of sides is put on this, 
with the rind downward, then another layer 
is crossed on this and so on until all the bacon has 
been put in. After 24 hours I turn and rub again. 
adding a little more of the above named mixture, 
after which turn and rub once in every 48 hours, 
using a little more of the mixture each time. I 
place the sides which are on the top to-day on the 
bottom to-morrow, and so on. After 21 days it is 
ready for washing, trimming and smoking. 
WASHING AND SMOKING.—In washing I place 
the meat in water just warm enough to bear my 
hand in, and then brush over with a coarse brush, 
which removes all fat, sugar, slime, etc. Then place 
in a tank with clean cool water for 24 hours. This 
takes out the surplus salt, and renders it mild-cured 
bacon. Afterwards I hang up in a dry place where 
there is a good draft. If the days are fine and dry, 
with a slight breeze of wind, the bacon is generally 
sufficiently dry in about a week. In trimming the 
meat the sharp points of the rib bones are sawn off 
and the remaining part of the fore leg also sawed off 
level with the shoulder. The knife is then run over 
the belly part of the rib bones and any loose pieces 
removed. The sweat skin is scraped off with a 
sharp knife, and the side is then rubbed over with a 
little olive oil. which gives it a nice glossy appear¬ 
ance. In smoking the cuts the smoke is conducted to 
them as cool as possible. The walls of the house are 
12 feet high, the meat being hung close to the top. 
the cuts being about six inches apart. From four to 
five days’ smoking is given, care being taken not to 
smoke too much, as this greatly affects the flavor of 
1361 
the meat. Hardwood sawdust makes excellent 
smoke, so do hickory chips also. A small fire is 
started beneath the meat, a few handfuls of sawdust 
being placed on it. Then a sheet of iron or some 
thing similar is placed on top, which causes the fire 
to smolder and produce smoke only. After being 
smoked the meat is placed in calico bags, exercising 
care to tie them tightly on top, and hung from the 
ceiling until the weather gets warm. It is then 
packed away in perfectly dry bran. Some may 
think I go to unnecessary trouble in the care and 
handling of the meat, and I will admit that I put ; 
good deal of work on it. but in anything I want the 
best, and I have never eaten bacon that I liked s - 
well, even that put up by packing houses, as the 
meat made on my own farm. By treating the meat 
in the way above described I can if I should wish to 
do so, keep it for years in good condition. In the 
care of meat there is a point that should not be lost 
sight of, and that is maintaining as far as possible 
an even temperature. Too much heat will cause the 
fat to melt and turn musty, and if too damp it will 
sweat and decay. 
LARD MAKING.—In refining the lard we use a 
large iron kettle set over a slow fire. A small 
amount of water is poured into the kettle, the vessel 
then being filled to the brim with fat which has been 
cut in small pieces and washed to free it from blood 
and other impurities. A lid is placed over the ket¬ 
tle to prevent the entrance of foreign matter, the fat 
kept simmering for sev¬ 
eral hours. The cook¬ 
ing must not be hurried¬ 
ly done. From time to 
time the fat is stirred 
and the cooking con¬ 
tinued until the con¬ 
tents cease to bubble 
and become clear. There 
is still water in the ket¬ 
tle as long as the con¬ 
tents show a cloudy or 
milky appearance. To 
refine a kettle of lard 
thoroughly from six to 
eight hours' constant 
cooking is requirel. 
When the liquid be¬ 
comes clear the kettle is 
removed from the fire 
for the contents to cool. 
Thecracknelsare 
dipped from the kettle, 
the liquid then being 
pressed out of them. 
Small wire sieves are 
used to prevent any of 
the fine particles from 
getting into the lard. 
The lard is preserved in 
lard cans which ai*e pur¬ 
chased at the stores for 
from 15 to 25 cents each. 
These cans are those 
used by packing houses, 
and have, of course, pre¬ 
viously held lard. The 
trimmings of the meat, 
together with the head, 
feet, liver and kidneys, 
are used in making sau¬ 
sage. sour souse and head cheese, all of which is sold 
to people in town at a good price, except that which 
is preserved for future use in our home. h. w. tr. 
English Farmers and War Prices. 
ERE is a new idea from the London Garden¬ 
er's Chronicle rega rding farm produce 
prices: 
Complaints having read >d the Board of Agriculture 
and Fisheries that the arrangement under which no¬ 
tices were circulated throughout England and Wales, 
inviting farmers to make returns of t‘ quantity of 
produce they have to sell at fair market price for the 
use of His Majesty’s forces, is not working quite satis¬ 
factorily. the Board is taking steps, in consultation 
with the War Office, to constitute in each county or 
group of counties a Farm Produce County Committee. 
The committees will consist of leading farmers nom¬ 
inated by the presidents of the Royal Agricultural So¬ 
ciety of England, the Central and Associated Cham¬ 
bers of Agriculture, the Farmers’ Club and the Nation¬ 
al Farmers’ Union. These committees will invite farm¬ 
ers to submit samples and to quote prices for the vari¬ 
ous classes of farm produce which they wish to sell for 
the use of His Majesty’s forces, and it is hoped that 
they will be in a position to take up their duties in 
some districts in about 10 days’ time. 
England is now a great war camp, where 1.000.- 
000 men are being drilled and trained for service in 
Europe. In feeding and equipping these men the 
English government is evidently trying to get past 
the middlemen and deal direct with farmers or 
their organizations. This gives a fine chance for the 
cooperative societies to act for farmers. 
TEN MINUTES FOR REFRESHMENTS.” Fig. 590. 
