The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-05-15 00:00:00

AMERICAN BACON AND PORK.

The Times of Monday had a lengthy and interest-
ing article on American Bacon and Pork production.
—We make the following extracts therefrom :

"The hogs of the United States muster 35 mil-
lions, or nine times the number enumerated in the
United Kingdom. The abundance of the Indian corn
crops of the past few years has stimulated their pro-
duction at the rate Of one million and a half per
annum. They quickly convert the corn and oats,
worth about Is. per bushel, and grass, clover,
and other cheap, bulky, unsaleable vegetable food,
into the saleable animal which readily run to
market. The State of Illinois makes a muster of
3 1-3 million pis; lowa and Missouri each have
nearly three millions ; Indiana and Kentucky each
contribute two millions; Berkshire and Fisher
Hobbs Essex, large and middle-sized whites, and a
useful China hog are used. All are well-grown and
profitable. I did not see a thriftless pig while
in America. Abundance of room and exercise, with
varied food while growing, develops size and more lean
meat than is exhibited among our more artificially
managed, closely confined grunters. As at home, the
contagious fatal hog cholera occasionally occurs,
spreading from the great markets to the premises of
breeders and feeders, and sometimes causing great
losses. The average value of the American hogs set
forth in the. agricultural statistics for 1878 is only
15s. 9d. ; but in Colorado and other territories they
reach 305., and in Massachusetts amount to 455. 9d.
Although of small individual value, the American
farmers' capital in hogs represents a total aggregate of
£22,000,000 1 In summer on grass and clover, finished
off with corn in winter among the cattle in the yards,
these hogs are cheaply reared and fed. They are sold
at ages varying from 6 to 18 months, at weights
ranging from 100 lb to 3001 b. The heaviest are brought
out in winter; the cheaper summer-fed sometimes fall
as low as lid. per lb. gross weight. But so small is the
outlay in their upbringing that even at this low figure
some profit is earned.

"A few hogs are slaughtered and salted by the
farmers, but the great bulk pass to the packers. This
is one of the special and prosperous industries of the
States, commenced with small beginnings some 25
years ago, and rapidly growing with the greatly in-
creasing demands for exportation, which now absorbs
60 per cent, of the American hog products. Until
within recent years, much of the baeon and pork was
salted and packed in barrels, but now it is chiefly dis-
tributed throughout the States in bulk and in boxes;
throughout Europe entirely in boxes. Formerly
hog slaughtering was conducted only during
the winter months. Now, with abundant sup-
plies of cheap ice, about 5,000,000 hogs are
slaughtered, or nearly half the packing is over-
taken, during the Bummer season from the Ist of
March to the Ist of November when vegetable food is
abundant and the pigs can be ,quickly aud cheaply
fatted. Exceptha,,c, in price, American bacon cannot
compare with the best Irish, Wiltshire, or Yorkshire,
but it is steadily improving. Were the hogs finished
off as they might be with a daily meal of barley,
instead of all corn, the bacon would doubtlesss be
firmer and less liable to shrink when cooked. It is not
so fat as good English or Irish bacon; it is better
boiled than grilled; when grilled it is apt to waste,
and some of it also emits a'peculiar flavour." . . .

The writer then gives a table showing the number
of hogs packed annually in the three great divisions
of the United States—the Wegirthe East, and the
Pacific Slope, and states that the total annual hog
products turned out by packers throughout the States
now exceed 25,000,000 cwt.
"About two-thirds of the American hog packing is
done in the West; 70 per cent, is overtaken in the six
cities of Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee,
Louisville, and Indianapolis; more than half are
handled in Chicago, where during the past year
7,000,000 hogs have been concentrated, and 5,000,000
slaughtered. There are in Chicago about twenty-five
houses employed in this business. The. three prin-
cipal, disposing among them of 2,500,000 hogs an-
nually, are Messrs. Amour and Co., the Chicago
Packing and Provision Company, and Messrs. Fowler
Brothers. Messrs. Armour and Co. handle near&
1,000,000 hogs annually at Chicago, and have similar
establishments at Milwaukie and at Kansas City, at
each of which upwards of 400,000 are slaughtered
and packed. From small beginnings in 1860 their
business has steadily. increased; within six years
it has doubled. At the Chicago works at
the stock-yards, 10,000 pigs are frequently killed
daily in summer; 200,000 constitute a full day's
slaughtering in winter. Two thousand tons of meat
are sometimes despatched in a single day from
the railway sidings which are conveniently brought
into the premises. The works cover fourteen acres;
the buildings are fo'ur stor,ies high, and are being con-
stantly added to. There are six lifts, and hydrants
and fire-hose are fixed at convenient points on every
story. A trained fire brigade is recruited from among
the operatives. The premises are insured for a million
dollars, the annual premium on different parts of the
works varying from Ito 1 per cent. Two thousand
men are employed in summer, and 3,500 in winter.
Everything is done by day work, but all is so system-
atically and effectively arranged that no man can shirk
his duty. Incompetence or idleness cannot be tole-
rated, for one man's trifling might stay the work of
hundreds. The wages vary from 6s: to Bs. per day of
ten hours for ordinary labourers; but the butchers
and skilled operatives, numb.ering about 500, earn 10s.
to 15s. a day. Wages are higher in winter than
in summer, and payments are regularly made every
Wednesday.
"The raw material which keeps this great establish-
ment moving is conveniently found in the contiguous
market, where 60,000 hogs are sometimes pitehed in a
morning, and on one occasion last summer the num-
ber ran up to 80,000.. On one of Fairbank's standard
scales, which will weight 401 b or 40 tons, the lot of pigs
is duly weighed. They are selected for various
markets and purposes from 6 to 18 months, ranging
from 1501 b. to 2501 b. The average weight of the
summer pigs is 2181 b., of the winter 2461 b. Messrs.
Armour have large pens and yards where their
purchases are •fed and watered until required. No
fasting is practised as in England. The grunter haa
his breakfast even if he is doomed before dinner time.

The following description of the process of slaughter-
ing is then given
"On the afternoon of September 10, Berkshire and
Essex hogs, varying from 2501 b. to 3001 b. live weight,
v g the ascent and over the
'bridge
the third story of the building
were being
oinfgsi driven
intaolon
in which the slaughtering is conducted. About a
score are enclosed together in a catching pen. Around
the victim's hind limb just above his d6w-claw a piece
of chain with a tolerably large ring at either end is
passed. From a roller overhead is lowered a chain,
, which is deftly passed into
hook,
long chain is steadily wound
thete rm
riiat
up by steam. When the pig's head is about five feet
from the ground, another hook, suspended from a
goinngtlwie itlhimabh; k
wheel, is fixed into the ring round the limb. This
wheel runs on a stout li-inch iron rail, which is
carried onwards through several large rooms for 100
yards' always at an incline, down which the pig is
carried by his own gravity. The hog, astounded at
being raised heels first from the ground, makes little
resistance, and is swung over the wall of the catching
pen. With one sweep of a sharp short knife the exe-
cutioner severs the arteries and veins of the neck.
The blood flows through a grating into the premises
below; every half minute the foremost of a row
of some six or eight, now perfectly dead': is unhooked
and plunged into a vat of steam-heated water,
where he remains for about three minutes, ani
where nine or ten are immersed together. Every
thirty seconds, or oftener, at the lower end of the
vat, a great, curved, rake-like gridiron lifts a smoking
hog on to the table, along which passes an endless
chain, to which, fastened by the nose, he is drawn
among ingeniously conceived and accurately work-
ing spring scrapers, driven by steam, and invented
by one of Messrs. Armour's Chief engineers. On
each of seven cylinders are placed forty-eight steel
blades, and so exactly and
.effectually do they work
that in ten seconds the hog emerges from the machine
thoroughly denuded of hair. Any slight oversight is
made good by handscrapers wielded by a couple of
men on each side of the bench. Irecessity, as
usual, led to the discovery of this handy machine,
which saves the labour of ten men. The scrapers,
who were making 3 dols. a day, struck. They thought
that at any sacrifice they must be retained. They
reckoned not that machinery could supersede their
laborious manual service, which at other places I have
seen done by eight or ten stalwart negroes, usually
working stripped to the waist. Here, as everywhere
throughout the works, perfect order and cleanliness
obtain. Vulcanized indiarubber hose hang suspended
over the table, and jets of water, as required, are
directed over the carcass, removing any adhering hair,
scurf, or dirt. Again the hog is raised, this time by
the nose ; steam, as before, doing the lifting. Down
the inclined rail he swings. Detained for a few seconds
over a bench, he is disembowelled, each portion
of his internal organs being carefully separated,
cleansed, and set aside for use. • The lungs,
heart, and liver .are forwarded to the sausage
department; the stomach, cleansed, also follows, to
be used as a bag in which to pack some
of the sausage-meat. The intestines, stripped of fat,
are scalded and form cases for the sausages. Over
the next table the head is cut off, the eyes and brain
are removed for the lard tanks; the tongue is
taken due care of for potting ; the ears, a dainty.,
gelatinous morsel, are preserved and canned. Still
suspended from the iron rod, down s, long passage,
guided by a small boy with a long pole, and round a
corner into a big cooling room swing along six hogs at
a time. Here, to insure thorough cooling, they are
cleft down on each side of the backbone, and again
run along, still hanging from the ceiling, and arranged
in battalions of several scores. The time taken to
catch the hog, slaughter, cleanse, dress, and deliver
him in this cooling chamber is 15 minutes."
The process of cooling, on the thoroughness of which
depends the success of the whole operation of summer
hog packing is then described, and the writer pro-
ceeds :

"Firm and dry, the carcass, still suspended on the
labour-saving rails overhead, is run to the door of
another long room, is separated into two sides, and
now for the first time is moyed by manual lakour.
BY OVSVPhigfçUày 910Wa ;ad . o NOW, cgrrig4 g

few yards to a solid bench, where, with a powerful
chopper, with a blow that would astonish a Mame-
luke, the ham is severed, as accurately the shoulder
and underlying ribs are out off, leaving a rectangular
side of bacon. A gentler blow separates the feet,
which are canned, pickled, or passed into the lard
tanks. These skilful swordsmen, who never maul,
and cut to a hair's breadth, receive 14s. a day in
summer and 16s. in winter. The sides of bacon have
the la aekbone partly or entirely removed; the tender
loin or fillet being more difficult to cure is taken out,
and sells readily for immediate use. The sides of
bacon, averaging about 561 b., are removed on trucks
to the salting-house, thoroughly rubbed tvith salt, the
Canadian and Liverpool being preferred, and a very
little saltpetre." . . .
- - -

"Large boxes, containing eight to ten sides of
bacon, or 5001 b., are almost daily being put up for
European markets. Messrs.. Armour have large con-
tracts with the United States Government, and, at a
push, 150 of these boxes can be put up in an hour.
Even in this country of cheap lumber these boxes cost
56c. each. The bacon bought unpacked goes at nearly
a cent less per lb. Of those Sides of bacon and
shoulders, which are treated in much the same way,
Messrs. Armour turn out yearly upwards of
80,000,0001 b. weight. So economical ansi systematic
are the arrangements, and so carefully is the
best made of everything, that the sides of bacon and
shoulders can with profit be disposed of, even at the
present enhanced price, at a trifle over 3:1. per

The article then gives details relative to the various
processes employed in the operations of the establish-
ment, and furnishes the following particulars of the
lard production :
"The American hogs yield about 5,000,000 cwt.
of lard. The summer killed average 341 b., the
wintei 371 b. Messrs. Armour, buying hogs above
the average in condition, have a yield of fully 401 b.
of lard from every pig killed. In 50 tanks, heated
by worms from ten boilers, the fat and other
refuse, melted during 10 to 12 hours, are drained
off in different grades. The first quality, made
from leaf and trimmings, is recognized as 'prime
steam lard.' The intestines and refuse yield a lower
quality, known as No. 2 lard, a large proportion of
which goes to Europe. Some of the bristles are con-
served for brushes and for the cobblers, but the bulk
of the hair is sent to this country in bales of scwt.,
and, mixed with horsehair, is used for stuffing railroad
and other carriage cushions. It is now worth £l4 per
ton. The blood, dried in a revolving steam-heated
cylinder, contains about 14 units of ammonia, and is
sold for 28 dols. to 30 dole, per ton to the sugar-refining
and manure manufacturers." . . . .