Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-10-15
chine like order of tho work. r,

er yard ana building Is of course not a
very neat place, while the blood and offal
of 1000 hogs day pass through them.
The slaughter house is situated in some
retired hollow, with a small stream pass
lug beneath it, and is generally cheap,
temporary building.
The hogs Of each drove are kept in a
separate pen till the hour of execution,
when devoted few, say 80 or 40, are
compelled, much against their will, to
march up platform within the building.
Here man with an iron sledge goes
among them and strikes them on the head
with a dull, sickening sound, and they
fall without squeal. While in sense
less state they are thrown upon grating
near the scalding watts, where they are
stuck, and the blood flows into the stream
below.
The watts are wide enough to place hog
erosswise, and long enough to hold 10 or
II at time and there are in large es-
adjustments two vats, on each side of
which are 8 or 6 men, making 20 in all.
The water is kept hot by steam, and the
carcasses are constantly kept turning and
stirring as they pass along, SO that when
they reach the further end of the vat they
are stripped of the hair and are hauled out
and are hung up by the heels for cutting.
The man who sticks them puts mark
On the leg of each to show who is the
owner. A hog is pushed from the grating
all quivering and bloody. into the scalding
water, about once in half minute, and a
clean carcass is hauled out of the other
end Of the vat as frequently, and also
another taken from the gambrel and car
ried to the hooks as often, where he hangs
till the next morning to cool. For two
watts about 80 men are required.
The next morning, four or six horse
team appears at the slaughter house, bright
and early, and pliing the stiff fcarcasses into
a huge rack, conveys them to the Packers.
The Butcher, instead Of being paid for his
expense, pays the Drover something's,
10, or II cents head for the chance -and
all the oifal belongs to him, including,
verything taken from the animal.
At the Packers, which is in a more
public part Of the city, the hog is weighed,
and the two men place his body on a
bench On each side of the bench stands
two strong men with huge cleavers, more
dreadful than an executioner's axe, on
which they put keen edge between each
blow. One stroke, given simultaneously
by each of them, sewers the head and also
the hind quarters from the trunk These
are thrown in different directions to be
trimmed and cured.
One of the cutters turns the trunk on its
back, and holds it open while the other
splits i; along the back bore. Each one
takes half, and, the leaf lard being torn out
cuts off the shoulders, and at four strokes
the sides are cut into the proper form.
The hog disappears in different directions /;
and i'll about haJa minute from the time
he was put on the bench, another takes
his place to undergo the same process.
The pieces destined for mess pork are sal
ted into barrel, headed up, filled with
brine, rolled into the street, put on dray,
carried to the river, and the hog may be
on his way to New Orleans, as pork,
within "a hours after he crossed the ferry
from Kentucky. Much might be said Of
the mode of curing, particularly Of the
celebrated sugar-cured hams but at pres.
ent We must omit these details.-TWest
Agriculturist. CIV.