Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-11-26

HOW THE CINCINNATI HOG Is TAKEN ~ AND
DONE FOR.
r-,-, +A C-re--,r.,f c1,,,,,,-.-s,

By the improved processes Of slaughter
ing, within the brief space Of TWO AMI a
half minutes hog loses his place in the
world as portion of the yitalized creation
and becomes 50 much bacon, - many spare
ribs and such a quantity OF lard. ~ toe
process involves the personality ot the hoE
to some extent. We Viii begin with him in
his living, breathing form lie Is contained
in an immense pen on. the ground ho0r Of
the building, and there are good many ot
him, say 500 or 600 at time.
The porcine grunters having had th-ir
doom duly sealed, spoken their last words,
and teariully handed around among their
aillng and spared companions a lew locks of
brisreS and menentOeS, are driven up ii
gangway to the Slaughter-pen, where an
ahle-bodied c0lored gentleman claQ> chain
around their hind legs, one at time, and
the presence of steam lever Jerks the
struggling and loully-squea.ing pig into the
air lie Is now suspended on a horizonra.
bar about 80 feet long. Tie chain by which
he Is suspended glides along the bar, and
before he fairly c0mpTehends the situation
another man, CORY to the very armpii>.
piunges knife INTO his throat aad taps the
life current. He squealS and kicks about
half a second. and before the = vital spark
has fled. has beside him Il former comnile
of tie pen. vino ha~ met with the same
misfortune. and, with him, Is On the wa; C.,
meet his Gidarcne ancestors.
There i, a constant line Of stuck ho--
passing down this elevated hlr. and when
they get to the end of it they are dead, and
are pumped into an enormous tank oi bo'i-
ing water The great personal PRIDE oi Il
pig-Sticker Is 10 have very little II any
Squea.ing on the part of a hog after he iu-
troduccs his knife into MS jngaiar- There
was '' sub on deck yesterday afternoon.
and the pigs -quealed Il guod deal, - much,
in fact, that has assistants were disposed to
complain.
The hogs take their post morlem warm
bath, into which tBey are plunged from the
iron rod. eight and ten AT time. and by
means OF revolving iron skid, operated by
steam at one end OF the tank. are thrown
/ out sngly upon long wooden table, On
which they are >craped 10y II or - men.
1 They start in rough, shaggy and dirty at one
end OF the table. and reach the other end as
clean and white as may he. At the lar end
/ OF the table one man cuts of the head, an
/ other Hops the hlOOdle>s trunk over 10 Il
gang below, who '' "a" him, hang him M
and cool him of with 4 stream Ui water
/ The beheading process Is new here, we be-
| lieye, and come from achephalous Chicago
| 1t is claimed that 10y cutting off the head
/ the hog is more speedily cooled, and that
the lard, tongue and head pieces are got at
"A day in advance of the old method The
hams are also - faced and the inside fai
taken out while the hog is still warm, In
stead of waiting for it to cool as formerly
and the innovation Is said to be very al
yantageous.
When the heads have been cut of, the
entrails and fatty substance taken out and
the mans dressed, the clean hogs are hun.
on runways between the joist Of the drying
room and run into that department TO cool
Nearly all the houses on the avenue vii
. hang" about 8 800 hogs on a floor. In
this room, when the hogs are sufficiently
cool, they are cut up into all the yarI0u;
forms of pork-hams, shoulders, middles
etc.,-and the men who do the cutting u,
their knives and saws with the skill and pre-
cision of anatomiSts, cleaning bone wher
it is TO be thrown away 80 perfectly that Z
hungry dog would pass it by in disgust.
Since the abolition of the new method o
taking off the heads and - facing" the ham
in the killing room, the cutters work very
fast and to much better advantage. To eu
up 200 hogs is now considered only fan
days work for one man, anu in the busy
season even more than that amount of work
is exacted. Ali the houses are supplied will
huge iron vats extending from the killing
I -, the Hnnr naInt.- f,,, ,.lfaf, bs ta- -
portions of the hog are boiled or steamed
into lard An improvement known a.
" Caldwell's manhead.'' Eas recently been
made to these watts. Ii is u nianbead in the
centre of the bottom of the tank instead oi
at the side, as in tue old tanks, and il
utility is, that when the cooking process l.
complete it is opened and the = chowder' OF
'' slush,' as tine refuse Of the lard is called
drops ont at once. The old tanks had tc
cool to allow man 10 60 into them and
! shovel out the ehowder, and that generally
required two or three hours.
When the lard is - DONE it is pumped
into an elevated galvanized receiver called a
" zig zag," some 30 by IL feet square. and
traversed by cutters aggregating iu length
nearly 400 feet. The lard having passed
through these cutters passes through long
pipe to another receiver, from which it is
drawn into the tierces in which it finds its
way to market The biistles go to the
brush factory or Inattress-msker (; the brains
become "a bead-cheese," the feet are sold a,
! the restaurant s." Irish quail" and the
blood flows into big wooden vessel directly
under the killer, is warmed by steam pipes
until it congeals into sort Of jelly, and is
then readily sold q fertilizer.