Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-04-21
The frwman.
How Hogs and Cattle Become Meat.

No man of good parts desires to witness
the destruction of any living thingi but,
on the other hand, few will maintain that
the human species is ouly vegetarian, and
that it is not our province to hold the rod
of lie and death over inferior creatures
We eat meat; all meat was once flesh,
inducd with life. If divine law should
leach us such life was sacred and inviolate
who would draw the line of our empire?
The swine has not so much intelligence
as the OK, and the oyster has nothing
worthy of The name. There are existing
forms so low in the animal kingdom, so
high in the vegetable, that it is doubtful
to which class they properly belong. A
parsnip torn rudely from its soil and it,
head Topped off, undergoes, perhaps,
transmission of the shock through all its
fibers-l transmission which isnot entirely
unrelated to the sense of pain in higher
Organization of the same elemental matter,
M These thoughts arise when considering
whether readers care to know the steps
N by which the hundreds of cattle and hog,
daily arriving in Boston become the mer
chandise that is brought to kitchen doors
in the early morning, and are swallowe'
K up literally and figuratively in the econu
my of the great city.
The two largest hog slaughterins esiab
lishments are situated near together il
Somcrvile which, us is well known, is one
of those suburbs that were not an neXed It
Boston few years ago. Charles IL
North e. Co. and j. 2. Squires are the TIVE
firms The former does business at .
and 30 Faneul Hall market. A pass
through their works in Somerville obtained
there the other day was directed to th
81 overseer of the ftct0ry. 1t seemed a mis-
Z use of the word, but perhaps the MAXIM
W of hogs into pork is Il tdctire process,
VA though less 50 than the conversion OF
W lumber, for instance, into furniture.
# The car loads of hogs are brought di
S# rectly to the door of the establishment and
8& kept while alive in pens separated by Il
'M low fence, all under cover and occupying
# all the stories ut one end Of the building
# Not very steep inclined planes with elects
81 nailed across communicate from below TO
IA the top story from which only hogs are
" taken for slaughter. The extent of these
# pens enables the company to buy large
81 stock in low times, and the feeding is with
dry corn on the bare floor.
# When driven to the slaughter the poor
So creatures pass through Il long passage way
into snail pen from which they are taken
one at n time, and, by means of an iron
s clamp about the hind leg, are drawn up
s by steam power and suspended from an
# iron track overhead. Their misery is
short; II push rolls them along on the
track only Il few feet to where knife in a
skilled hand puts an end to their lives.
From this point the process may be OBJ
served with far less compunction.
The lifce5s masses slide down wind
M ing incline into u large scaldng tub
% whence they are iished up on to II table
8 Four men strip the bristles from the legs
s& in II twinkle, and roll the porker upon ;
l broad revolving chain belt provided will
Z projecting thin edges of iron; here. secur
ed by II chain from being carried along
with the rapidly moving belt he is turnec
This way and that till the iron edges Oh
scrapers have removed all the bristles tina
are exposed to their action; and othe
men with hand scrapers and knives com
plete the process on another table. Thes
sE two ttbles and the revolving belt togethe
form one long table, and in the operation
Of removing the bristlcs the hog passe
from one end TO the other. The tendon
of the hind legs are laid bare and
straight stick inserted from one TO tn
other as smaller butchers do. They ar
then attached by the stick to n pulle,
moving on an iron track above, swung OF
M and pushed along, first to man wh
S& removes the vilals, then to one VIII
finishes The process of dressing by cleav
# ing the hog completely through the bac
from top to bottom, only the head and
@ little flesh next the skin Intentionally lei
at the top hold the two halves together
Everything is arranged to avoid heav
lifting. BY IL simple lever contrivanc
@ the carcass is transferred to another tracl
s trundcd off and hung in long row of it
fellows. In warm weather they are hun
in an immense cooler. and the subsequen
cutting up is done where the temperatur
is decidedly chilly. The men all max
every stroke with exactness, and such
the expedition of their working togetht
and each performing designated pa
s;eF that the capacity of the establishment
M about II hog II minute, or six OF seve
M hundred II day.
Contrast this with the annual pig KILN
s# rs practiced by most farmers-the unnet
M essarily excited terrors of the poor pi,
M the uncertain and perhaps repeated deaf
"a stab, the delays of heating water
kettles in the open mir, the requistion
all the iron candlesticks that can be had
serve as scrapers, and the heavy tuggin
and hauling with horse and men.
1t would require too much space 10 70
low the details of the cutting up saith
and trying out. The company ship dl
s salted hams, pork and leaves abroad bC
N. sides supplying the home trade.
8 Every nation has her whims as to ho
she will have her meat cut and packe
# and she must be humored IF she wisht
her pork packed in dry salt in box'
instead of barrels, she may have it S
France will take her lard in bladders, AZ
the lard so put up at this establshmeI
looks very nice, too.
The blood is conducted to a large revo
ing cylinder which acts as a dryer of sun
cent capacity to reduce it all to a dl