The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1888-07-28
Scenes in a Packing House.

The Shoe and Leathe7. Reporter thus
describes an every day scene in large beef
packing house at Hammond, Indiana:
The steer is hanging by leg to strong
iron chain, and the hide strippers are busy,
1t is the rule in all packing houses for
special men to skin special parts of the
hides, and this is one reason why packer
hides are so strictly alike in trim and take
off, and why the tanners are usually willing
to pay cent per pound more for these
hides than for those taken off in the coun-
try towns. The hide, then is thrown into
the hide cellar, cool, pleasant place in the
house, 25O feet wide by about 800 feet
long, with another one in progress of build
ing. The first thing the cellar men do is
to sort the branded and unbranded green
hides into separate piles,and it is remarka-
Bile how expertly and rapidly this is done
by the old hands Next comes the sailing
and packing away in piles. Coarse Syra-
cuse salt is used in preference to all other
kinds, 1t takes about three weeks in sum
mer and four weeks in winter to thorough
ly cure hides, although when tanners are in
hurry little less -timeis givenby mutual
agreement and by using necessary precau-
tions.
The first run of the blood from the cut
throat of the animal is collected in round,
shallow pans, which are trucked to cool
shelves, where coagulation soon follows,
and then the albumen is dried and sold to
button manufacturers, to be speedily made
up for the use of the unsuspecting public,
who are thus blood stained, as it were, in
a highly artistic fashion. Coagulated cat
tie blood is also used by calico printers for
dying turkey red, and in the preparation of
red liquor for printers work. Dried blood
serves to clarity wines, syrups and other
thick solutions. In Scandinavia it is made
into a kind of good bread for the poor.
Doctors have recommended the drinking of
warm, fresh cattle blood in cases of pulmo-
nary diseases.
From the heads are carefully taken small
pieces of meat, which go to the sausage
factory. The horns find ready sale to comb
and knife haft makers, being softened by
heat and nodded into numerous articles.
The CUTS, after scrupulous cleansing, are
packed in tierces and shipped to dealers in
sausage castings. Tripe is a nutritious and
cheap food, and it is produced from the
animals stomachs, which are cleaned, boiled
scraped and placed in kegs for consumption.
Tripe is sometimes picked according to
the demand from buyers. The legs are
steamed for what glue they contain, and
also to soften the hoof, from which is ex-
tracted the celebrated meats foot oil, which
is valuable for keeping shoes soft and wa
terproof. These hoofs are finally ground
up and sold for fertilizers, The shin bones,
after being boiled, are in request for knife
handles, being shipped to Europe. The
Sheffield manufacturers in England con-
vert these shin bones into handles for spoons
and knives, backs for tooth and nail brush
es. The jaw bones are sawed in two, in
order to extract every possible vestige of
glue from them. To go to the other end
of the animal, even the extreme portion of
the tail is cut off and sold to the manufact-
urers of curled hair.
The bladders, when dried and prepared,
form useful coverings for the transportation
of GLACIERS putty, for oilmen, druggists, ETC.,
and are valuable for placing over the jars
in which the careful housewife lays away
her preserves and pickles. The kidneys,
livers and lights are sold fresh TO surround
ing butchers stores, or sent in refrigerator
cars to distant points. The tongues are
cunningly curled, put into air tight cans,
and find their way to many a village at
home and abroad, where they are useful
for picnics and cold collations.
Hot tanks are great Jewelers., and every
scrap of sinews, loose bones or small rough
pieces is boiled down to threads and frag-
ments, and the liquor, when drawn off and
cooled, produces glue or other available
material. Even the dirt and residue at
the bottom of the tank is sold as ''tankage"
for fertilizing, and refuse blood is eagerly
collected and turned to account in refin-
cries.
Now we come to the utilization of the
fat. Oleomargarine is made as follows:
The caul and best parts of the fat of the
cattle are boiled down to a thin. transpar-
ent oil. Fresh milk is brought every
morning to the packing house for mixing
with this beef oil. The milk and oil are
poured into the churn together, and lit
Tie pure prlme laTu Is auueQ 10 cause the
mixture to flow more easily from the churn
which is driven rapidly by machinery till
the yellow globules separate. This semi
liquid mass drains into a large ice cooler
for short time Then these globules are
taken and kneeded together carefully, drain
ed and the mass is salted by special ma
chinery with good, clean, English dairy
salt The olemargarine is colored by com
mon annatto seeds, as used in all dairies,
and thus prepared is put into clean white
linen cloths by neat looking girls, and, as
ready for sale, is difficult to distinguish
from real butter in taste or COLOR
Tallow is made by boiling the rough
pieces of fat The OK tail meat and bones
constitute the chief luxuries obtained from
cattle. Each car of beef carries certain
number of tails, which are mostly bought
by the hotel keepers. Even the udder
from young, dry COW, when nicely corn
ed and boiled, is very good eating. The
OK gall is used for liniments, for the mix
ing of paints, cleaning clothes, carpet, etc.
Men Worth Tens of Millions.
Mackav waS lafelu craditad With c5O o0n