The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-01-30
PACKING PLANT AT ANDALUS|A SOLVING PROBLEMS OF FARM
Profitable Market at Home for all Kinds of Live Stock Enables Farmers to
 Enjoy Prosperity
By NErTIE BEALL HOPKINS


 Alabamians are proud of Alabama products, and that pride increases sur prisingly awhen they first visit to the new packing plant at Andalusia- For 1t is a model of cleanliness and efficiency. and is serving a great purpose in helping to solve the problem that ever confronts all farmers-a profitable market There Is constant stream of hogs and cattle going under the butchers knives and coming out as the most appetizing and tender cuts of meat
 To the feminine mind, the most an1az- ing fact about the big plant is the won- derful housekeeping. For at all times the five floors are kept in a state of cleanliness that bars criticism. After each killing boiling hot water is sprayed through hose to wash away all signs of the former activity. and the govern ment inspector never leaves the building at night until every table, every utensil and every floor has his stamp of ap- proval
 GOVERNMENT INSPECTION
 The stamp of the government means something, too, and that is why the in spectors stand by as each animal is killed and cut up to see that every one is free from disease and infection Tu- berculosis is the most dread disease of all and very often some of the hogs and cattle that appear the finest to the or- dinary mind are thrown out. because ip the head or body is found some sign of the disease From the time when the hog is killed until less than 10 minutes later it is sent to the butchering room. it is under the constant inspection, and even then before 1t can be sent to the outside world it must contain the government stamp.
 To see the care with which the animals are handled, or rather with which they are not handled-for they are suspended on trolleys so as to be as free from handling as possible, and to be initiated into the chill mysteries of the refrigerat- ing rooms where one finds the beef and pork hung in long orderly rows, is to be impressed with the new features and heights to which efficiency can be raised In our own Alabama.
 EVERYTHING IS USED
 In the lard room. you may see the lard cooked and filtered until clear as crystal it flows boiling to the wheel which cools it enough to be sealed in absolutely clean buckets. You may see 1t poured into the buckets, sealed and carried away without single momen- tary contact with the human hand. So you know that it is pure, and 1t Is ac- tually appetizing in the making.
 Then there are the pickling rooms, where great hogsheads of brine contain pig feet, tongues, ears and hams, the lat ter being kept in the solution for 60 days or more before being smoked. In the storeroom, you may see the finished hams stacked and ready for shipping you may see sides of bacon, breakfast bacon, sausages and everything that comes from the butcher shop to you. And thousands of pounds are shipped each day. Thera is a constant stream Of wagons between the packing plant and the railway station. and Andalusia is setting new pace for the farming aec- ton of the state.
 Every day, if you are watching, you would see great herds of cattle being driven to fthe pens and hogs are being sent from all over the state, so both the buyer and the producer are reaping the benefits of Alabama's great product.