refrigerants, viz, ammonia and carbonic acid. Ammonia is objectionable, because of its smell and dangerous properties, and would not seem to be so adaptable to the purposes of a bacon factory as carbonic acid (carbon dioxide). Carbonic acid has no smell, and it is capable of being used in a machine to which a safety valve is attached. The other appliances to which special consideration must be given are the singeing stack (which should be of the vertical type), the pickle pump, and the lard appliances. It would be of very little present interest to detail here all the appliances necessary to a modern factory; suffice it to say that the equipment of factories may be accomplished for a small sum, which may rise to very large amounts according to the work to be done. As a guide it may be useful to state that factories may be built and equipped for the undernoted sums, excluding price of land: These estimates are based upon work actually done. The figures bear no relation to one another, as it depends very much on local conditions as to levels, etc., what the cost may be. MODERN BACON AND HAM CURING. The great strides made in the business of bacon curing during recent years and the constant developments that are taking place render it necessary that from time to time the process of curing, as modified and brought up to date, should be described in some periodical accessible to everyone. The process of curing is simple enough, consisting as it does for the most part of adding preserving substances to the meat and allowing time for such materials to saturate the tissues. This preserving process checks the development of bacteria, and renders it possible to keep bacon and other meats similarly treated for an indefinite period. For the purpose of slaughtering and preparing the animals for the cellars, the pigs are hoisted by means of a friction hoist driven from the main driving shaft of the factory, by one of the hind legs, to an overhead bar. The moment they reach this bar the slaughterman passes a sharp knife quickly into the neck through the jugular vein, and in the direction of the heart, but withdraws it instantly. The pigs bleed quickly and suffer very little pain. They are immediately pushed along the track bar to the bleeding passage, and are allowed to hang till all the blood has flowed from them. They are then flung on a dumping table and the leg chains are removed. They are at once rolled into a scalding vat, nearly filled with water at 180° F. The carcasses are rolled in this vat until the hair and bristles come away easily in the hands. They are then hoisted by means of a "cradle onto a scuttling table, where the remains of the hair and bristles are removed by means of bell-shaped scrapers. They are next swung by an oblique board onto the track bar again, and are brought to the singeing furnace, in which they are singed for about a quarter of a minute, lowered again to the track bar, and plunged into a cold bath, from which they are immediately hoisted to the track bar again, and while sprays of cold water are playing upon the carcasses the latter are scraped by means of flat hand scrapers free from the burnt surface. The intestines and offal are then removed and sorted in various departments, and the carcasses, after again being cleansed, are split down the back, the vertebral column removed, and the two sides, including the vertebral column, the head, the feet, and the flick lard, or kidney fat, are weighed. This is what is known as "dead weight," or the weight upon which payment is made (the dead weight of a hog weighing alive 16 stones would be 12 stones). From the dead weight it is the universal custom to deduct 2 pounds per side for beamage,' and the price then is the price of the net weight. After the weight is ascertained the head and fore feet are completely severed, the kidney fat and vertebral column are removed, and the sides are disconnected and allowed to cool in the hanging house for a period of from six to twelve hours, according to the time of year. They are then placed in a chill room for about twelve hours, until the meat registers on a meat-testing thermometer 40 F. This temperature is obtained by keeping the chill rooms at 38 F. The blade bones are now removed and the sides trimmed and taken to the cellars. Wiltshire bacon.-On being taken to the cellars the sides are laid on a bench and pumped at a uniform pressure of about 40 pounds per square inch, at the places indicated in fig. 18, with a pickle made from the formula Salt.. Granulated saltpeter. Dry antiseptic".. Cane sugar (in winter only) Pounds. 50 5 5 5 To this add 20 gallons of water and stir till all the material is dissolved. The strength, as shown by the salinometer, should be about 952. If such is not indicated, add salt and stir until it is. A mixture of equal quantities of saltpeter and dry autiseptic having been previously prepared, the sides are first wiped with a portion of the pickle used for pumping and are then laid on the cellar floor. Some of the mixture of dry antiseptic and saltpeter is next sprinkled over the whole of the inside or cut surfaces. The quantity is usually just sufficient to slightly cover the whole (a sieve being very useful for the purpose of distribution). Salt finely ground is now sprinkled all over the same surface, and the side is permitted to lie in that condition for seven or eight days, when it will be cured, and may then be washed and baled for transport, or the sides may be washed and dried as "pale-dried bacon,” or they may be smoked and sold as smoked bacon. Where space is of value the bacon is "stacked" or "piled." The most important part of the foregoing description is that referring to the pumping. The diagram (fig. 18) is designed to show the various portions into which the side will ultimately be divided, and at the same time to indicate the precise place and direction in which the needle of the pickle pump should be inserted. This diagram has been constructed with the assistance of those well skilled in the matter, and will doubtless serve a permanent purpose. The process of producing "Wiltshire" bacon, which has just been described, applies practically to all other kinds. The names of different cuts are very many, and depend on the local habit of cutting portions of a side in a peculiar way. Perhaps the greatest rival of Wiltshire bacon is that produced in Cumberland; but the liking for Cumberland bacon is an acquired taste. It is highly charged "Beamage" is the deduction inade in weighing pigs warm. The moisture which evaporates before the flesh becomes rigid is estimated at 2 pounds per side, or 4 pounds per pig all over. It is the universal custom for bacon curers to deduct this amount. 2. Dry antiseptic "consists of boracic acid neutralized with borax. The mixture is dried and concentrated at a high temperature. At the same time chemical combination takes place, and the resulting compound is nearly three and one-half times as soluble in water as boracic acid. Dry antiseptic is now a regular article of commerce, and can be readily purchased. with salt, as a rule, owing to the primitive methods in use where it is produced. These old-fashioned ways will have to go and give place to the modern methods; or, if not so, it is safe to say that Cumberland bacon will become a thing of the past. When the bacon has been cured, it is, as a rule, washed free from salt on the surface, and from slime, if any, and allowed to drain. If it should be wanted in the "green" state, it is simply sent out as it is, in bales, wrapped in canvas. If wanted in the "pale-dried" state, the sides are hung up in a ventilated drying room, heated to a temperature of 80° F. with steam pipes, and kept there until quite dry. "Smoked bacon" is produced by hanging the sides in a smoke store for about three days, where it is exposed to the smoke and fumes given off by smoldering hardwood sawdust. The ventilation of the smoke stores is a very important matter. When the sides are sufficiently smoked or dried, as the case may be, they are allowed to cool in the packing loft, after which they are weighed and baled for the market. Hams.-A somewhat different process is used in the curing of hams, although in principle it is the same. The hams are cut according to the particular description wanted after the sides have been chilled. They are then flung into a pickle tank, filled with pickle made according to the formula already given. They are allowed to remain there until next morning, when they are taken out and pressed so that the blood may be cleared out of the blood vein. The object of putting them into the pickle is to purge this blood away. They are next laid in beds of salt, care being taken to have the shanks pointing downward. They may be pumped or not, according to the taste of the curer. The author's experience goes to show that it is wise to pump the blood vein with an antiseptic pickle at a low pressure. The same mixture of antiseptic and saltpeter is sprinkled over the cut surfaces, and the whole is covered with salt. At the end of three days the hams are taken up and pressed again so as to remove any blood that may have remained in the blood vein. They are then laid down and covered with fine salt, and are left in this position for about fifteen days. A very good rule applying to hams is that they require a day for every pound weight to cure. Matured bacon and hams.-The foregoing description of curing refers exclusively to meats meant for immediate consumption. The keeping of meat for a year or so requires a rather different treatment. The time in salt has to be extended for about a week in either case, and the hams or bacon require to be dried. END OF COLLAR by the arrows) in which the needle should be thrust. be inserted in pumping a side of bacon; and the direction (shown FIG. 18.-Diagram showing places where needle of pickle pump should Straight &deep. √&d CORNER OF "Straight & deep: SHEEP SCAB: ITS NATURE AND TREATMENT. By D. E. SALMON, D. V. M., AND CH. WARDELL STILES, PH. D., HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. The disease commonly called sheep scab is the mange, or scabies, of the sheep. It is a contagious skin disease caused by a parasitic mite. This disease is one of the oldest known, most prevalent, and most injurious maladies which affects this species of animals. It has been well known for many centuries, and references to it are found in the earlier writings, including the Bible, where we find, in Leviticus xxii: 22, the use of scabbed sheep forbidden in sacrifices. Some think that the mite which causes the disease was known to Aristotle, 322 B. C.; but it appears that Wichmann, writing in 1786, was one of the first authors of modern times to suspect that sheep scab was of the same nature as the scabies of man. Wichmann held the erroneous view, however, that both diseases were produced by the same parasite. The prevailing opinion concerning scab prior to and during the first years of the present century was that it was caused by some special condition of the sheep's system, a "humor of the blood," which led to a skin eruption. The parasites were in some cases known and recognized, but they were supposed to be either an accidental occurrence or to have arisen by spontaneous generation as a result of the disease, and because the affected skin offered conditions favorable to their development and existence. As a result of diligent research certain investigators reached the conclusion that the malady was due directly to the mites which were found inhabiting the diseased parts of the skin. Their opinion was not at once adopted, however, but, on the contrary, met with strong opposition from those who held that scab was due to a diseased condition of the blood and from others who held a modified view to the effect that the mites carried poisonous or diseased material from one animal to another and in that manner communicated the disease. The errors and uncertainties which came down to us through centuries of controversy were finally and for all time dispelled by conclusive experiments upon animals made during the first half of this century. It was shown that scab does not develop and can not be produced without the parasites. The complete life cycle of the mites was |