No part of the hog is valueless, excepting, perhaps, the bristles of the
fine-bred races. The very intestines are cleansed, and knotted into
chittarlings, very much relished by some; the blood, mixed with fat and
rice, is made into black puddings; and the tender muscle under the
lumbar vertebrae is worked up into sausages, sweet, high-flavored, and
delicious; the skin, roasted, is a rare and toothsome morsel; and a
roast sucking-pig is a general delight; salt pork and bacon are in
incessant demand, and form important articles of commerce.
One great value arises from the peculiarity of its fat, which, in
contradistinction to that of the ox or of the sheep, is termed _lard_,
and differs from either in the proportion of its constituent principles,
which are essentially oleine and stearine. It is rendered, or fried out,
in the same manner as mutton-suet. It melts completely at ninety-nine
degrees Fahrenheit, and then has the appearance of a transparent and
nearly colorless fixed oil. Eighty degrees is the melting-point. It
consists of sixty-two parts oleine, and thirty-eight of stearine, out of
one hundred. When subjected to pressure between folds of blotting-paper,
the oleine is absorbed, while the stearine remains. For domestic
purposes, lard is much used: it is much better than butter for frying
fish; and is much used in pastry, on the score of economy.
The stearine contains the stearic and margaric acids, which, when
separated, are solid, and used as inferior substitutes for wax or
spermaceti candles. The other, oleine, is fluid at a low temperature,
and in American commerce is known as _lard-oil_, which is very pure, and
extensively used for machinery, lamps, and most of the purposes for
which olive or spermaceti oils are valued. It has given to pork a new
and profitable use, by which the value of the carcass is greatly
increased. A large amount of pork has thus been withdrawn from the
market, and the depression, which must otherwise have occurred, has been
thereby prevented.
Where the oil is required, the whole carcass, after taking out the hams
and shoulders, is placed in a tub having two bottoms, the upper one
perforated with holes. The pork is laid on the latter, and then tightly
covered. Steam, at a high temperature, is then admitted into the tub,
and in a short time all the fat is extracted, and falls upon the lower
bottom. The remaining mass is bones and scraps. The last is fed to pigs,
poultry, or dogs, or affords the best kind of manure. The bones are
either used for manure, or are converted into animal charcoal, valuable
for various purposes in the arts. When the object is to obtain lard of a
fine quality, the animal is first skinned, and the adhering fat then
carefully scraped off; thus avoiding the oily, viscid matter of the
skin.
The _bristles_ of the coarse breeds are long, strong, firm, and elastic.
These are formed into brushes for painters and artists, as well as for
numerous domestic uses. The _skin_, when tanned, is of a peculiar
texture, and very tough. It is used for making pocket-books, and for
some ornamental purposes; but chiefly for the seats of riding-saddles.
The numerous little variegations on it, which constitute its beauty, are
the orifices whence the bristles have been removed.
[Illustration]