PROPER SHAPE OF GAMBRELS.
Gambrels should be provided of different lengths, if the hogs vary much in size. That shown in Fig. [13] is a convenient shape. These should be of hickory or other tough wood for safety, and be so small as to require little gashing of the legs to receive them.
FIG. 13. A CONVENIENT GAMBREL.
GALLOWS FOR DRESSED HOGS.
The accompanying device, Fig. [14], for hanging dressed hogs, consists of a stout, upright post, six or eight inches square and ten feet long, the lower three feet being set into the ground. Near the upper end are two mortises, each 2x4 inches, quite through the post, one above the other, as shown in the engraving, for the reception of the horizontal arms. The latter are six feet long and just large enough to fit closely into the mortises. They should be of white oak or hickory. At butchering time the dead hogs are hung on the scaffold by slipping the gambrels upon the horizontal crosspieces.
ADDITIONAL HINTS ON DRESSING.
Little use of the knife is required to loosen the entrails. The fingers, rightly used, will do most of the severing. Small, strong strings, cut in proper lengths, should be always at hand to quickly tie the severed ends of any small intestines cut or broken by chance. An expert will catch the entire offal in a large tin pan or wooden vessel, which is held between himself and the hog. Unskilled operators, and those opening very large hogs, need an assistant to hold this. The entrails and then the liver, heart, etc., being all removed, thoroughly rinse out any blood or filth that may have escaped inside. Removing the lard from the long intestines requires expertness that can be learned only by practice. The fingers do most of this cleaner, safer and better than a knife. A light feed the night before killing leaves the intestines less distended and less likely to be broken.