The long building has the advantage of greater economy in erection and of management, as one inspector can see from end to end of it. Where also a large site is not available greater advantage can be taken of a slaughter-house erected on this plan, as several butchers can slaughter in turn; the lairs, however, must be kept separate. The butchers do not like this plan, but prefer privacy, and a great deal of “horse play” is sometimes indulged in by the slaughtermen at work in a large building. The method of payment for the use of a slaughter-house of this description cannot well be by rent, but by head of animal slaughtered, and this is open to the objection of possible fraud. It is necessary also to have separate slaughter-houses for the sheep and the pigs.
Whether the slaughter-houses are constructed separately or in one long building, the detail requirements are much the same.
The pavement of the floor should be placed on concrete and it should be constructed of some material that is easily cleansed, is impervious to moisture, and is not slippery either wet or dry. It must also be of sufficient durability, and be strong enough to bear the weight of the dead-meat carts which have to back in over it under the beams carrying the carcasses, should there be no dead meat market in connection with the slaughter-house as at Manchester, Dundee, &c.
The requirements of such a floor are met by good natural compressed or mastic asphalte. The necessary holes for the reception of the flaying sticks used in many parts of England can be easily managed by inserting either small brass sockets specially made, or more simply by pieces of gas-pipe cut into lengths of about an inch set tight in the asphalte.
The walls of the slaughter-house must be of sufficient strength to carry the beams or girders of the overhead hoisting gear, as well as some tons of hanging carcasses, as will presently be explained.
The inside of these walls must be lined to a height of about 6 feet above the floor line with some material which is impervious and easily cleansed. Glazed white tiles or bricks are sometimes used for this purpose, but are apt to get chipped or broken, and I have found that asphalte, although dark in colour, answers the purpose admirably, and is much cheaper.
With regard to the drainage of the slaughter-house, this should, if possible, be so arranged that there are no gratings or gully-pits in the house itself. The floor should fall about 1 in 30 from the lairs to the cart doors, so that everything should pass outside into a gutter in which the necessary gratings and gully-pits can be arranged. If this is thought to be objectionable, pits with double gratings, the lower one being only a plate with perforated holes, can be placed in the slaughter-house so as to prevent any solid matter whatever from entering the drains, and these pits can be united by short drains with gully-pits outside. The double grating should in any case be inserted, as by this means all solid matter is kept out of the drains: a very important consideration.
The cart doors should be made sliding, and not hinged, or great inconvenience will be experienced, and they must be made wide enough for the carts to back in easily.
In some slaughter-houses the killing ring to which the beast is attached whilst the blow from the poleaxe is given[226] consists of a strong horse-shoe shaped piece of iron projecting about 24 inches from the wall at a height of about 18 inches, and having a ring in the top curve, thus—
