USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Sketches and statistics of Cincinnati in 1851 > Part 26
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At the rear of these operations, comes bristle dressing for the At- lantic markets. This business employs one hundred hands, and affords a product of fifty-five thousand dollars.
Last of all is the disposition of what cannot be used for other pur- poses, the hair, hoofs and other offal. These are employed in the manufacture of prussiate of potash, to the product of which, also, contributes the cracklings or residuum left, on expressing the lard. The prussiate of potash is used extensively in the print factories of New England, for coloring purposes. The blood of the hogs is manufactured into prussian blue.
A brief recapitulation, of the various manufactures out of the hog, at this point and date, present :
TABLE-D.
Barrels Pork. 180,000
Pounds Star Candles ... 2,500,000
Pounds Bacon. 25,000,000
Bar Soap ...... 6,200,000
No. 1 Lard ... 16,500,000
Fancy Soap, etc. 8,800,000
Gallons Lard Oil. 1,200,000
Prussiate of Potash .... 60,000
Five hundred thousand hogs exhibit, including seven pounds of gut-fat to each, one hundred million pounds, carcass weight, when dressed. This is distributed thus :
TABLE-E.
180,000 bbls. Pork, 196 lbs. net, is. 35,280,000
Bacon
25,000,000
No. 1 or Leaf Lard .. 16,260,000
Common Lard or Grease for oil, stearin and olein. 6,000,000
Inferior Grease for Soap. 1,200.000
Evaporation, shrinkage, waste, cracklings and offal for manure. 16,260,000
100,000,000
The value of all this depends, of course, on the foreign demand. In 1847 the pork, bacon, lard, lard oil, star candles, soap, bristles, &c., exceeded six millions of dollars in value. For 1848, it had, probably, reached eight millions. But for the reduced prices which a greatly increased product always creates, it must far exceed that value.
The buildings in which the pork is put up, are of great extent and
24
286
THE HOG AND ITS PRODUCTS.
capacity, and in every part thoroughly arranged for the business. They generally extend from street to street, so as to enable one set of operations to be carried on without interfering with another. There are thirty-six of these establishments, beside a number of minor importance.
The stranger here, during the packing, and especially the forward- ing season, of the article, becomes bewildered in the attempt to keep up with the eye and the memory, the various and successive pro- cesses he has witnessed, in following the several stages of putting the hog into its final marketable shape, and in surveying the appa- rently interminable rows of drays, which, at that period, occupy the main avenues to the river, in continuous lines, going and returning, a mile or more in length, excluding every other use of those streets, from daylight to dark. Nor is his wonder lessened when he surveys the immense quantity of hogsheads of bacon, barrels of pork, and kegs of lard, for which room cannot be found on the pork-house floors, extensive as they are, and which are, therefore, spread over the public landing, and block up every vacant space on the side- walks, the public streets, and even adjacent lots otherwise vacant.
It may appear remarkable, in considering the facilities for putting up pork which many other points in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky possess in their greater contiguity to the neighborhoods which produce the hogs, and other advantages which are palpable, that so large an amount of this business is engrossed at Cincinnati. It must be observed, however, that the raw material in this business- the hog-constitutes sixty per cent. of the value, when ready for sale, and being always paid for in cash, disbursements so heavy, are required in large sums, and at a day's notice, that the necessary capital is not readily obtainable elsewhere in the west. Nor, in an article, which in the process of curing runs great risks in sudden changes of weather, can the packer protect himself, except where there are ample means in extensive supplies of salt, and any neces- sary force of coopers or laborers, to put on in case of emergency or disappointment in previous arrangements. More than all, the faci- lities of turning to account in various manufactures, or as articles of food in a populous community, what cannot be disposed of to profit elsewhere, renders hogs to the Cincinnati packer worth at least, five per cent. more, than they will command at any other point in the Mississippi valley.
As a specimen of the amazing activity which characterizes all the
287
THE HOG AND ITS PRODUCTS.
details of packing, cutting, &c., here it may be stated, that two hands in one of our pork-houses, in less than thirteen hours, cut up eight hundred and fifty hogs, averaging over two hundred pounds each, two others placing them on the blocks for the purpose. All these hogs were weighed singly on the scales, in the course of eleven hours. Another hand trimmed the hams,-seventeen hundred pieces,-in Cincinnati style, as fast as they were separated from the carcasses. The hogs were thus cut up and disposed of, at the rate of more than one to the minute.
Those who are cognizant to the importance of the domestic mar- ket, will not be surprised to learn that our export of pork to foreign countries, bears but a small proportion to the quantity packed.
Few persons at the east can realize the size, and especially the fatness to which hogs arrive in the west, under the profuse feeding they receive.
The following are specimens of hogs and lots of hogs, killed in Cincinnati, this season and the last.
Hogs.
Average weight-bs.
7 720
5 640
22 403
52
377
50
375
Of these were nine-one litter-weighing respectively, 316, 444, 454, 452, 456, 516, 526, 532.
320 hogs 325 657 305
Few, if any of these hogs, were over nineteen months old. The last lot is extraordinary-combining quantity and weight-even for the west. They were all raised in one neighborhood in Madison county, Kentucky, by Messrs. Caldwell, Campbell, Ross, and Gentry, the oldest being nineteen months in age.
The value of these manufacturing operations to Cincinnati, con- sists in the vast amount of labor they require and create, and the circumstance that the great mass of that labor furnishes employment to thousands, at precisely the very season when their regular avo- cations cannot be pursued. Thus, there are perhaps, fifteen hun- dred coopers engaged in and outside of the city, making lard kegs,
288
TIIE HOG AND ITS PRODUCTS.
pork barrels, and bacon hogsheads: the city coopers, at a period when they are not needed on stock barrels and other cooperage, and the country coopers, whose main occupation is farming, during a season when the farms require no labor at their hands. Then there is another large body of hands, also agriculturists, at the proper season, engaged getting out staves and heading, and cutting hoop poles, for the same business. Vast quantities of boxes of various descriptions, are made for packing bacon, for the Havana and European markets. Lard is also packed to a great extent, for ex- port in tin cases or boxes, the making of which, furnishes extensive occupation to the tin-plate workers.
If we take into view, farther, that the slaughtering, the wagoning, the pork-house labor, the rendering grease and lard oil, the stearin and soap factories, bristle dressing, and other kindred employments, supply abundant occupation to men, who, in the spring, are engaged in the manufacture and hauling of bricks, quarrying and hauling stone, cellar digging and walling, bricklaying, plastering, and street paving, with other employments, which in their very nature, cease on the approach of winter, we can readily appreciate the importance of a business, which supplies labor to the industry of, probably, ten thousand individuals, who, but for its existence, would be earning little or nothing, one-third of the year.
The last United States census, gave 26,301,293, as the existing number of hogs of that date. The principal increase since, is in the west, owing to the abundance of corn there; and that quantity may be now, safely enlarged to forty-five millions. This is about the number assigned to entire Europe, in 1839, by McGregor, in his Commercial Dictionary ; and there is probably no material increase there since, judging by the slow advance in that section of the world, in productions of any kind.
The number of hogs cut up in the valley of the Mississippi, will reach, for recent years, as an average, one million seven hundred thousand ; of this, it will be seen, that twenty-eight per cent., or over one-fourth of the whole quantity, is put up for market in Cincinnati alone.
Eroin a Dag?" by Plesso
289
BIOGRAPHY.
BIOGRAPHY .- DAVID T. DISNEY.
THE subject of these memoirs was born in Baltimore, in August, 1803, at which place, his father, William Disney, one of our oldest citizens resided at the time. Not the least remarkable circumstance in the history of D. T. Disney, is, that he was placed at school in the third year of his age. His teacher, Luther Griffin, in a note which lies before me, observes, " In the course of my teaching, I have had several thousand scholars under my charge, and do not recollect of but one, that in every respect was equal to young Disney." In 1817, the family, including David, at that date a lad of fourteen years, removed to Cincinnati, when his father opened a shop for the sale of paints, carrying on the house-painting business also, and the youth became assistant in the store, devoting his days to the business, and his evenings to mental improvement, partly in the acquisition of general knowledge, and partly in mathematical and legal reading and study. In this last pursuit he was liberally aided by the advice and oral instruction of Charles Hammond, on whose competency in that line, it is unnecessary, in Cincinnati, to insist. Hammond was so deeply interested in the young student, as to propose a business connection between the parties; but the young man was not willing, at this time, to assume the law as a pro- fession, and continued to aid his father at home. In 1825, he made his debut as a writer, contributing regularly to one of our eastern city journals.
In 1829, Mr. Disney, then twenty-six years of age, commenced that political career, which, with brief exceptions, constitutes the re- sidue of this narrative. At the October election of that year, Mr. Disney ran against Elijah Hayward, for the office of representative of Hamilton County, to the General Assembly, and triumphed over his competitor, who had represented the county for a series of years. The next fall, the democratic party, on whose ticket Mr. Disney had been nominated, was defeated, owing to dissensions among them- selves. In 1831, Mr. Disney was once more returned to the State Legislature. In 1832, he was again brought forward as a candidate, and succeeded in so close a struggle, that a share of the ticket on which he ran, was defeated. On this occasion W. H. Harrison, afterward President of the United States, was on the whig ticket.
At the ensuing meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Disney was elected Speaker, by a vote of sixty-two to eight, although his competitor,
290
BIOGRAPHY.
Mr. Campbell, had been a distinguished member of congress. At the ensuing election of 1833, he was a successful candidate for the senate, of which, upon its meeting, he became speaker, without an opposing vote. In the senate he presided with the same ability he had exhibited in the house of representatives as speaker. A speech, on the doctrine of instruction, which he delivered at this session, contributed to make him more extensively and favorably known at home and in the other sections of our republic.
At the ensuing session, the whigs were in majority in the senate, and elected one of themselves, as speaker. But at the next-an extra session-his political friends being again in the ascendant, Mr. Disney was once more called to preside over the deliberations of the senate. At the close of that session, he was appointed one of the commissioners, on the part of Ohio, to repair to Washington city, for the settlement of the points in issue between the states of Ohio and Michigan, on which, an appeal to arms, by the parties, seemed impending. In 1840 Mr. Disney was made a member of the board of equalization, charged with the duty of equalizing the taxes of the state, among the respective counties, and, at its meeting, was unanimously chosen its presiding officer. In 1843 he was again nominated for the state senate, and, after an ardent canvass, was elected by the largest majority ever given in the district. Mr. Dis- ney remained in private life, from 1844 to 1848, at his own desire. He was chosen by the state convention, at Columbus, held the lat- ter year, its president, and made senatorial delegate to the national convention, at Baltimore. At the fall election, having been nomi- nated for congress, he was elected by nearly three thousand majority. In 1850 he was re-elected to the same office without opposition, al- though a spirited contest marked the canvass for the residue of the tickets, on both sides.
It is confidently believed that Mr. Disney has drawn up more committee reports, during the course of his legislative life at Colum- bus, than any public man in the state; nor does the thorough research which marks their preparation, indicate less labor, than the mere writing them out, although this last effort is usually considered the most exhausting task, in ordinary cases.
Mr. Disney's first effort in the national legislature, was upon the power of congress over the territories. This was admitted, by com- mon consent, for research and cogency of argument, to be the ablest speech of the session, and elicited the commendation of some of the
291
BIOGRAPIIY.
ablest lawyers of the republic, and warm complimentary notices from all parties. His report upon the Galphin claim, has stamped that iniquitous measure with an immortality of infamy. In the face of the legal opinion of the United States Attorney-General, the house of representatives indorsed the report by overwhelming majorities. Mr. D. sustained his report by a speech of such extraordinary research, and strength, as well as clearness of argument, as to impress itself upon professional minds, in congress, as an invincible legal ar- gument. As such, it was requested for publication; but Mr. Disney being unexpectedly summoned home, by a family bereavement, which detained him in Cincinnati several days, was unwilling to keep the subject, or himself in connection with it, any farther before the community.
One chapter on the history of David T. Disney, ought not to be left out. To him, and one or two other patriotic spirits, Texas, in its darkest hours, was indebted for the impulse given her struggle for liberty, and for aid in men, arms and munitions of war, reaching just in time to aid her in winning the battle of San Jacinto, which was fought with Cincinnati muskets, powder, cannon and cannon balls. The service thus rendered, was made at a heavy sacrifice, pecuniary and otherwise. Arraigned before our courts; amerced in a heavy penalty, which hung over him and his property thirteen years; and vilified by numbers, who would now gladly change positions with him, he has the proud consolation of having done more than any in-, dividual, out of Texas, to have accomplished the final results, which have given Mexico to our forces, and California to our territory.
No individual in congress, represents so large a constituency as Mr. Disney ; the entire population of his district, exceeding one hundred and seventy thousand. If the intelligence and enterprise of that community, and the commercial, manufacturing, political and social importance of Cincinnati, be taken into view, and the fact remembered, that he obtained the position he occupies, by a unani- "mous vote at one of the fullest polls ever held in the district, he has just reason to be gratified at the distinction conferred by the recent choice.
292
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
As Cincinnati has for several years enjoyed a high reputation for the abundance and excellence of its strawberries, the statistics of this article may be of public interest.
Four thousand bushels of this berry were raised in this vicinity, and sold in our market-houses during the season of 1845, which was rather an unusually productive one. Twenty per cent. must be added, as the quantity delivered at steamboats, hotels, private dwellings, and confectionaries, or sold at stands or agencies in vari- ous parts of the city. In 1846, this quantity was increased to four thousand two hundred bushels, with an addition of twenty-five per cent. to the sales specified above. This was a cold and wet season, and unfavorable to their growth-the increase in quantity springing from supplies afforded by newly-bearing patches, which are added every year in the vicinity. In 1847, the first ascertainment of daily sales was commenced ; it has been continued in 1848, and the table follows :
1847.
Bushels.
1848.
Bushels.
May 24. 10
May 19 6
25
15
20. 15
26
20
22 . 20
27 20
23 . 30
28
40
24 60
29
50
25 75
31 . 50
26
198
June 1 296
27 313
2
250
29 211
30 . 450
31. 589
5
489
June 1 307
2 352
8
514
3 310
9
411
5 . 145
10 237
6 450
11
250
7 418
12 385
8 . 260
14
100
9 . 244
15
321
10.
156
3 50 4 249
7 200
.
293
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
1847.
Bushels.
1848.
Bushels.
June 16
220
June 12 .
60
17.
176
13
80
18
151
14 50
19
55
15
30
21
12
16
20
22
5
17
10
19
6
4576
4865
In 1847 and 1848, large quantities were sent off by railroads; and for these two years, additions must be made to the quantity sold at hotels, steamboats, private dwellings, confectionaries, &c., in the consumption of strawberries on the spots where they are raised, by pleasure parties from Cincinnati and other places in their vicinity. The entire product of the strawberry, therefore, should be put down in 1847, at 6500 bushels, and in 1848, at 7000 bushels; each suc- cessive year increasing the proportion of strawberries sold directly to purchasers at their homes, &c., over that disposed of in markets.
It will be observed that the Monday of each week, exhibits lighter sales than the previous Saturday or succeeding Tuesday. In general, however, these tables present a regular ascending and de- scending grade of production, during the twenty-six days which ordinarily constitute the season. What disparity in supplies exists, is occasioned either by the weather being unfavorable for picking, or very heavy stocks so reduce the price, as to make the expense of gathering too great to be profitably borne at current rates of sale.
The strawberries are brought in cases of five to eight drawers; each drawer containing thirty to forty quarts, which lie an average depth of two or two-and-a-half inches. They are delivered in Cin- cinnati, in time for sale, as early as four to five o'clock in the morn- ing, when disposed of at the market-houses. A considerable share are sold in tin boxes of a quart each, or wooden ones of two quarts each, which fill up the same kind of drawers. These usually command a better price, not only on account of more perfect keep- ing of the article, but because they measure out more than when filled into the ordinary quart measure.
In former years, they were brought in wagons. A four horse wagon was once backed up to our market, with two tons of straw- berries, packed in cases of drawers.
25
294
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
We cultivate strawberries here with reference to their sexual dis- tinctions, and find this treatment very successful.
A good pistillate or female plant, is selected, such as the Hudson or Hovey's seedling, and the plants set out in rows fifteen inches apart, and the rows about fifteen inches from each other ; then a path two or three feet wide ; then a row of male or staminate plants, such as will bloom about the same time as the female; and then a path as before. Then another bed of three rows of female plants, with paths and rows of male plants, until the patch is completed. The object is to keep the male plants separate from the female, so that the latter shall be impregnated without being overrun by the male. This can easily be done, by hoeing the latter when they run into the paths.
In field culture, the plants are set out in rows eighteen inches or two feet apart from each other, and a male for about every ten or twelve female plants-all in the same row. Either one or two rows are planted in this way, leaving three feet between the lands, or room enough to plow and keep them clean. They are cultivated with the plow between the lands or beds, and with the hoe in the beds, to keep down the weeds and grass.
Field culture.
The lands or beds clear across the field-beds three feet wide, then a furrow.
Bed.
Furrow.
Bed.
Furrow.
Bed.
::: :
Furrow.
Plants from eighteen to twenty four inches apart in a single row ; every tenth plant, male.
295
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
Garden culture.
Path three feet wide.
Female bed, with three rows of pistillate or female plants.
Path.
Male bed, with one row of staminate or male plants.
Path.
Female bed, with three rows of pistillate or female plants.
Path.
Male bed, with one row of staminate or male plants.
Path.
Female bed, with three rows of pistillate or female plants.
Path.
Earliest, as in the order of ripening: 1st. Early Scarlet-tart, but high flavored-requiring much sugar. 2d. Necked Pine-highest flavored. 3d. Hovey's-sweetest variety in general culture, requir- ing but little sugar. 4th. Hudson-firmest and best adapted for carrying to market. There are cultivated here about as many of the latter variety as of all the first three named, or, it might safely be said, all others.
The largest berries produced at the Cincinnati Horticultural Society have been from Hovey's ; but the general average of the whole crop, as to size, would probably be in favor of the Hudson.
Our horticultural society has stimulated a spirit of improvement that
296
STATISTICS OF STRAWBERRIES, ETC.
has afforded specimens of extraordinary size and quality otherwise. Strawberries measuring five to five and one-quarter inches in cir- cumference, have been repeatedly exhibited at its exhibitions or fairs. In one or two instances specimens have been exhibited reaching to five inches and three-quarters in measurement.
The prices of strawberries vary, of course, with the character of the season, and the different periods of sale. They usually open at 20 to 25 cents per quart, a price which they command only for a day or two, and soon fall to 15, 12}, 10, and 83 cents. When abundant, they obtain 5 to 64 cents, and occasionally fall to from 3 to 4 cents.
The season sales will not average higher than 7 cents, unless the season itself has proved unfavorable. No year is known in which strawberries have averaged as high as 10 cents per quart.
At least two-thirds of the strawberries sold here are raised on the banks of Licking river, a few miles above its mouth, which is just opposite Cincinnati. This affords the facility of water carriage, obviously of great advantage to the transportation of ripe fruit of a character so delicate as the strawberry. The entire quantity of ground on both sides of the Ohio which supplies this market cannot be short of two hundred and fifty acres. Much of this is in small patches of one, two, three, or five acres; the smaller the spot, in general, the more productive - proportionally - being the yield. One of the Culbertsons, a family which raises more largely of this berry than any other, has some sixty acres in three patches. One of these comprehends a field of thirty-five acres.
Just as the supply of strawberries is through, in this market, it is succeeded by that of the raspberry, which, in the course of a few years, will, probably, be raised to equal extent. At present, the supply of raspberries is about one-sixth that of strawberries. They are of various species-the cane, yellow, black, red Antwerp, and ever-bearing; of these, the red Antwerp is the general favorite. Raspberries average 8} cents per quart, during the season. The raspberry culture of 1847, is as follows :
June 19 . . 30 bush. June 24 . . 55 bush. [June 30 . . 50 bush. " 21 . . 14 “ 66 26 .. 100 66
" 22 . 81
23 . . 95
66 66 28. 40
29 85 July 1 . . 30
2 18 66
598
This includes only what is sold in our markets.
297
BIOGRAPHY.
This article ought not to close, without reference to the moral aspect of the cultivation of these fruits, on such an extensive scale, as to bring their use within the reach of every individual, how limited soever his means.
In our Atlantic cities, and still more in Europe, these articles com- mand a price, which denies their use to thousands whose appetites they tempt, and for whom they would form a wholesome refreshment in seasons of sickness for themselves or families. It is needless to point out the bitter feelings toward the rich, which such and other privations engender in the minds of these masses. Whatever tends to remove such distinctions in society, and place enjoyment and com- fort alike within the reach of all the industrial classes, is so much gained to the general happiness of society at large. No one in Cin- cinnati feels that he cannot afford to buy his family everything he wishes, which is sold in its markets.
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