=Open Air Hanging.=--It was formerly considered a necessity to have an open-air hanging room where hogs could dry after slaughtering, in many cases allowing them to hang over night; the object being to save refrigeration. It is the common opinion that the economy thus obtained is anything but economy. Past experience has proved that there are certain conditions which must be adhered to closely in the safe handling and curing of pork products, and proper temperatures are among the most important of these. It is very rare that these temperatures prevail in the outside atmosphere, and hogs that are left on hanging floor over night are either insufficiently chilled or over-chilled. Many packers feel it advantageous, however, to run hogs into a hanging room, allowing them to dry out for one or two hours prior to putting them in the chill room. While this has no deteriorating effect on the product, the expense of handling them and the cost of labor incurred is about equal to the saving in refrigeration, if they are put directly into the chill room. [Illustration: FIG. 107.--SCRAPING LEAF LARD.] =Chilling Necessities.=--The essential feature in a chill room is that it be properly constructed and have sufficient refrigeration so that the temperatures can be controlled precisely as desired. It is advisable that the coolers be partitioned into tunnels. Into this the hogs are run as fast as killed, providing that the temperature is not run up too high. If the temperature goes above 45° F., the carcasses should be run into another tunnel and placed in the first one as the temperature goes down. When the carcasses are to be cut after being forty-eight hours in the chill room, the cooler should be brought down gradually to a temperature of 28° F. If they are to be cut when seventy-two hours old, which from the author’s experience is preferable, the cooler should be brought down gradually to a temperature of 30° F. With a cooler properly equipped, and a careful attendant, these instructions can be carried out in detail, and when thus followed the safe curing of the product will be found to be practically assured. While there are other matters which need careful attention, if the chilling is not done properly, the rest of the operation will never save the product. The cooler should at all times be kept dry and clean with dry sawdust on the floor, to absorb drippings, clots of blood, etc., from the carcasses; whereas, if the drippings are allowed to remain on the floor they soon become soured and a menace to the product.