The Packers' Encyclopedia: Blue Book of the American Meat Packing and Allied Industries

This is The Packers' Encyclopedia, published in 1922 by The National Provisioner of Chicago as a comprehensive reference work for the American meat packing industry. Edited by Paul I. Aldrich, the publication divides into three main sections: a handbook of modern packing house practice, statistical data on the U.S. and Canadian meat industries, and a trade directory of packers, dealers, and related businesses.

Part One, excerpted here, covers cattle, hogs, small stock, inedible by-products, miscellaneous operations, and vegetable oils. The cattle chapter discusses the four beef breeds (Shorthorn, Hereford, Angus, and Galloway), their characteristics, weights, and market performance. It describes market classes and grades of cattle based on sex, age, quality, form, and condition. Sections covering beef slaughtering, cooling, grading, cutting, curing, and byproduct processing are promised in the full work, illustrated with official U.S. Department of Agriculture photographs.