334 THE president's address. 



Cold storage. 



These facts suggest that the adoption of cold storage chambers 

 may be useful to slaughterers and large butchers, and probably 

 farmers, who may in time find it profitable to be their own 

 slaughterers. There is every indication that traffic in dead meat 

 will almost supersede that of live animals for consumption, and 

 the importance of plans for cold storage, where meat can await 

 the demand of the market, so as not to glut it, must be apparent. 



The chambers used for cold storage in America and elsewhere, 

 are simple, and are said to be economical. The room selected is 

 lined at its sides and top with wood, having a space of about 10 

 inches between it and the outer wall, and the space between the 

 two is filled with sawdust, or spent tan bark, or granulated char- 

 coal, and the fioor covered with some inches of sawdust. Double 

 doors complete the insulation ; across one end of the room, near 

 the top, is fixed a trough for holding ice, made tight, and pro- 

 vided with a waste pipe to carry off the water from the melting 

 ice. This trough is kept supplied with ice, the low temperatiire 

 of which creates a constant current of air in the room, and pro- 

 duces a uniformly low temperature. The amount of ice consumed 

 must be considerable, but the advantage gained is said to warrant 

 the outlay, for this system is now largely adopted in many parts 

 of America, and is being used by one or two of our large meat 

 dealers, near the Farringdon market. I give you this account as 

 bearing on a subject that may become one of great importance 

 to us, and with a hope that Cornish ingenuity may invent some 

 plan of cold storage which may cost less than the plan just 

 described. 



I will now describe Captain Acklom's patent refrigerating meat 

 vans, and his plan for preserving meat during its transit over 

 long distances, whether by road, or rail, or ship. By this plan 

 the meat placed in a van at the slaughter house shall not be re- 

 moved or touched, during the journey. It has somewhat the 

 shape outwardly of an ordinary furniture van, the sides of which 

 are made of felt, and double, with a space of about 2 or 3 inches 

 between. The outer side of felt is kept saturated with water 

 during the joiirney by an automatic and natural action, the inner 

 side of the felt being perfectly dry, thus producing a dry cold 

 circulating atmosphere in its interior, by means of rapid external 

 evaporation during its passage through the air. 



