Davison’s invention for curing provisions. 
29 
when cured, at the end of twelve hours, is free 
from blood, and ready to receive its final packing, 
fit to pass inspection, or keeping for family use. In 
the process of curing, pork increases in weight, ten 
to eleven per cent. In the ordinary process, two 
months are necessary to gain this; and of cours-e, 
the interest, storing, and insurance, for that period 
are lost to somebody; in the vacuum process the 
meat is cured in twelve hours and the ten per cent 
gain is obtained at once, and thcie is no loss of time, 
interest, storage, or insurance. In the ordinary 
method, the packer cannot sell profitably until after 
two packings and two months of time; in the 
vacuum process he may sell in one day, reaping 
the gain of the increase. 
The longer the meat is in Curing, the more the natu¬ 
ral juices are extracted by the brine. Hence, when 
the meat is cured equally well as to its being saved, 
its quality will be better in the short process, for its 
juices are not lost in the brine. 
These advantages apply to all seasons of the 
year, and by the vacuum process there is a great 
gain, even in the winter, when meat can be cured by 
the ordinary process. But there is yet another ad¬ 
vantage, and it is this :— 
Meat, by the vacuum process, may be cured in 
summer as well and as perfectly and safely as in 
winter ; once in the cylinder, it is safe. The cylin¬ 
der will make it so at once, under any circum¬ 
stances ; but, if necessary, the cylinder may be en¬ 
closed in a wooden box (a non-conductor), and the 
space between case and cylinder filled with pow¬ 
dered charcoal. This at once makes a refrigerator, 
and with the brine, a temperature approaching freez¬ 
ing point may be maintained during the whole time 
vf curing. 
Tn the West,#less capital for the purchase of meat 
will be necessary if the vacuum process be adopted, 
for time, interest, storage and insurance will be 
saved. But to the West it will give yet another 
advantage ; it will enable them to commence pack¬ 
ing earlier. Not unusual is it for them at Cincinnati 
and St. Louis, to be closed up in December with ice, 
and a stop put to shipment. If packing can com¬ 
mence in October, the loss of cold weather 
in feeding and the staying power of ice will be 
obviated. A hog or a beeve is fatted more easily 
in warm than in cold weather. But neither can be 
killed and cured in warm weather by the ordinary 
process ; by the vacuum process they may. To 
pack in the ordinary way you must feed longer, and 
that even with a scarcity of food, to get to the cold 
weather, that you may safely cure; and by no means 
can you meet a present demand or a rising market. 
By the vacuum process, you obyiate long feeding, 
warm weather (and that may occur even at mid¬ 
winter to spoil meat cured in the ordinary mode), 
and you may meet a present demand or a rising mar¬ 
ket, without loss of interest, storage, or insurance. 
It may be objected that there is an expense in the 
vacuum process not incurred in the ordinary one. 
In the ordinary process yon cure and wait two 
months, and then repack for inspection or to keep 
for family use. In the vacuum process you cure 
and pack, and are done; and the two packings of 
the ordinary mode ate more expensive than the 
curing and packing of the vacuum process. Hence 
there is economy in capital and outlay, in time and 
expense subsequent to the first packing. To this 
is to be added, that the meat is better on account of 
the retention of its natural juices in a greater degree. 
Here all comparison between the two methods ends. 
The advantages of the vacuum process, beside, are 
all its own. 
Hitherto, when meat got skippered or tainted it 
was lost:—nowit can be saved. If skippered, when 
placed in a vacuum in the cylinder, the skippers 
come to the surface of the meat, and perish for 
want of air. The meat is then taken from the 
cylinder, the skippers removed, and the meat re¬ 
turned to the cylinder and again charged with 
pickle, and is again perfect. 
If meat be tainted, it is placed in the cylinder and 
charged with a weak solution of lime; taken out, 
dried, and returned to the cylinder, and again charg¬ 
ed with pickle : and then it is difficult to distinguish 
it from sound meat. 
Hams and bacon, old, blackened and spoiled in 
appearance, will not take in pickle by immersion: 
subjected to the vacuum process they may, and in a 
few hours, be restored to fresh appearance, and after 
smoking, be equal to new ones. 
Meat just killed and warm may be put, in mid¬ 
summer, into the cylinder, and cured in twelve hours 
perfectly. By steeping it cannot be cured at all in 
warm weather; in vacuum it may be at all seasons. 
Beef cured in the vacuum is done and packed in 
a day, and has gained its full increase. Cured by 
steeping, it at once loses five per cent, and takes 
months to regain its loss and add the usual gain 
arising from packing. 
In hot climates, meat cannot be cured by steeping 
at any season ; by the vacuum it can in any climate 
at all seasons. 
As in ordinary packing, sugar, spices, or acid, 
may be added to the brine; but in the vacuum pro¬ 
cess they will be more perfectly taken up, and the 
meat more highly flavored. 
The vacuum process is applicable to all kinds of 
meats; and all kinds of fluids may be infused into 
meats by it. A variety of antiseptics beside salt 
will preserve if they can be injected into meat; but 
before the meat could take them by steeping, it 
would be spoiled in any weather but the coldest, 
and in the coldest would be stale first. By the 
vacuum these may be injected at once, and the 
meat flavored by these peculiar preservative fluids. 
To the West, it offers great facilities and econo¬ 
mies, as the West is now the great meat grower 
and packer. 
But this invention is truly a great boon to the 
people of the South. They now bring their pork 
and beef from the west. Hereafter, they may cure 
it for themselves. Now, they cannot, with a cer¬ 
tainty of keeping, even in winter. With Mr. Davi¬ 
son’s process they may cure at all seasons. Here¬ 
after, they may cure with safety and economy. 
They may thus become, not only their own pork 
and beef growers, but they may add pork and beef 
to their exports. Indeed, in time, it may fairly be 
predicted that the region of country on the gulf of 
Mexico will be the only country that can export 
pork and beef profitably. Her climate will grow 
it without expense, for her pastures are ever green; 
and her fields may ever be filled with pork-fatten¬ 
ing esculents. In no region does a good hog da 
