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THE BRIGHTON ABATTOIR.

1. REPORT OF MR. MERIAM, PRESIDENT OF THE B. S. & M. ASSOCIATION.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ABATTOIR.

3. LETTER FROM MR. SCHULTZ DESCRIBING EUROPEAN ABATTOIRS IN 1873.

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THE BRIGHTON ABATTOIR.

To the State Board of Health:

On the 17th of June last, after various delays consequent upon putting in complete running order the extensive apparatus and machinery of the abattoir, the work of slaughtering and preparing meat for market was commenced.

Since that time, up to January 1, 1874, 14,194 cattle, 2,700 calves and 150,000 sheep have been slaughtered. These numbers are estimated to constitute about one-third of the cattle and three-fourths of the sheep dressed for market in the vicinity of Boston.

The blood, bone and refuse, coming from the slaughtering of the number of animals above stated, have produced between five and six hundred tons of dry fertilizer.

When the buildings now being finished, and those contemplated shall have been completed, the Association will have accommodations for slaughtering 275 cattle per day, or twothirds of the number required to supply the daily wants of our market. Another block of buildings for slaughtering cattle has been erected upon the foundation mentioned in my last report, and is nearly ready for occupancy. This block, with the stables attached, is convenient and commodious, and will increase the facilities of the Association one-half its present capacity. The foundation of another block has just been completed, and still another is in contemplation, as also a block, with a stable, for the preparation of tripe. All these will not be adequate to supply the demands of the business for buildings the coming year. Not less than one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) should be expended in the erection of slaughter-houses alone, if the Association would receive all who will apply for accommodations on its grounds.

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The magnitude of the work given this corporation to do far exceeds our expectations.

We have expended already, in lands, buildings and machinery, $492,000.

The rendering-house will need no outlay of importance for the present, having sufficient capacity and all needed machinery to treat the tallow, heads and feet, blood and offal which will be produced at the works for a long time to come.

The system adopted for the performance of this part of our work, receiving all the products of slaughtering in sheet-iron wagons, and raising them on elevators to the openings in the tanks, although not perfect, is certainly very satisfactory, and has met the approval of your Board; while the plan of elevating the slaughtering-rooms so that all the products of slaughtering, except meat, shall be dropped through openings into these wagons below, is found to work admirably, and makes the labor of keeping the slaughtering-rooms clean comparatively easy.

The suppression and consumption of the steam and gases from the rendering-tanks and driers have received very careful consideration. The steam and gases are managed in tight pipes, and directly after leaving the tanks are introduced into an apparatus where the gases are separated from the steam, the steam condensed and run into the sewer, and the gases drawn into a reservoir, from which they are driven, by means of a fan, to the fires, and consumed. This part of our work requires and receives the utmost care and unremitting vigilance during every hour of the twenty-four. Our task in this particular, however, is lessened somewhat from the fact that we treat all our material while it is fresh, never allowing any animal matter to remain on the premises uncared for. By means of our tight floors, ample sewerage, abundance of water and mechanical appliances, we are enabled to keep the premises clean and sweet. The problem, how to conduct the slaughtering of animals without giving offence, has been satisfactorily demonstrated at the abattoir during the few months that our works have been in operation.

Steam and water are important agents in our work. By the former we furnish to all the butchers warm water and warm rooms, raise up their cattle as required in dressing

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them, keep all basements and offices comparatively warm, elevate all of our material to the required room for treatment, render our tallow and all offal, dry all the residuum and blood into animal dust, sift, grind and pack it into barrels. It also materially aids in the destruction of gases generated in rendering, and elevates our water to the tanks in the fifth story of the rendering-house. Thus elevated, the water becomes to us an indispensable agent. The tanks in which it is stored (of which there are two) are large, being thirty feet in diameter by eleven feet in height, made of boiler-iron, and hold 232 tons, or about 58,000 gallons each. Connected with these are distributing-pipes that conduct the water to every apartment and inclosure on the premises, except the first block of stables, which is furnished by means of pumps, one in each stable. Hose are kept in each room, and hydrants are placed at convenient points outside the buildings, so that all parts of the premises can be reached with water at a moment's notice. Water is furnished to all animals kept on the grounds, and is freely and constantly used in washing all the apartments. During the summer, our water-supply diminished to such an extent that it became necessary to provide other means to obtain the required quantity. After careful examination of the quality and quantity of the water to be procured, we constructed a well on the north-easterly side of the renderinghouse, between it and the beef slaughter-house. This well is 20 feet deep and 18 feet in diameter and furnishes an ample supply of water for all uses.

We have also connected our pumps with Charles River by means of a six-inch pipe, thus providing a supply of water equal to any emergency.

The Butchers' Slaughtering and Melting Association is not simply a business corporation, and has no monopoly in the slaughtering business. Its conduct is under the supervision of your Board. It is subject to stringent regulations, instituted for the public health, comfort and convenience, and is therefore a public servant commissioned to furnish all needed facilities to those who apply for slaughtering on its premises, and further, to care for the refuse and offensive products so that there shall be no nuisance resulting from the business.

The Association has endeavored with its utmost ability and

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