THE DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS STOCK. (FROM THE "ARARAT ADVERTISER.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3261, 30 December 1867, Page 4

THE DISPOSAL OF SURPLUS STOCK. (FROM THE "ARARAT ADVERTISER.")

Tttkrb can no longer be much doubt on the minds of the Victorian public that a system o£ boiling down will require to be introduced in various districts throughout the colouy, *nd this in the face of the fact that the prices for wool do not show the same healthy tendency in English markets as reported some months since. The importance of such statements does not rest upon the abundance, as compared with, the resources of the pastoral districts, but upon the want of consumptive resource in this population, and upon the stand which other wool-producing countries are beginning to take in tbe European market. The change which has been foreshadowed in reference to the ultimate standard of wool begins to force itself upon the minds of those who may be looked upon as experts in commercial prophecies of this nature ; and if we contemplate the rapid rate at which wool production has prown within tbe last few years in Victoria and elsewhere, as compared with the present and probable future demand, it may be concluded, with some show of reason, that the requirements of the wool markets of the world will not expand in proportion to the wool production. In former times, when boiling down was the only resource of large squatters, the comparative sacrifice of the carcase was more than counterbalanced by the advantageous market winch England offered for the fleece and fat So far the industry, if we might apply such a term, was profitable to sheep-breeders, and the annual destruction of thousands of sheep was regarded as the only legitimate mode of conserving the resources of the stations. .At the present time, however, it should be remembered that, if the home market is likely to offer a less prioe for the fleece, the carcase would command a highly remunerative rate, and we cannot but regard the re-introduction of the old boiling-down system in Victoria as marking a very crab-like stride in our progress. So far as our squatters are concerned, they must work their stations to suit their resources, and they must adopt the most profitable mode in disposing of their produce ; but the question for them to consider, as for the public generally, is whether the melting pot is the only resource left to them. Without entering into details on such a question, it is enough for the general consideration of the subject to know that there are millions of acres of pastoral country on this continent that are available for sheep, and are yet unstocked ; and that the experiences of the last few years have taught our pioneers of settlement that the most un-promising-looking country" can be reclaimed by the outlay of capital in the judicious erection of dams and sinking of wells. This latter would of course prove a work of time, and as a work of capital, also, would necessarily he slow except advantages were offered by our intercolonial Governments as would attract more directly and energetically to such an investment, That millions of animals should be slaughtered for the sake of the fat, and the essence which the melting pot extracts, and the insignificant price which such an operation gives per sheep to the proprietor, in the teeth of the fact that meat is selling at an unprecedentedly high price in England, says but little for the usefulness of our scientific men, or the enterprise of the people. It may well be asked what use did the Intercolonial Exhibition serve, and whether its success, whatever it was, does not become insignificant beside the statement that we are unable to supply England with the production which is characterestic of the country to the full profit of theproducer and to the great benefit of thousands of families there, and throughout the world. The farthest advance which the system of boiling-down has yet made, in the light of the above suggestion, is recorded by i the Economist, as follows: — " Result of boiling-down 1,000 prime wethers, averaging 60 lb., and yielding 28 lb. of tallow each (they often do 301b.), 12 tons lOcwt., at£36... £450 0 0 Boiling-down 1,000 head,at6d.per head £25 Caskiner ditto SO — 55 0 0 £395 0 0 Carriage of twelve and a half tons of tallow from Echuca ... 40 12 6 £354 5 6 Net result, sa. Id. per head for tallow alone, without taking into account the skin, which at this season of the yearns 3s. 6d., making 10s. 7d. per bead. Prime ewes of 501b. to 541b. per head will yield the same. A wether of the same frame, but fattened up to 541b. only (not reduced from 601b.) will give 251b. of tallow, and net 6s. 3d., or with the skin at the present time, 9a. 9d. A 481b. wether, of medium frame, in prime condition, will yield 231b., and net ss. 7d., or with the skin 9s. Id. (C To this has to be added the value of the maat, which is successfully preserved by more than one process. Let us, however, take Liebig's, now in successful practical operation by Messrs. Tooth, in Queensland, so that its application is merely a matter of capital and teaching of men the process of manipulation. The result is lb. of J essence from 301b. of meat, which is now disposed of readily here for 145.. or about sid. to the pound of meat. When supplied wholesale, the produce must find a market in Europe, where, even with the high price prevailing for meat, this price could not be relied upon ; but, as the essence contains the whole of the nutriment in the meat, we may safely count upon 2d. per lb. for the flesh of the carcase, exclusive of the tallow, which is only from one-fifth to one-seventh of the price of the same meat in England. Besides the tallow, there has been deducted for the bone from the wethers 151b., leaving 291b. of meat, value 4s. lOd. ; from the ewes, 12 b., leaving 141b., value 2s. 4d. I cannot ascertain whether the bones are included in the 301b. of meat producing the lib. of essence, but to be safe, it is deducted ; and for the same reason, the 41b. or 51b. of tallow extracted from the bones are not counted. • « The proceeds from 4 000 would be|thus :— Wethers, prime, 2,010, in tallow, 7s. Id. , per head ... £711 17 6 Ditto, essence, 45. 10 d. ditto ... ... 485 15 0 Ewes, 1,990, tallow, 7fl. Id. ditto ... 704 15 8 Essence, 2s. 4d. ditto ... ... 232 3 4 £2,134 11 6 Being 10s. BH. per head, and with the skin at the present season, 14s. 2£d. per head. Wethers of same frame, 541b., will, for tallow and essence, net Ba. 7d. ; ewes, 401b., 6s. 6d. ; being an average of 7s. 6-J-d. for the carcase alone, and 11s, Oid. counting the present skin. We take up the first English paper at hand, and find the price of mutton quoted at Bd. per lb., or £1 16s. for the carcase of 5411>., exclusive of the value of the skin. That Liebig's process, which, be it remembered, requires education and capital for a successful manipulation to realise the above resiilt, is accepted as anything like meeting tbe requirements of this country, speaks but poorly for our enterprise or invention. It is almost impossible to believe that, in this stage of the world's progress, we are unable to discover a plan whereby carcases may be shipped for say seventy days, and then sold in European markets at but a minimum reduction on the prices there ruling ; and it is somewhat strange that the late Exhibicion, with its concentration of the abilities of the colonies there displayed, did not disclose a wholesale method of packing — hermetical or otherwise — which would enable us to secure to the full the benefits of the foreign markets in this the most important branch of the colonies' productions. Of course, we are told that no means have as yet been found whereby this can be done, but the experience of all must incline them to the belief that ere long such a successful means of preservation will be discovered. The Government has offered numerous rewards for discoveries and treatises on far less important matters, and we feel convinced that on no subject would a sum of money be better spent. Besides the large and wealthy class interested in such experiments, the welfare of the general public of the colonies is so nearly concerned that the successful inventor might confidently rely on realising an independence from his researches. Indeed this, is a subject for the squatters themselves to consider \ and whether the Government move in the matter or not, our pastoral tenants ought to make such an offer of reward as would stir up men of research to a series of experiments which, if once commenced, would likely end in the discovery I of asuccessful system of racking that would enable the colonies to dispose of their surplus stock at a full and steady profit, instead of having recourse to the wasteful scheme of boiling down.

Recipe fob cleansing Woo&.— Take 1 pound of saleratus for 12 pounds of -wool, dissolve in watefr not quite boiling hot, then put in the wool and stir occasionally for an hour, take it out and squeeze it' thoroughly, or, what is better, run it through a clothes-wringer, rinse in cold water, and spread on grass-ground to dry. This process will remove all gum and dirt from any kind of woo], and make it much better for custom- work. — Vermont Farmer. A Merited Bewabd. — A physician, much attached to his profession and his own skill, during his attendance on a man of letters, observing that the patient was yery punotual in taking all his medicines and following his rules, exclaimed in the pride j of his heart, "Ah, my dear sir, now you deserve to