HOW TO MAKE MONEY OFF BUSH CLEARING.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 57

HOW TO MAKE MONEY OFF BUSH CLEARING.

(By H. M. Levinge, M. 8.) An article in the ‘"'New Zealand Times’ J recently lamented the destruction of Jb'ash. wliiehNlt has probably taken some hundreds of years to produce, and referred to the dangers of bush fires, which after all only burn the fences and leave the heavy stems covered with charcoal to damage the sheep’s fleece and- prevent, grass growing for the time they take to rot. •In forest districts the timber must be got rid) of before dairy farming begins, there-' fore chemical co-operative factories should precede dairying operations and could be conducted on the same lines. The products got from, the destructive distillation of wood are needed all over the world, such as acetic acid, wood spirit (methyl alcohol), potash, charcoal and plaster of ■Paris." New Zealand’s sup-ply of these comes, at present, from the- opposite side of the world, just as far as it is possible for two places to b© situated on the face of the earth. . In other words, we are allowing such places as Germany and America to sell their products of forest destruction to us while our own are allowed to rot on the ground. I have often seen sheep among the prostrate logs, and reflected that the potash to make sheep dip and soft soap to scour their wool was almost touching them, and yet it would be bought 12,000 miles away and carried here. In the case ok. acetic acid it is the same. Now, a cord, of wood will make sufficient acetic acid to produce 100 gallons of vinegar, and only needs 6Tbs of the coarsest bsrown sugar. New Zealand should export potash and acetic acid', preparatory to cheese and butter. The - dairy-;, industry •is ’ not- in itself a perfect very/’3^'would, be called but bf ;tHe ; ; twentyrfour hours. It c-auses enormous loss of time, driving to' and from factories ueach twenty - four' hours and teaches thb people Sabbath desecration, so much so that in dairy districts work seems Just the same one day as another. An aceric acid factory could be run on similar lines. ; But-.there, would be no need for visiting the-factpry dh|ly,ur on Sundays. y With a'ceffp at; Ip,pehpound each gallon'of pyroligneous acid would be worth the saftie -as hiilK, viz;; 3d -per gallon ; and if the'farnietowbfit'. a little 1 ' further, distilled iheir‘;pyrolignebus aefdj sbpai’ated the first quarter costing' o'v ersbfas to get the methyl fmd hyapOtat.edftG .dryness-:, : tKe:: acetate of ; vvould resuit. ''Wjbuimey dhceh” week to the factory with their acetate of lime and crude spirit would be ample. A ton of acetate of lime would mean carying one - third of a ton of lime; 7461bs and acetic acid. Lime is worth about 30s a ton, and if lime could hot be got the ashes of certain -frees, notably tawai and tree ferns are almost entirely lime. •Of course an expert chemist would manage such a factory, and suppliers would be paid by result, similar to milk suppliers at present. The factory would make its own vitriol on the spot, as the carriage of vitriol would be ruinous. A ton of sulphur would make about 3J tons of vitriol, as at present sold, and this vitriol would finally be sold as plaster of paris (gypsum or sulphate of lime). This sulphate of lime is an excellent addition to artificial manures. I expect sulphur would be about £5 per ton, and a ton of vitriol' would, after liberating the acetic acid, from a ton and a half of plaster of paris.