THE PRESERVATION OF EGGS. [BY ALEXANDER BECK, M.E., CONSUL FOR BELGIUM.]

Otago Witness, Issue 1932, 30 November 1888, Page 11 (Supplement)

THE PRESERVATION OF EGGS. [BY ALEXANDER BECK, M.E., CONSUL FOR BELGIUM.]

» The freezing and cool processes so favour1 able for the export of alimentary products 5 are unfortunately not applicable for the - keeping of eggs in a perfect state of fresh3 ness, neither for a time nor for a long fc journey. Many other processes of presers ving can be applied, but only upon small ,1 quantities, with more or less success. I t have tried 17 of them during several years, c keeping monthly notes of the state of the * eggs, as experiment. From all the recipes a and trials, as described until last year, ir n-i English, French, and German publications I, no process except the preserving in lime v composition can be used on a large scale t< :r keep eggs in quantities for a time. Still i,l none gives, properly speaking, " good egg! y for family purposes." The lime process ii n universally applied by confectioners, biscui c factories, dyeworks, &c. Every manufac c turer in every country makes his provisioi c when eggs are plentiful and correspondingl; s# cheap. t' For industrial uses no export of egg •s pickled in lime can be expected from Ne\ r Zealand for the present. There is no larg d poultry farm nor poultry district, as in som V regions in France, England, and Belgium p- but for family purposes our eggs, properl, 8 kept, would find extensive markets and obtai: c ' high prices for the reversed seasons. ite Some of the e ggs after eight months (whi h e is the required time to keep them from o U g season to the other) were forwarded to B th gium, and they reached there in the me er perfect order, although they were not sent 3Sj the cool chambers of the steamers, as is a B d visable iO these are dry. In an open airpla< o f such as a safe or a grocer's shop, eggs of o n . year's preserving did not become stale aft QS six weeks. To work the process properly i se quires some utensils and implements, whii 5(3 1 have not on account of shortness of mone -h otherwise the price — l^d — that it co : > s actually per dozen of eggs could be large [o reduced. ;n; n If the question of the preservation of egj j. was encouraged by the New Zealand Gover. !_ ment, or at least by the agricultural associ v tions of the colony, lam certain that wit [ r the inventive character of our colonists, ar t l the money of our large tradesmen, mar -. other successful processes could te found. 3> feel certain that for substantial prizes offere ;k in the agiicultuial shows the competitic c would be keen, especially if the exhibito: .. were not compelled to disclose their proces y as is the case actually for other preservin | processes. I should suggest as a genen 3 rule that the eggs preserved for exhibit, sa j= next year, should be forwarded to the assc j ciation offices six or eight months before th . show in a sealed receptacle, case, jar, or ti ; box, &c. of two cubic feet or less. Th i nature and cost of the container, also th expense of packing, ought to be considerei ' in the awarding of prizes, as those item may increase the net price of eggs even bdifference of freight. The sealed receptacl should be opened by the exhibitor in th< presence of the judges. Some other detail of the subject could be explained later on i asked for. I hope my proposal will find some suppon 'everywhere. I am sorry to see that unti now no association show in the colony has taken the matter of preserved eggs in con, sideration. This apathy is astonishing in - country like this, where the alimenter? mo ducts are the staple ones for the present The New Zealand people do not seem sufficiently aware that during the last 25 year' the annual importation of eggs in England has varied from two and a-half to three millions of pounds sterling (£3,000 000^ yearly. ' > Christchurch, New Zealand, Nov. 22, —There were assizea in Berkshire, and a horse-dealer was a witness in a trying case The counsel for the prosecution thought that he might easily discount the man's character to the jury, sc he asked him : » This hoiseclealmg now, I suppose, you would consider a very respectable profession ? " « Well come, now," replied the fellow; «I always rUd think that, savin' you lawyers, we was the biggest rascals unhung." He was allowed to stand down.— Vanity Fair. Am T rr l Ccn 1 fcl ? under fco°k to ascertain *t!fl o£a sl ? ark^y examining his teeth. Tne next mormncr t>m nan Q Q v O „„„„ ,

eill, agent for the patentees, takes up the ldgels on behalf of the machine, and attempts > wove (or indirectly asserts) that " the directs and manager of Green's Reef Company & a,ve blundered." Will you, Sir, accord me J" ? ace to reply fully to both your correspon- ° ents? There has been so much controversy tt the subject of this crushing machine, that _a , iscussion as to its merits will prove of uniersal interest. ' J.i In the first place, Sir, permit me to remark " hat I attended the recent trials of the machine £ eld at Opbir, in company with several of my j* o-directors, and that the report given by your °^ Jentral Otago correspondent in his " Mining Totes "as to those trials was absolutely correct n a every detail. „„,,., +' So far as the assertions of Mr Baldwin's J" uthority are concerned, I am somewhat in a tilemma. While not desiring to throw discredit v in his statements, I must still remark either hat the machine exhibited in Melbourne is not he same as that imported by Green's Reef Company, or else the stone was fed into the lopper in much the same form that it came ihrough the mesh- screen— " 240 holes to the square inch."' Of course, Sir, I base these assertions solely on the results of the trial of this sompany's machine. I challenge disproof by inviting the patentees to send one of their own men to Ophir to give bhe crusher a thorough trial. The company will affer him every facility for doing so. At the brial of our crusher, stone of all grades, sizes, and descriptions was fed into the hopper — in Bvery instance with distinctly negative results. No '• apparently slight instruction " was overlooked, either by the company or its manager, "either in putting the machine together, the size of the quartz fed to the rollers, or the rate at which they were fed." He received printed instructions and illustrations from Mr Neill as to the erecting of the machine, and these were faithfully followed in every particular. In fact, the machine is so very simple that he would be a very poor engineer indeed who could not erect; one of their, even without such aids. I have every confidenDe in the ability of our manager to successfully combat the difficulties (if any) contingent en its erection. He has had considerable experience in the erection of mining machinery; and has, I understand, been concerned in running up more than one roller machine. If his skill is doubted, then we shall be happy to learn that the patentees have resolved to send one of their own men to give the i mill a trial. Permit me to remark with regard to the trial that some of the stone, previous to being reduced, was of a size no greater than that of nuts or very small-sized walnuts, and weighing from 2dwt up to sdwt. It ivas thoroughly clean and free from all impurities, such as clay or pug. Every course that could be thought of was pursued in order to try and make the mill do its work, but the result was still the same, the rock not being more than half reduced, while some pieces dropped into the sluice box unscathed or untouched. In support of these statements I refer anyone interested in the matter to Mr J. E. Denniston, solicitor, Dunediu, who saw the mill at work. Now for Mr Neill's letter. In the pamphlets describing the mill purchasers, in setting up the machine, are directed to so place the rollers " that they will revolve freely without touching or impinging on each other ... If a fine product is required, the rollers may be placed within £th or l-16bh of an inch of each other . . . If the feed is coarse (such as the product of the common rock breaker) the rolls should be held apart by the check nats at least £th of an inch, and gths of an inch will give better results." Now, having regard to these instructions, will any practical miner or mechanical engineer for a moment believe that a cyclone crusher, with the rollers set Jfch or -§ths of an inch of each other, would be capable oi reducing ore sufficiently fine for it to find its waj through a 240 mesh screen ? lam of theopinior that there is no stamper battery in the country that uses so fine a screen as this — 160, 180, anc rarely 200 perforations are used, — and evei where the largest sized is adopted, the proces is by no means so remarkably rapid, and not b; any means equivalent to a reduction of " four o five tons per hour." The mill at Ophir has a crushing or reducin, capacity of not more than one ton of cleai quartz per hour. When I say " crushing capacity, I do not mean that the mill reduce the ore sufficiently fine to permit of the fre amalgamation of the gold with the quicksilvei I send you, Sir, a few ounces of stone whiuh ha been put through the roller, and which I mysei took from the tables over which the tailing ran . Previous to erecfiug the machine I receive several letters from Dunedin people condemnin the mill and saying that "it was a mere toy, and would never prove suitable to the company requirements. This opinion has been confirme — rt — ' — ' — /<*•■— •••■».» «i.V>;nJv-Kn.khA.hvp. Romp^s If the testimonials alluded to by Mr c Ni (and of which I have a copy) are absolutely c tect in details, and bonafide, it is a most exfc l " ordinary circumstance that we are unable to < c fciin similar results in Australia. Indeed, it a those selfsame testimonials, upon which (co - bined with a guarantee from Parke and La s, that the crusher would do all that was repi b sented of it) the directors of Green's Reef Co: r P a »y placed so much dependence and faith, tt . has been the means of causing the company j loss of several hundred pounds, as well as several months of precious time. j! It is to be hoped that the patentees will once take steps to erect a working plant Dunedin. If they do so, I hope they will i member that Green's Reef and Seam Workin ! Company (Limited), Ophir, own a crusher whii • has cost them a large sum of money — whi< ..crusher the directors are prepared to dispose : to them for " a small' monetary consideration Mr Baldwin apparently inclines to the opinic that roller machinery (as in the the case of flou milling) will, in tke near future, prove the be medium for reducing the golden ores whi< literally abound in all parts of Otago. Ice tainly agree with him. All the same I ai strongly of opinion that the cyclone crusher wi not prove, that medium. The only successfi roller mill in Ofcago, I believe, is one erected b Mr M'Qu*en at Wetherstones, or Blue Spu but the principle of it is widely diverse froi that of the American mill. Until, however, th has been demonstrated to the point of absolut practicability, I for one shall certainly favou the old gravitation process. If I have displayed any warmth of feeliP' this epistle (and I hope I have not) it r , attributed to the fact tha£ for the p' ? the words " cyclone crasher" haw ' - monl into the ears of the directors - c '? eeu dmn< day in and day ou,t. W&e*-" ot T thls compar posing Jam in the oo.rat>/ a l e: l p~ P resu l in mining matters-*" " t lu pe -° P - S I ? teresfc€ of conversation j- ,£ c ° f t^ principal subjec really beeomiD'- ♦£ i ? mf ? ru *} cr «sher. It a veritabta? • ° c heU nmr of our existencehe 3 r'f T,' I . don ' t care how so ° abv™ -iS. 18 - Un - ed deep m Borne un fathomab] *°y~«. When it 1S I shall be the first to place p .one m the neighborhood, bearing the memoi able words—" Requiescat in pace."— l am, &c Leslie A. Norman, xr . „ , Chairman of Directors. JVaseby, November 25.