THE RURAL WORLD.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 363, 24 May 1911, Page 2

THE RURAL WORLD.

■ — ©—@ MEAT BY-PRODUCTS. SAVING THE LAST FARTHING. One of the most interesting developments of modern science is the extraordinary vises to which the byproducts of stock are put. Nothing is wasted. The case was once described for the American hog-packing houses by saying that nothing was wasted except t!io squeal of the animal. In the slaughter houses where the horned stock are dealt with the same economy exists. It is in squeezing the very last farthing out of the industry that dividends swell, and which puts at least something into the pockets of the man who raises the cattle. As we make progress in this direction, so we better qualify ourselves to meet the opposition which the older countries of the world oiler. In the smalier establishments there is a good deal of waste going on which might be added to the profits cf those engaged in the industry. For instance, albumen is made from the blood, and is used for caiieo printing, tanning, and sugar refining. The blood is congealed into buttons, and is also used in the manufacture of beef extract and fertilisers. The leg bones of the cattle are use for making tooth brushes and knife handles, chessmen, mouth-pieces, and screws for joining the mouth-pieces of pipes to tiie stems. Some bone refuse is ground into Hour and made into "billiard balls and buttons. Bones from the cooked meat are boiled, and the fat and gelatine extracted. Horns are made into buttons, combs, brushes, and pipe mouthpieces. Hoofs are made into buttons, cyanide of potassium, and fertilisers. Gelatine and glue are extracted by boiling from the soft bones of the head, shoulders, ribs, and breast, and cores of the horns, although the scraps from the hides, especially calves, are the best for gelatine. Glycerine and glue are also extracted from the water after the removal by boiling of the grease from the scraps. Neatsfoot oil is extracted from the feet, and oieo is made from the fat. In Australia and New Zealand most of these products arc turned out at the meat-works, but there are a few that we miss. The methods of extraction are, no doubt, more advanced in older countries. Some of the processes are secrets known only to the patentees. Of course, the beef fat is the most valuable by-product, for it is largely used in the manufacture of margarine and other domestic commodities. The production of this article of general use is now reduced to a fine art. In these old-world factories the fat is gone over very carefully and selected into two grades. It is then chopped up very fine by a hasher, working at the rate of 600 revolutions a minute. There are many different kinds of machines, but all are designed to cut up the fat very small without bruising it. The chopped fat is then put into large kettles, set level with the floor, and the contents are boiled, being kept continually stirred by an agitator. When the liquid has been thoroughly cooked, it is drawn from the top and placed in another kettle, to settle and clarify. It is then placed in shallow pans with a cloth in each, and put in a press, and the whole is subjected co a pressure of 2501b to the square inch. The oleo i 3 generally subjected to two pressures, and the stearino, which is left in the pans, is made into cakes. The stearine is generally white, and is used for making candles, chewing-gum, etc. The oleo is placed in barrels for shipment, or used for making butterine. When used for the latter purpose it is mixed with cotton-seed oil and milk (in the be3t grades 40 per cent, of fresh cream is used), and in some cases with beef lard. The refuse from the first boiling is pressed into cakes and sold as chicken food. Fig fat is treated in the same way as to hashing and cooking, but has to be continually stirred whlie cooking; it is then filtered and run into a trough, where it is collected by a cooling cylinder with a cold water jacket revolving in the trough, to which the lard adheres. The lard is scraped otr and filled by a pump or from an agitator, to prevent lumps forming into cans or pails. Scap-making is an industry in which the packers have made a great success. The hides are nearly all sold to tanners, either directly or through brokers, but sonic of the American packers have interests in large tanneries, and send most of their hides to them. THE WOOL YEAR. Messrs Hehr.uth Schwartze and Co., of London, have recently issued their annual estimate of the production and consumption of wool, which cannot fail to be of interest to all engaged in the pastoral industry. These authorities show that the total quantity of raw wool available for consumption in 1030 was 25-16 million ib, against 2592 and 2295 million lb in 1909 and 1908. As in the years before the imports were influenced by the shifting of arrivals, and the new wools received from Australia and the Gape by the end of December were smaller, those from the River Plate larger, than at the end of 1909. The receipts from the colonies and the River Plate in Europe and North America during the calendar year amounted to 2,403,000 bales Australasian, 301,000 bales Cape, and 471,00'J baiea River Plate, against 2,351,000, 400,000, and 5516,000 bales respectively in 1909. The conspicuous feature was the great decrease from the River Plate, which for the "season" was even larger than for the year, viz., 110,000 bales of a size nearly double that of the Australian bale. The supply of "other sorts" showed a decrease of Mediterranean, East India, and China wools, as compared with tfte huge figures a year

ago, but there was same increase in Wt-at Coast produce, Patagonian wool, and mohair.

A comparison or the number of sheep at various times, and in relation to population as given by some statisticians, is somewhat misleading as far as the production of wool is concerned. As we shewed in our annual report, Australasia possessed last year about the same number of sheep as in ISDI, but the production has grown about fifty per cent., and not only in the number of bales, which may now be somewhat different in condition and size, but also in our estimate of the quantity of clean wool produced, viz., 440 against 20million lb in 1891. It is a well known fact that the average shearing weight per sheep, owing to improvements, and particularly to crossing, has largely increased in Australasia and the River Piate, and also in Continental countries and other places. The quantity of clean wool at the disposal of the industry (not the quantity actually consumed in the form of manufactures) was on the average periods as follows per head of the population : —-1861-70 —2.261b ; 1871-80—-2.431b, increase, 7| per cent on previous period; 1881-90 —2.571b, increase, 6 per cent; 1891-1900 —2.761b, increase, 7X percent; 1901-10 —2.65 lb, decrease, 4 per cent. Taking the last five years separately, the amount is 2.701 hj, against 2.611b per head from 1901 to 1905. Last year's distribution shows a large falling off in North America, but a considerable increase in the quantity left for consumption in the United Kingdom and a further moderate increase on the Continent. The present season's supply is not likely to show any material difference. It appears now that the increase from Australia and the River Plate wiil be hardly so important as at first expected. We estimate it at 100,000 and 40,000 bales respectively; but on the basis of present information scarcely half that quantity may be readied in each case. New Zealand and the Cape had favourable seasons, and there will probably be no increase, and possibly a decrease in production.