LARD AS AN EXPORT.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume I, Issue 28, 19 April 1845, Page 3

LARD AS AN EXPORT.

In our recent numbers we have extracted several articles from the Sydney Morning Herald, shewing the advantages and importance of lard as an export. The public attention at Sydney has been directed to this subject, in consequence of the success of their experiments in boiling down sheep and cattle for the purpose of producing tallow. Despair, caused by their late commercial,embarrassments, prompted the experiment ; and the result has been complete success. Tt has fixed the minimum value of sheep at ss. per head, and has provided a sure market for the disposal of the surplus stock of that colony, and a certain provision against loss in seasons of drought. The experiment had not been tried more than twelve months, before the tallow exported was valued at £200,000, of which the mutton tallow, the estimated produce of 540,000 sheep, was valued at £J 35,000. Elated by the tuccess of a discovery which has added an article of so much importance to their exports, and reasoning from analogy, they argue, " if tallow answers so well, why should not lard ? Lard is not a discovery, — it has already been an established article of export from the United States for several years ; its market price may be easily ascertained, — we have only to compute the cost of production, to ascertain the amount of profit to be realized." The total amount of tallow imported into Great Britain from Russia in 1833, according to M'Culloch, was 3,600,000 poods, or 5,741 tons, which, at 355. per cwt. (exclusive of freight and other shipping charges)wasworth 2,009, 350?. and the demand since that time has been steadily increasing. The principal uses of tallow are in the manufacture of candles and soap, in dressing leather, and for machinery. Now, in whatever ■way tallow is useful, lard is useful in a superior degree, and would consequently command a higher price. By a simple and unexpensive chemical process, lard may be divided into two substances, in the proportion of two thirds qleine, and one third stearine. The oleine, or oily substance, obtains a higher price in the London markets than sperm oil, and is preferred for machinery; the stearine is used for the manufacture of candles, and by a further chemical process, may be converted into spermaceti. From what has been stated, it will be evident that the demand for the article is very great, and is yearly increasing, it only remains to shew how our fellow colonists may be benefited by preparing lard as an export. This, we conceive, may best be done by a comparison of the capabilities for breeding and fattening hogs in America, where it has for many years been successfully practised, and in New South Wales, where it is on tbe eve of being-tried, with the advantages we possess in New Zealand. In an account of the pork trade of Cincinnati, extracted from an American paper into the New Zealand Gazette last year, it is stated, " that about twenty years since, this trade was so insignificant, that no one house was engaged in it exclusively, and the whole number of hogs then cut in one season did not exceed 10,000. From this insignificant beginning the business has increased, so that the number of hogs killed this year in Cincinnati (1843) will probably reach 250,000. And instead of a few houses incidentally engaged in the business a part of the year, there are now twenty-six pork houses 'exclusively engaged in it, and which use a capital of nearly two millions of dollars." The writer proceeds to say, that the district in the West chiefly devoted to the raising of pork as an article of export may be comprised in a circle of three hundred miles in diameter, with Cincinnati as its centre, — and that besides 250,000 hogs (as above stated) killed in Cincinnati, at leastS^ many more would be killed for the same purpose" in other parts of the district. These hogs are taken to market in droves of 500 to 1,000 frequently a distance of 200 miles. They are fed on cultivated food, chiefly maize ; and during winter, which in the United States is severe, the snow lying for months on the ground, they are stye fed. All these points form material items in the coSfr of production, and yet, as we have seen, the pork trade, and converting the hog into lard as an export, is carried on to a very great extent. In New South Wales, where the climate is arid, and the return from cultivation uncertain, and where the hogs must be fed chiefly on cultivated food, it is confidently expected to prove a remunerating pursuit. Lard has been prepared there, and sold at the rate of 28s. per cwt., and a manufactory of spermaceti from lard is established in Sydney. It is stated that the price of lard in the London -market varies, according to the quality, from 4ls. 6d. to 575. ? Here, we should imagine, is sufficient encouragement to the most cautious. If we consider the question of expencein feeding pigs for producing lard on cultivated food, the advantages are clearly in our favour. We have no severe winters as in America — vegetation is most luxuriant, and there is no uncertainty in the return of our crops as in New South Wales. Where the cost of clearing the land is so great as in this country, a careful system of husbandry, and a rotation of grain and green crops must be adopted according to the practice established in England. It will be necessary then, to keep animals to feed off the green crops, and to produce manure to keep the ground in heart, and

pigs must therefore form part of cveiy well ordered farming establishment. Maize may be obtained on the coast from the natives as cheaply as in New South Wales. On the east coast the sweet potatoe grows most luxuriantly, and pigs thrive exceedingly on this root : in all parts of New Zealand peach orchards would be found to answer equally well with those in the United States, which are so useful to the farmer for making cyder, for supplying his family with fruit, and for feeding pigs with the refuse. On all fern lands the settler will find pigs most useful auxiliaries in preparing his land for cultivation, while the fern root, from its fattening properties, would greatly increase the weight of the animal. From the more equable temperature of our climate, and the lower range of the thermometer, varying from 40 to 80 degrees, we possess superior advantages to New South Wales in preparing salt pork, hams, and bacon, as articles of export. But if we consider the immense quantity of pigs in many districts of New Zealand, and the low price at which they may be obtained from the natives, the superiority we enjoy for the manufacture of lard as an export will be still more evident. At Manawatu, Wanganui, Taranaki, on the east coast, and in other districts of New Zealand, pigs may be purchased from the natives at the rate of Id. per lb. in exchange for trade. In the Sydney Morning Herald it is stated, that a pig of average fatness, weighing 224 lb. yielded 168 lb., or three-fourths of its gross weight in lard. Assuming the prices above stated — 224 lb. pork at Id. per lb. £0 18 8 168 lb. lard at 3d. per lb. 2 2 0 £13 4 would be left for fuel, labour, casks, freight to Port Nicholson, and profit. No expensive preparations are required for engaging in this pursuit. A large boiler, and a few pounds in trade would be sufficient to commence witli. The lard, particularly in the winter months, might be sent to Wellington packed in skins or old casks, and might afterwards be rendered into convenient sized casks for shipment to England. Mr. Varnhnm, of Tarauaki, has prepared a ton of lard, and hopes shortly to have four tons ready for exportation. His method of preparing it is more expensive than we should recommend for a first experiment. All the fat is carefully separated from the carcass, is afterwards cut into small pieces, rendered down, and carefully strained, and the lean is sold as food to the settlers at from Id. to l^d. per lb. The lard is described as being in a semi fluid state, and resembling in appearance Sperm oil in cold weather. The pigs are purchased from the Waikatos, who drive them down lo Taranaki. On their arrival they are very lean, but after ieeding them for six weeks on boiled potatoes mixed with a little maize, they get into excellent condition. Another great advantage, at present neglected, will be found in the swamps at Manawatu and other places on the coast, which abound with the raupo, of which the pigs are exceedingly fond, and on which they fatten very quickly. The carcases of whales, which at present are allowed to drift away after the blubber is removed, might also be used with advantage for fattening pigs for the purpose of producing lard as an export. In Russia the tallow is divided iuto different sorts, particular warehouses are appropriated for its reception, on its arrival it is selected and assorted, and the casks are marked with three circular stamps, which state the quality of the tallow, the period of selecting, and the name of the selector. A similar arrangement would obtain with lard, as the price in England would vary according to the kind of food on which the animal had been fed, the lard produced from pigs fed chiefly on com commanding the highest price, and that from whale fed pork the lowest. From what has been said it is evident that it is in the power of every settler engaged in farming to produce an export for which there *is a very increasing demand, for which he is sure to meet with a ready sale, and on which advances would be made by the Bank on the bills of lading, as on oil or any other established export. The cost of production is comparatively trifling, while the return is highly remunerating, particularly to those who should establish themselves in those districts on the coast where pigs are most abundant. When we consider that a good breeding sow will produce, on an average, twenty pigs in the course of the year, and that these pigs would be fit for boiling down in eighteen months, each producing about 1501bs. of lard, while a sheep three years old will only produce from 1 6 to 251bs. of tallow, we may form some conception of the superior advantages attending the preparation of lard as an export. We hope our fellow colonists may consider the matter; — where the advantages are so manifest, it is only necessary that the experiment should be fairly tried by a few judicious persons, and we have no fear as to the result.