224 . Agricultural Journal of Victoria. 



REPORT OF THE DAIRY EXPERT AND MANAGER 

 OF GOVERNMENT COOL STORES. 



R. Crowe. 



The Export Trade in Perishable Products. 



When 1 was a boy in the eighties, I remember prime legs of 

 mutton being delivered at the door for Is., 9d., and sometimes 6d. 

 each. There was then no outlet for our surplus production in mutton, 

 except through the boiling down establishments and the export of 

 tallow. Butter was at times almost unsaleable, and was often dis- 

 posed of for od. per lb., after the spring and summer supplies had 

 been kept for nearly twelve months. Cheese and other perishable 

 commodities were also subject to like uncertain market conditions. I 

 have a vivid recollection of assisting my father in the sowing and 

 cultivation of two paddocks of potatoes, consisting of 20 and 25 acres 

 respectively. The rent per acre "^vas 30s., the value of the seed was 

 20s., the laud had been ploughed twice before planting, the crop re- 

 ceived the usual scarifying, drill-harrowing, hand hoeings, and hilling 

 up, the cost of which amounted to another 30s. per acre, or a total 

 outlay of £180, and, although the yield exceeded 5 tons to the acre, 

 he realised the magnificent sum of £45 sterling, or £1 per acre. 

 Biennially, or every third year at most, many pigs were ruthlessly 

 slaughtered in order to secure payable prices for growing and fat- 

 tening the remainder. From this it will be seen that the prospects of 

 the producer in those days were very precarious indeed. Xo wonder 

 the farmers' sons left the country to obtain positions in the city as 

 civil servants, clerks, or tram conductors. Good agricultural land 

 was at a minimum, and the life of the average farmer was simply one 

 monotonous round of drudgery from daylight to dark. The task of 

 raising fi'om the soil sufficient for our limited population was a com-' 

 paratively easy matter, and when that requirement was exceeded 

 prices fell to a level which would at times not permit of both ends being 

 met, to say nothing at all of a profit. It will, therefore, be seen how 

 imperative was the necessity, to adopt methods, which would enable 

 our surplus perishable products to reach outside markets. We can 

 well understand the satisfaction felt both here and abroad at the 

 successful landing of the first consignment of fi^ozen mutton in Eng- 

 land in good condition early in 1880. 



All honour is due to the noble pioneers and inventors of refrigera- 

 ting machinery, and in this connection we should on no account forget 

 the valuable work contributed by the late Dr. James Harrison, of 

 Qeelong. He devoted the best part of his life to it, and succeeded in 

 placing artificial refrigeration upon a footing that led to its ultimate 

 adoption in the transportation of perishable products. His work has 

 since won world-wide recognition. An everlasting debt of gratitude 

 is also due to the late Mr. T. S. Mort, who spent about a quarter of a 

 million sterling in endeavouring to successfully establish the frozen 



