450 Journal of Agriculture, Victoria. [10 Aug., 1918, 



A committee was formed which carried out some experiments, and suc- 

 ceeded in reducing the space to be occupied by each bale. Two bales 

 of dumped wool were put together and double-dumped, with the result 

 that each cubic foot of space carried 25.3 lbs. of greasy wool against 

 20 lbs. to the foot, and 18.8 lbs. of scoured wool against 16.2 lbs. when 

 only single-dumping was the practice. In other words, with double- 

 dumping, a bale of greasy wool measured 13 ft. 4 in. instead of 17 ft. 

 3 in., and a bale of scoured wool occupied 13 ft. 6 in. where previously 

 17 ft. 5 in. of space was taken up. This means a saving of 4 cubic 

 feet for each bale, or about 10 per cent. Thus nine steamers will now 

 carry as much wool as ten did formerly. You will recognise that this 

 achievement is an equivalent to the building of new ships, and is 

 calculated to largely help in circumventing the depredations of the 

 enemy. 



If the chief woollen goods required for our own use were manufac- 

 tured here the whole of the shipping space required for wool sent 

 to oversea destinations to be woven and then returned to Australia, 

 oould be saved by the manufacture of certain articles in our own 

 country. There is no reason why the leading pxoducts of wool could 

 not be wholly made up in Australia. Blankets, flannels, tweeds, and 

 such like should, in the near future, have no place in our imports. 

 Owing to the war, increased attention has been given to the manufac- 

 ture of our own goods, and the present output is limited owing to the 

 difiiculty of getting increased machinery. This, however, should be 

 remedied in good time. As the operations are proving very profitable, 

 there appears no good reason why some of the present mills should con- 

 tinue working only one shift a day. The turnover, in some instances, 

 could be doubled and trebled by increasing the shifts, and overhead 

 expenses per yard of material produced thus considerably reduced, and 

 all sections of the community benefited. All our mills are working 

 night and day, and are proving very profitable. The industry 

 is one that lends itself to adaptation in country centres, as is illustrated 

 by its success at Ballarat, Geelong, Castlemaine, and Warrnanibool. Some 

 large firms have successfully developed certain branches of this industry, 

 and it is rumoured that others are to follow. The quantity of wool used 

 locally for manufacturing purposes from 1907 to 1913 ranged between 

 five and six million pounds weight, and for 1915 it exceeded 

 11,000,000 lbs. 



Wheat. 



Tn the Journal of the Department of Agriculture for August, 1917, 

 an excellent article appeared on the " Milling and Baking Qualities of 

 Australian Wheat," by Mr. Scott, Chemist for Agriculture, and Mr, 

 Winslow, Milling Expert. In that article it was shown that, in Aus- 

 tralia, 2,814,008 tons of wheat were then available for shipment, and 

 this quantity gristed would, on a 70 per cent, flour basis, return 

 1,868,713 tons. Taking the carrying capacity of the ships engaged in 

 the transport of wheat at approximately 4,500 tons, the number of 

 shiploads required to transport the wheat would total, in round figures, 

 625, while if the wheat were milled here, and the flour exported, ship- 

 ping would be reduced by one-third, for the flour could be transported 

 in 415 cargoes. They pointed out that, besides the immense saxang in 



