« April, 1908.] 



Wood Di still at/ o/L 



223 



The chemical portion of the plant is under the charge of jNIr. Renck- 

 hoff, and the system adopted is that of F. H. Meyer, Hanover, Hainaults. 

 About 200 hands are employed with a monthly wages sheet of over /^i,ooo. 

 The works were commenced in August, 1906, and are not vet in full work- 

 intr order. 



TYPICAL STRINGY-BARK. 



Every success must Ije wished such an important industry. The turn- 

 ing of practically worthless timber into products worth over ^2 per ton 

 is only accomplished by a large expenditure on labour, and, practicallv, 

 on labour only. The advantages of manufacturing our own explo'sives are 

 very great, although it is hoped we will not fully appreciate this side of 

 the question for a considerable time. Suoh districts as the Otway and 

 Heytesbury forests are peculiarlv suitable for such industries, and with 

 the assurance of profit from similar works large areas might be rendered 

 available for the settler. In those localities, there are large stretches of 

 grass tree country ; the grass tree {Xanthorrlioea Australis) contains large 

 percentages of sugar, varying from 10 to 18, and from these alcohol might 

 be obtained bv fermentation and direct distillation. There are other pos- 

 sibilities in the utilization of our apparently worthless forest products, and 

 farmers generally will watch with interest the developments in this way. 



