244 ECONOMISING LABOUR BT MACHINERY. 



We need not go into the details of curing the hides, drying and 

 smoking the tongues, extracting the oil from the hoofs, preparing the 

 horns and leg-bones for the English market — or into the fellmongering, 

 or sorting, washing, and scouring of the wool — for large numbers of sheep 

 are slaughtered, as well as cattle. From the abundance of water, how- 

 ever, all these processes are carried on with a degree of cleanliness and an 

 absence of offensive sme]ls most surprising. The paved floors are inclined 

 from the centre of the building on each side, and being frequently 

 flushed, are almost as free from impurity as the surface of a dining t:ible. 

 It will be seen from what is above stated, that every part of the beast is 

 turned to account. All the blood and offal, as well as the greaves, is de- 

 voured by the pigs, and thus turned into pork. The solid manure is 

 carefully scraped up and taken to a distance, where it is allowed to fer- 

 ment and decompose. It is then exceedingly strong, almost equal to 

 guano for gardening and agricultural purposes, and is disposed of readily 

 to the neighbouring settlers for about 10s. per load. The liquid manure, 

 of which, from the quantity of water used, there is a very large amount, 

 is run off in pipes to the garden above referred to. It is then carried 

 through the grounds by ditches or canals, and spread over the surface, 

 and is the only description of manure made use of there in the growth of 

 vegetables, &c. 



Steam pipes are carried to almost every part of the premises, so that 

 water of any degree of temperature, for the scouring of wool, &c, can be 

 had at all times wherever it is wanted ; and so great is the supply of 

 steam, that a 400-gallon tank can be made to boil in a quarter of an hour- 

 The steam-power, when not engaged in driving the machinery or for 

 heating purposes, is employed in pumping a supply of water from the 

 river into a reservoir. The main building — 80 feet square, is surrounded 

 with smaller ones lor wool-sorting, fell-mongering, and coopering, all the 

 casks used being made on the premises. The establishment is capable of 

 slaughtering and disposing of nearly 1,000 head of cattle weekly, exclu- 

 sively of sheep and pigs, and thus affording employment for a very large 

 amount of labour and capital. 



Most of the mechanical and other arrangements were designed and 

 carried out by Mr. Blaxland, whose abilities for adapting machinery so as 

 to economise labour, are, evidently, of a very high order, and can hardly 

 fail, if we may judge from the results already *obtained at Collingwood, 

 of achieving a magnificent success. 



"We have alluded above to the fact, that the value of cattle must in 

 future be measured in this colony, not by the local demand for butchers' 

 meat, but by the price which can be obtained for the various constituents 

 of the carcass in the markets of the world. This condition of things will 

 probably be permanent, and no such injurious fluctuations as have fre- 

 quently been witnessed in the colony need again be feared when the sys- 

 tem pursued at Collingwood shall once have come into general operation. 

 The methods heretofore in use were for the most part so wasteful, extra- 



