1 Marz., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULLURAL JOURNAL. 229 
The thing to do is evidently to reduce these prostrating influences to a 
minimum, and this will be rapidly accomplished. A prospective gain of such 
magnitude as there is in sight through this operation will not be allowed to 
elude the American people much longer when complete success has been so 
nearly achieved, With the lessons of the past season for our guidance, the 
improvements suggested in this article will be greatly facilitated and hastened. 
Until the process has been perfected and satisfactorily proved by experi- 
ment, it is well that cattle-owners should not be too rash in dipping their 
animals. ‘The dipping is now a practical success and will be continued, but the 
man who risks all the cattle he owns at one dipping, or who dips cattle that 
are poor, weak, and already exhausted, is, to say the least, injudicious. Persons 
inclined to take such chanees should remember that the Government is not 
responsible for any damages which may occur, and that the prospects of 
recovering from the owners of the dipping plant will not justily the risk. 
General Notes. 
STRAW ENVELOPES FOR BOTTLES. 
As the manufacturing industries of Queensland are yearly on the increase, 
many of them involving a demand for protective coverings to bottles of various 
descriptions, it becomes an interesting question whether these coverings, 
especially the well-known straw envelopes, could not be profitably produced in 
the colony. 
During the course of last year the attention of the Department of Agri- 
culture was drawn to an official report by H.M. Consul at Bordeaux, in which 
a paragraph occurs relating to the manufacture of these straw envelopes, which 
is quoted as an important item of trade. , 
The possibility of this industry being entered upon in Queensland induced 
the Department to make inquiries in Hurope on the matter, and the Agent- 
General was asked to inquire fully into it, and to obtain all the requisite 
information as to mode of manufacture, machinery necessary, cost of produc- 
tion, &e. 
The report above referred to says:—‘‘In basket work is included the 
jmportant item of straw envelopes for bottles, of which over 7,000 ewt. were 
shipped to England by the general steam navigation company’s steamers alone, 
while large quantities were also exported to Newhaven, Bristol, Glasgow, 
Liverpool, and Hull by the lines. They are made by hand and by special 
machinery, and the price, delivered on the Bordeaux Quay, is from 12 fr. 50 c. 
to 14 fr. 50 c. (10s. to 11s. 8d.) per 1,000.” 
Full information was subsequently received from the Agent-General, of 
which the following is the gist :— 
The envelopes are made in many parts of France, especially, however, at . 
Bordeaux, by Messrs. G. and J. Lacour Bros., who make them on their own 
machinery. They are also largely manufactured in asylums and prisons, thé 
asylums for the blind being large producers. 
In the Netherlands (Holland) the manufacture is carried on at six or 
seven factories. These are situated at Eindhoven, Groningen, Arnhem, Coster- 
hout, and Vricht, and envelopes are also made by the inmates of the prison at 
Hoorn. 
The straw*of which they are made naturally varies in price, according to 
the produce of grain. Long clear straw is valued at from £2 to £2 5s. the 
ton, and short kinds at from £1 to £1 10s., whilst the cuttings from the 
factory are a source of revenue, realising about 15s. the ton as waste. 
