1 May, 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 337 
The cost of such a mill would be as follows :— 
Compound high-pressure engine and boiler, 40 h.p. .., £1,500 
Rollers, smutting, dusting, cleaning, dressing and 4,000 
elevating machinery 
Erecting machinery ss te 209 $33 te eee OOO, 
Totaly tect. wei oa em eben PEG OO 
The duty of 25 per cent. on the engine must be added to the above 
estimate. 
A flour mill of this description would grist seven sacks of flour (280 Ib, 
each, English measure) per hour. 
A far cheaper plant, however, and one which would be of great advantage 
to farmers in many wheat-growing districts is the “Three Sack Plant,” that is 
a mill which will grist about 900 1b. per hour. This can be worked with a 
20-h.p. portable engine, costing £500. The grinding machinery, including all 
necessary appliances, would come to £2,500, to which must be added cost of 
erection, say, about £300. Freight, carriage, commissions, sundries, &c., will 
bring the total cost to over £3,600. 
In the above estimates we have not taken the buildings or land into con- 
sideration, as the Jand might be obtained gratis in the interests of the district 
in which a co-operative mill is proposed to be established, whilst, as to the 
buildings, these must necessarily vary in style according to the conditions of 
site, foundations, and the length of the shareholders’ pockets. 
In any case the whole thing would have to be placed in the hands of a 
competent engineer from start to finish. The fitting up of the milling 
machinery, however, should be entrusted to those who make a speciality of such _ 
work. 
A flour mill should not be less than. four stories high. This allows for 
basement, grinding floor, machine floor, garner floor, and over that in the roof 
which is termed the shooting stage. i 
We have taken some trouble to ascertain facts in connection with existing 
flour-mills (privately owned) in order that farmers who intend beginning the 
eristing business on the co-operative system may have fairly accurate data on 
which to base their calculations. s 
In the first place, an analysis of the results of Mr. Tiliett’s experiment 
will show that, although that gentleman is satisfied with his returns, it does not 
follow that all farmers would be equally successful in the direction of gristing 
their wheat. It takes 52 bushels of wheat to produce 1 ton of 2,000 lb. of 
flour. At 4s. per bushel this would equal £10 8s. per ton, or, excluding waste, 
£11 per ton on an average. ; 
Let us put the result in tabular form for convenience of calculation, 
taking, however, the price of wheat at 3s. 9d. per bushel :— 
52 bushels wheat, at 3s. 9d. wi aay ao 2) iy) 
Gristing, at 1s. per bushel sth x55 oo) BEB 
5 extra bags supplied by miller ... Unsere 
12 8 8 
1 ton flour (nominal value at mill) £11 0 O 
940 lb. bran and pollard ... ik 8} @ 
aeeeeeees 12,3 6 
