338 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1898. 
Here, by gristing his own wheat, the farmer appears to have lost 5s. 2d. 
Supposing his flour to have sold at £12, the profit would be 14s. 10d. per ton. 
But everyone knows that wheat. is much mixed. It contains oats, barley, 
perished grain, and dust, which have to be extracted by various processes, thus 
considerably reducing the weight of good grain in 52 bushels, which it takes to 
make 1 ton of flour. This ites runs from 2 to 3 lb. per bushel, the result of 
clearing and grading. Small wheat weakens the flour. 
Farmers naturally wish to sell their wheat as soon as possible after 
harvest, for one reason that they have not always storage room for the grain. 
Now the miller has to buy it from thein, and hence has often immense stocks 
on hand. 
This means the locking up of a large amount of capital, but all millers 
have to do so more or less. If they could just buy for present requirements they 
could afford to give a better price for the wheat than if they had to buy great 
quantities to run the mills right through the year. Some have bought six, seven, 
and eight months ahead of immediate requirements, and one company had in 
one year 3,500 sacks of wheat in stock. ‘hey had to buy whether they wanted 
the wheat at the time or not. armers sometimes have to sell under pressure 
of want of means and must get rid of their crop, and where quantities of wheat 
are rushed into the market at once, prices naturally decline. Then to come 
to the capital required by a milling company after erection of the buildings 
and machinery. irst, there is the interest on the dead capital sunk in the 
undertaking. Second, there is a probable rental of premises in which to store 
grain (if the mill be in a town). Thirdly, insurance. Fourthly, cost of labour 
for handling and packing grain and flour in the stores. J*ifthly, the first and 
_ second cartage of grain into the store. Then we have the screening of the new. 
wheat. Further, there is loss owing to mice, rats, and weevils. So that there 
is considerable expense and risk before any gristing can be done. Then when 
the flour is made, it is well not to sell it hot from the rollers. The flour-miller’ 
who does so courts disaster. ITlour must have some age. ‘This improves the 
quality. It should be kept a month at least in stock before being sent out. 
These and other working expenses of a mill such as we have described as being 
equal to coping with 200,000 busheis per annum would amount to £2,500 per 
annum. 
The co-operative mill is a mill with shareholders who are the growers of 
the wheat, and who supply the mill with grain, They naturally expect their 
grain to be taken in preference to that of outsiders by their own mill. Many 
farmers are sometimes entirely in the hands of the storekeepers, and if they 
cannot sell their wheat, the storekeeper must take it, and make the best bargain 
he can with the mill-owners, but as he can afford generally to hold it for some 
time he gets a much better price than he gave for it. 
The market for flour, bran, and pollard made on the Downs is Brisbane, 
the western market being limited, and the freight on wheat to the Brisbane 
market is 2d. per bushel for Mss of 4 tons. 
Now what we have Pred to point out in this short nivale is that tere is a 
very considerable expense incurred in the establishment of a first-class mill, and 
nothing else will do. Small flour-mills will no more pay than small sugar-mills. 
A large amount of capital is required for labour (about £50 per week). Both 
