1 June, 1898. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, 455 
A highly specialised breed of any animal cannot so readily, safely, or with 
profit be adapted to altered surroundings as one which is less highly specialised, 
Instances to illustrate this might be given in great number; let a few suffice. 
Take the Shorthorn, as he has been specialised to be solely a beef-producing 
machine. With a nutritious dict no animal makes such a return in beef- 
production, but how quickly he wilts and perishes on a bush pasture in time of 
drought, when the less specialised breeds pull through in fair condition. 
Again, the English racer has been specialised for speed, until many 
specimens are like greyhounds. On rich concentrated food he grows a good 
size ; turned out to pick a living, his stock soon degenerate into weedy ponies. 
On the same pastures the stock of the Arab maintains his size, and possibly 
increases. 
Breeding from highly specialised types of horses such as the greyhound 
racer, the London coach horse (specialised wholly for broadside show), the Shire 
(specialised solely for bull), has ruined our horses. 
Breeding from animals highly specialised for milk will as certainly 
deteriorate our cattle for general purposes, as did the highly specialised 
Shorthorn; his failure to improve our cattle may be questioned, but the facts 
go to maintain the assertion, There are few Shorthorn herds in Australia 
that their owners have not had recourse to Celtic strains, to endeavour in some 
measure to overcome the bad effects resulting from this specialisation. 
There has never been presented to any generation since the dawn of 
history so many valuable object lessons in breeding and cross-breeding as are 
to be obtained in the Australia of to-day. 
With intelligent observations, together with a collection of the facts, it 
would materially assist in enlightening future generations of Australian 
breeders, and, by making them more intelligent than we have been, enable 
them to rectify our blunders and profit by our mistakes by steering clear of 
them, thus adding to the general prosperity of the Commonwealth of Australia, 
A NEW BACON-CURING PROCESS. 
A new process of bacon-curing (says the Australasian) has been brought 
under the notice of the Minister for Agriculture in Victoria, named the 
« Auto-cure Process of Bacon-curing,” which has been adopted by some of the 
large bacon factories of Sweden, and by Messrs. Oake, Woods, and Co., 
Gillingham, Dorsetshire, who have employed it for the last eighteen months 
in the production of Wiltshire bacon, The following description of the 
process is given by Mr. Down, the patentee of the new system of bacon- 
curing :— ; 
The theory of the auto-cure system of bacon-curing is based on the fact 
that the gases present in fresh meat hasten the process of decomposition which 
sets in soon after death, and that exposure to the air of the curing-house 
before completion of cure entails a risk of contamination from germs which 
can scarcely be entirely banished even by the most perfect system of yentila- 
tion. All gases are therefore first extracted from the meat by means of 
vacuum, and thorough even and impregnation is subsequently effected by 
pressure before the sides have come in contact with the air. ‘The process is 
effected by means of a cylinder, closed at one end, and fitted with a movable 
shield or door at the open end. This door has to stand a pressure of 120 1b. 
or 130 lb. to the square inch, equal to 700 tons on a surface 6 feet in diameter. 
The necessary resistance is obtained by acts of hydraulic rams, which hold the 
door in position. 
The sides to be cured are placed on wooden trays which slide into iron frame- 
works fixed on trollies. These trollies are loaded outside the cylinder and run 
on rails which are continued inside the machine. The machines at present in 
