1 Dec., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 473 
TAKING OFF HIDES. 
A mine may be so injured in removing it from the animal that enough will not 
be realised for it to pay for the time occupied in doing the work. The “ National 
Provisioner,” speaking of removing the skins from cattle and calves, gives the 
following hints, which it will pay any farmer or stock-raiser to make note of, 
for, even though one may not kill any animals for eating purposes, no one is so 
fortunate as never to lose one by accident or disease. In skinning beef hides and 
calf skins, keep the back of the knife close to the hide, and draw it tightly with 
the left hand. ‘Thisis a simple rule, but, by following it, the liability to cut or 
score is considerably lessened. On the foreleg the knife should go down to the 
armpit, so called, and then forward to the point of the brisket. On the hind 
leg, the cut should be made from the hoof of one down to the back of the leg 
semicircularly across one to the other, and on to the hoof. The throat 
should never be cut crogs-wise, and the horns and tail bones should always be 
removed. The operation of salting is equally important. To salt hides 
thoroughly, a waterbucket full of good salt should be used to each 60-1b. hide, 
the quantity for large and small hides being in proportion. After this they 
should be rubbed and rolled up. Independent of cuts and scores, hides which 
are not taken off in the manner specified are classed as Nos. 2, and if dried on 
fences or exposed to the sun or weather are only fit for the glue-maker. A. 
butcher’s skinning knife should always be used, and no employee should be 
permitted to take off hides without one, as the loss from one hole in a hide 
would buy several such knives. ‘These few rules are simple enough, but their 
adoption means a great deal to the country slaughterer. 
ARTIFICIAL BEE-FEEDER. 
Txoss who have gone in for bee-keeping will realise the necessity for some 
artificial means of succouring the insects in the early spring after a spell of 
warm weather has induced them to quit their winter quarters. After stocks 
have been divided in the autumn, and a sufficient quantity of queens have been 
distributed, the bees, under ordinary conditions, will be well until the follow- 
ing spring. It is at the period preceding summer that the stock breed rapidly, 
and then pollen is required. Failing pollen from fruit trees and flowering 
plants, a substitute must be given, placed so that the insects can get at it 
readily. A good artificial food is provided by dipping a bundle of hemp or 
tow into peaflour. This should be suspended under a glass bell, supported by 
