1 Noy., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. ts 467 
staple should be immediately seized by the left hand and brought over on to the 
thumb of the right hand, when the average length can be easily gauged and 
determined. The soundness of the staple should then be tried, by holding the 
ends of the staple in both hands, when a sharp pull will disclose the degree of 
soundness. The fineness of the wool must now be ascertained, and to do so the 
staple should be taken and opened with the two hands‘from top to bottom. A 
careful examination will enable the grade to be ascertained, as well as the 
cleanness. In thus determining the degree of fineness of the wool, some little 
practice is needed, but with perseverance no one need despair of acquiring 
proficiency. ; 
In our next we shall treat the question of skirting, and wiil also give 
a list of technical terms and their meanings. : 
SHIPPING HAY. 
We learn from a southern exchange that a Ballarat firm has secured an order 
for 500 tons of hay in trusses for the Cape. ‘This hay is worth in Victoria 
about £2 per ton. The Age gives the freight at £5 per ton weight, owing to 
the bulk of this article. his and other charges would bring the cost at Cape- 
town or Natal to £8 per ton, or four times the original cost of the hay. 
To ship hay in trusses, in the ordinary acceptation of the term “ truss,” 
would appear to be a most expensive way of getting forage to South Africa. 
The price of the primest oaten ie in Victoria, dumped in very nice bales each 
weighing about 2 cwt., and which is hydraulically pressed and bound together 
with two hoop-irons and éight battens on each ‘bale, is: £38 per ton f.o.b. Geelong 
or Melbourne. The pricé of chaff dumped—thiat is, four bags bound into one 
bale with battens and hoop-irons—is £2 5s. to £2 10s. per ton, but likely to 
advance a little. Some of the forage which the War Office authorities have 
been buying is a compressed fodder, which is only made up in Melbourne, and 
consists of bran, crushed oats, and chaff made up in very neat packages about 
12 inches wide, 18 inches long, and 15 inches thick. Hach package is made u 
in canyas with two wires, and contains exactly 1 ewt. Such packages Sih 
stow admirably in a ship’s hold. As 40 cubic feet go to the ton measurement, 
twenty-two of these bales would measure a little over’a ton. Its selling price 
in Brisbane (with a 25 per cent. duty added) is £7 10s. per ton. There . 
is no doubt, judging by the sample shown to us by Messrs. Robert 
Little and Co., of Roma street, this is a most excellent forage, and one 
which effectually does away with all waste. The company, however, have 
patented the process by which this forage is produced,’and Queensland farmers 
or possible exporters will have to bale the hay in the ordinary manner, and have 
it dumped on arrival in Brisbane. The cost of dumping would be as follows :— 
Two bales in one (farmers’ bales), receiving and delivering, and supplying hoop- 
iron, per bale, 1s. 6d. Chaff in bags, four bags in one, including hoop-iron, 
from 4d. to 5$d. per bag. There are presses of a kind which turn out small 
compact bales at a great rate; in fact, the speed is only limited by the rapidi 
with which the wires can be fastened. We believe that there are several suc 
presses in the colony amongst the farmers above and below the Range. It is 
satisfactory to learn that diligent inquiries are being made as to the best 
means to deal with the large quantity of valuable forage so suddenly thrown 
on the farmers’ hands, and no doubt long before the hay is ready for baling 
some satisfactory way out will be found. Meanwhile it must not be forgotten 
that, tf even £2 per ton can be obtained for it, it is better than a wheat crop, 
and will put £60,000 at least into the farmers’ pockets. 
In some parts of America they are adopting a system of pressing chaff into 
cubes pressed by hydraulic power without the use of bags, the bales bein. 
bound by wire supported by Taieeey It is said that after the wire is remove 
the chaff separates into its ordinary condition after a lapse of 24 hours. 
