The morning call., 1893-04-30
FROZEN FACTS ABOUT MUTTON.

The wars of the butchers have not re-
duced the cost of beef or mutton to the
consumer. and we are gravely Iold that the
supply Of meat from the ranges is falling eff
year after year, so that a steady advance in
its value may be anticipated. Considering
the area oil pasture land in California, Ari-
iona, Nevada and Oregon, the statement
seems to invoke drain on public credulity:
it must pass for what it is worth. 1t is
curious that while we are suffering from
scarcity OF animal food, the country on
the other side of the ocean which most re-
semeles CalifOrn ia-Australia- wrestling
with precisely the opposite proDlem-how
to get rid of surplus Of animal products.
a recent report from Government de-
pariment in New South Wales states that
that colony must export 100000 sheep
annually 10 keep its focks within reason
able limits il it does not, a large number Of
valuable animals will die of starvation in
the dry season. or will have to be sold at
Sydney for what they will bring, which has
IN times past been as little as siXpenee
head for sheep, and 81 head for steers. To
relieve the 81 ut, the Australians began
thirteen years ago TO ship frozen beef and
mutton. The industry started well. But
from causes which are not explained, the
only colony which succ eeded in exporting it
on a large scale has been New Zealand.
Last year Great Britain took 5, 323, S21 frozen
sheep from Australasia; but of these Aus
tralia only contributed 1874, sos carcasses as
against !, SIC, 100 from New Zealand. Two
years ago the sheep-growers Of New South
Wales asked for bounty from the legisia-
ture. This being denied, they have now
gone to work to systematic the trade-as
we have been doing with fruit-and its
prospects are improving.
Sheep aud cattle in New South Wales are
now treated either by chilling or freeing.
Chilling is the plan which is adopted by
the beef-packers of Chicago and Kansas
City. When the aDimal is butchered aud
Guartered the quarters are taken into the
chilliRg-room ard hung on hooks for twenty
four hours in a temperature Jf 400 to 450;
they are then transferred to refrigerator
cars, which deliver them to the steamers at
the shipping port The freezing process is
more elaborate. When the animal is quar-
tered the quarters are hung for twenty
hours in a cooliug-rOum until the animal
heat has passed off. They are then trans
ferred through a cool corridor into the
freezing-room. which is Il chamber inclosed
by brick wall eighteen inches thick with
a layer of charcoal foot thick on the
inside. This chamber is like cave in the
Arctic regions 1t is absolutely dark, and
the temperature is IA below zero. There
the careasses or their constituent parts
hang for forty-eight or sixty hours, by the
end of which time they are as hard as a
deal board and if carefully handled aud
housed retain that consistency through a
voyage of twelve thousand miles, including
passage across the equator. There is one
establishment at Aberdeen New South
Wales, whose capacity is Gfteen hundred
sheep a day, or over half a million Q year
| 1t will take ten such establishments to re-
lieve the colony of its normal surplus of
mutton.
The United States is a meat exporting
country. We do not export much mutton,
bat we send abroad every year some sixteen
! or eighteen million dollars worth OF fresh
beef. besides live cattle, canned beef and
salt beef. The export, however, is wholly
from the Central States and goes to Europe
| 1t is comfortable to remember that in case
| the butchers combine ON this slope should
put on the screws too oppressiYely, Califor-
| mia might obtain relief from Australia
| The price at which Australian mutton is
now being laid down in London and at
Hayre is so low that the native growers
cannot compete, and it is kept down by the
rivalry of Argentine, which is a large
shipper of beef and mutton. 1t might be
worth the while of sheep-gro wers in New
South Wales to try the experiment OF send
ing cargo or two of frozen mutton to San
Francisco. They ought to be able to lay it
down here to sell at 6 cents pound, and
that would be q considerable reduction
from the price which consumers are paying.
As a matter of fact, the area available for
pasturage in the States on this slope is so
large that the supply of mutton ought to be
abundant and the price low. 1t Is because
our cattle barOns are careful 10 supply the
market 81 ariBgly that mutton and lamb
cost AS much here as they do in New York.
II they will not raise the mutton which
they might. it is legitimate for consumers to
try to get their supplies elsewhere. Aus
tralia would probably be glad to send us a
million frnzen sheep year, and to take pay
in the manufactured articles which it now
! prOcures from Great Britain