SHEDS AND CHICKEN-YARD OF A STATION.
"That's a hard question to answer. They follow other occupations except at shearing-time, when they form themselves into gangs and travel about the country; they are usually well mounted, and generally a gang carries its own cook, and is very particular about its way of living. The squatters find it to their advantage to feed the shearers liberally, and I have known one who hired a fiddler to play all day in the shed, to keep the men in good-humor. Most of these fellows are gamblers, and generally by the end of their season a few skilful players among them have all the money earned by the entire gang.
"After the wool is sheared it is packed into bales and pressed hard by means of machinery almost identical with a cotton-press. In this condition it is sent to the coast, and shipped to England or whatever market is open for it. High prices for wool make good profits for the squatters, and low prices the reverse, just as is the case in business generally. Many squatters have their entire crop of wool mortgaged to the bankers who have made advances upon it; in this respect sheep-stations are more desirable than cattle-stations, as money can always be had in advance upon the crop of wool."
SHEEP-WASHING ON THE MODERN PLAN.
Some of the large establishments have adopted improved methods of washing sheep; our friends had an opportunity to inspect one of them; during the inspection Frank made a drawing of the washing apparatus, to which he appended the following description:
"A represents a twenty-horse-power engine working a sixteen-inch pump, B, which raises water from the river alongside, discharging about three thousand gallons per minute into spouting tank, C (half of which is cut off in the drawing to show the work behind). The tank is of iron, four feet deep, furnished with a spout four feet six inches deep, terminating in a narrow opening three feet long and three-sixteenths or one-quarter inch wide, the width being regulated by screws.
"Through this aperture the water, under the pressure of eight feet six inches, rushes with great force. E e e is an iron tub in which the 'spouter' stands while holding the sheep under the spout. F is an inclined plane, up which the sheep walk after emerging from the water, passing on to large batten yards, one hundred and fifty feet by one hundred feet, where they remain till partially dry. These yards are not shown in the drawing. G is another ten-horse-power engine, used for cutting firewood at the circular-saw bench, h, and to furnish steam to heat water in the soaking tank, i, and the ten square tanks, k, ranged along either side of the soaking tank.
"To each of these tanks is fitted a branch steam-pipe, m, communicating with the main steam-pipe, n n, leading from the boilers of both engines, A and G, so that both are available for heating water, of which a very large quantity, varying from seven thousand to ten thousand gallons, is required for a single day's work. O o o are water pipes leading from the spouting tank, C, to supply the square tanks, k, the soap-tubs, P and Q, and spare-water tub, R. The soap-tubs are also fitted with steam-pipes, for the purpose of boiling their contents. S is a donkey-engine placed over a well, from whence, driven by a continuation of steam-pipes from both boilers, it draws water for showering through a flexible hose the dirty sheep in the receiving yard, t, for transmission through the pipe n of water to drinking-troughs for the washed sheep in the batten yards, filling up the pump by branch pipes, which is often necessary, and for various other purposes.
"The receiving yards having been filled with sheep, the water in, and the tanks brought up to the required temperature by means of the steam-pipes, and the soaking-tank charged with the prescribed proportion of dissolved soap, etc., the pump is set to work to fill the spouting tank and reservoirs underneath into which the spouts discharge. The portcullis gate, W, is then lifted, and from eight to ten sheep are sent down the inclined shoot, X, into the soaking-tank, when they are manipulated by men on either side, and allowed to swim for four or five minutes. Hence they pass on to the rinsing stage, Y; again down a short incline to the stage, Z; from thence, lastly, they are handed to the spouters. By these they are rolled and turned under the knife-like jet of water for two minutes, when they swim out to the inclined landing-stage as white as snow.
"When the water in the soaking-tank becomes overcharged with dirt, by a simple arrangement it can be emptied and refilled with clean hot water from the square tank, in which a constant supply is kept up, in eight or ten minutes. From twelve hundred to two thousand sheep are washed daily."