November i, 1882.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



377 



but they are not likely to adopt such wide planting and 

 such short topping as Mr. Costello seems to have resorted 

 to. Even when topped to '2i feet, trees must be in 

 good soil, when their primaries meet at a planting 

 distance oi Sx6 feet. By " nortli side " in tlie account 

 is meant the north side of the Pioneer river, and it 

 is a curious fact tliat frost does more liarm to 

 plantations on the north side of Queensland rivers 

 than on tlie south Nothing is saicl of frost, how- 

 ever, as aflfecting Mr. Costello's experimental patch of 

 coflee. It would seem as if Liberian coffee is likely 

 to flourish better farther north than the Madsay dis- 

 trict. Deep chocolate coloured soil, intermixed with 

 stones, is just what suits coffee, and the rainfall of 

 the Mackay district fairly suits tea as wellas sugar. The 

 process will probablj' be, if the inflow of labour is 

 pei-mitted, to cultivate the flatter portions of the valley 

 of the Pioneer witli sugar, carrying coflee culture up 

 the hilly counti'y which stretches away from its banks 

 and towards its sources. 



After the above had been placed in the hands of 

 the printer we received a letter written by a Ceylon 

 planter, who has been travelling through the Aus 

 tralian colonies, to a friend in Ceylon. The writer 

 followed our own route through the districts of 

 Mackay and the Burdekin delta. Like us he had 

 the good fortune to meet Mr. Costello, and, as 

 a curious enough instance of " history repeating it- 

 self," we may note that as to us Mr. Costello de- 

 ■ precated the over-sanguine account of his coffee ex- 

 periment which had been published, so on this oc- 

 casion he told his Ceylon planter visitor that " the 

 beans did not fill out properly." With his Ceylon 

 experience, the gentleman whose letter we are refer- 

 ring to declares himself to be " pretty certain that 

 between Townsville and Mackay there is no suitable 

 land." After adding what Mr. Costello said about 

 his beans not filling out properly, the writer gives 

 the folio whig : — " My advice to any one is to have 

 nothing to do with coffee ; it is too uncertain a crop 

 altogether, and requires too many congenial conditions." 

 The ad\ace ought to be duly weighed, but if coffee 

 will not succeed in the region between Townsville 

 and Mackay. we suspect climate will be more at 

 fault than soil. As a general rule the proper zone 

 for coffee is 15" on each side of tlie equator, with 

 a rainfall of about 70 to 100 inches. As Mackay is 

 21' south of the equator, and even Townsville is 

 not nearer the line than 19", it is. probable that the 

 region for coffee will be the northern peninsula which 

 separates the Culf of Carpentaria from Torres Straits. 

 The hill ranges ought to be explored to ascertain the 

 conditions of soil and climate. As far as rainfall is 

 concerned Hinchiubrook Island attracted our atten- 

 tion as a fitting scene for an experiment in coffee, 

 but, alas ! it is " a noble cone of granite, 2,500 feet 

 high." There is much granite (auriferous) and too 

 much sandstone, but there is also mucli good soil ; 

 without a plentiful and cheap supply of labour, how- 

 ever, not only is it useless to talk of coflee, but 

 sugar culture must come to a standstill in Queens- 

 land and Northern -A-Ustralia. 



Our remarks have extended already to such a 

 length, that we defer our notice of sugar culture for 

 another article. 



To the above article from the Mackay Standard, 

 we add the following from the Qiiefiiilander : — 



"Coffee is one of the thmgs which, bids fair to be 

 one of Queensland's products, and tliat before long, 

 .lava Brazil, and India — more particularly Ceylon — 

 are growing it largely, and find it a very remunerative 

 crop but of late years an enemy belonging to the 

 insect world [IJemileia rastatrix is a fungus. — Ed. 

 C. O.] has given the planters no end of trouble, 

 besides heavy losses, by attacking the leaves of the 

 trees, and thus injuring them In a vital part. 



Measures one after another are being devised and tried 

 to rout the enemy, but it is found tliat when any of 

 these means answers the intention it only drives the 

 marauders back into the jungle, and it is now largely 

 held that the invaders came from the jungle to the 

 plantations at the first. Our readers will remember 

 that some months back a s.ainple of coffee from Liberian 

 coffee trees grown on the Herbert River, Queensland, 

 was sent down to the curator of the Botanic Gardens, 

 Brisbane, who declared the sample superior to the 

 original seed which came from Ceylon. Similar testi- 

 mony has recently been borne by Ceylon men them- 

 selves witli reference to coffee grown at M ackay ; so 

 that we have every reason to believe that, with the 

 proper amount of capital, enterprize, and spirit, 

 Queensland coffee, as well as Queensland sugar, may 

 soon become a familiar household word." 

 Again, new country now being settled and watered 

 by the rivers, Tweed. Richmond and Clarence is said 

 to be eminently adapted for sugar cultivation in some 

 parts, and for coffee in others. We should imagina 



sugar to be the more likely to pay, but we see : 



"As proof that coffee can be grown successfully on 

 the high lands around the Tweed, there are many 

 healthy, vigorous, and fruitful specimens to be seen 

 in different localities there, grown merely by way of 

 experiment, and fulfilling their end perfectly. On the 

 lands at Cudgen, sold by Messrs. C4uilfoyIe to Messrs. ' 

 Robb and Co., of Melbourne, are some tall specimens 

 fully 8 ft. or 9 ft. high, laden with berries large in size 

 and approaching maturity, the trees being evidently 

 untouched by frost. Mr. Thos. Brady, of Anthony, 

 also has a few good specimens, but they do not show 

 to advantage, being mostly grown under the shade of 

 strong and luxuriant clumps of bananas. These, as 

 might be expected under such conditions, are not so 

 fruitful, and run more to wood and leaf than they 

 should do. While very young, shelter of some kind 

 is serviceable to the coffee plant, when the shrubs 

 are old enough to bear, they require, in common 

 witli all other fruit-bearing trees, perfect access for 

 light and air to ripen the wood, or they cannot set 

 for fruit except very sparingly. In old coflee coun- 

 tries, moreover, the coflee shrub is always kept low 

 and stocky, so that the branches may be within easy 

 reach of the gatherer, and, as the work is well suited 

 for women and children, 5 ft. is about as high as they 

 should be allowed to grow. " 



THE ASSAY OF CINCHONA. 

 (From the Chemist and Druggist.) 

 Dr. Squibb, in his usual painstaking and laborious 

 manner, contributes a paper in his '' Ephemeris " on 

 "Assays of Cinchona." Hia method is oue intended 

 to be followed by the practical pharmacist who may 

 wish to estimate cinchona by means which do not present 

 too great manipulative difficulties. The poiut aimed 

 .it was complete exhaustion, bearing in mind that 

 different samples of bark differ very much indeed in 

 structure, and, therefore, in accessibility to the • x- 

 haunting meustrimm. Some are soft and spongy, easily 

 exhausted with a small quantity of liquid in a short 

 time, while otiiers are hard and compact, and re- 

 quire both more liquid aud longer digestion. This 

 diff.rence in the facility with which different cinchonas 

 are exhansted has been too much overlooked, and 

 may have caused the disagreement between Dis. Biel 

 aud T)e Vrij, who, working by the same process, 

 advised the foi-mtr a digestion of four hours and the 

 latter of one hour as sufficient. 



Dr. Sqnibh's process is based on the fact that amylic 

 alcoliol freely dissolves all the alk hiids of cinchona 

 barks, but does not dissolve the alts of those al- 

 kaloid.s, aud that it diesolves muc'i less of the colour- 

 ing matter than other solvents ; the outline of the 



