TROPICAL INDUSTRIES 71 



solution, and blunders paid for, until by the process of the 

 elimination of mistakes the right way is discovered. Losses 

 mount up until either patience and means are exhausted, 

 or success crowns the application of intelligent enterprise. 

 Then, when the coffee planter, self-taught, in each and all 

 of the departments of culture and preparation, glories in 

 the assurance of his capabilities to offer to the world an 

 article of indubitable character, he discovers that the 

 vulgar world, for the most part, prefers its coffee duly 

 adulterated ; indeed has become so warped and perverted 

 in perception that the pure and undefiled article is looked 

 upon with suspicion and distaste. Its flavour and aroma 

 are quite foreign to the ordinary coffee drinker. The con- 

 taminated beverage is regarded as pure, and the genuine 

 article is soundly condemned as an imposition, and the 

 seller of it is liable to be accused of fraud. It is in a 

 similar position to the good grape brandy which Victorians 

 produce, and which drinkers of some imported stuff 

 (described as one part cognac and three parts silent spirit) 

 fail to recognise as real brandy. If coffee is not muddy 

 and thick and does not possess a mawkish twang of 

 liquorice, it is suspected. The delicate aromatic flavour, 

 the fragrant odour, the genial and stimulant effects are now 

 almost unknown, except in limited circles. North Queens- 

 land is capable of growing far more than sufficient coffee 

 for the Commonwealth, but coffee is not a popular 

 Australian beverage, and as it entirely loses its specific 

 balsam and identity under the manipulation of manu- 

 facturers, it cannot get the chance of becoming popular. 

 Australian wines, Australian spirits and Australian coffee 

 might well be the popular beverages of Australians. But 

 preference is given to foreign importations, of the genuine- 

 ness of some of which there are strong grounds for 

 suspicion ; or in the case of coffee its elements are so 

 disguised by adulteration that a revolution in public 

 taste must take place before it can possibly find general 

 favour. 



But there are other branches of tropical agriculture to 



