May 1, 1901.] THE TEOPICaL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
737 
Grevilleas and Red Gums do exceodiagly well in 
B. C. A. I have trees of the latter 8 years old, 70 to 
80 ft. high and 3 feet in circumference near the 
ground. The wood is durable and makes excellent 
furniture &o. 
Shade has many advantages over open pround. 
Weeding is cheaper. There is a litter of leaves 
always on the ground which can be dug in and buried 
in holes as manure. There is no wash. Rainfall 
and the moisture are preserved as well as the fertil- 
ity of the soil. 
It has been shown by analysis that soil on a coffee 
estate under proper shade is as rich as that of the 
adjoining forest land. A coffee estate under shade 
has been known to be abandoned in bad times, and 
the owner has returned and cultivated his coiiee 
ag-.in and found it as good as when he left it, 
and perhaps the better for the rest- 
All the districts that have been opened for coffee 
in India and Ceylon have not proved a success ; 
some were too wat, some too dry, some too hot, and, 
some too cold ; and were ultimately abandoned, after 
much capital had been spent in the hopeless en- 
deavour to get paying crops. 
On the other hand Urge fortunes were made where 
the soil and climate were suitable for coffee, for 
there is no agi icultural product which pays better under 
favourable circumstances. 
.Space will not permit of my entering minutely 
into details regarding the success or failure of coffee 
rn those districts, which is more the subject for a 
iteatise on coffee cultivation than an essay, I men- 
tion the fact, however, as B. C. A. may have a similar 
experience. 
I may mention a ftjw of the districts in Ceylon where 
coffee was not a success : Kurunegala, Kegalle, Lower 
Alatale, Dumbura, were all too dry and the blossoms in- 
variably failed. Blossoms would hang in spike for weeks, 
the same as they do here, and ultimately fail for want of 
rain at the proper time. Irrigation was tried, and 
thousands of pounds spent on large schemes but to 
no purpose. 
I have seen blossom come out here repeatedly 
for 7 to S cwts. per acre, and apparently set well, and 
even corns forward to be the size of peas, and the 
clusters fall off, owing to drought, till reduced to one 
or two berries au'l only 1 cwt. per acre got. 
The coffee referred to was 3 and -1 years old and plant- 
ed on Virgin Forest land so that the sap could not be 
said to be weak or lacking in fruitifying power. I 
never saw finer young coffee anywhere and there 
was no b 'g, to speak of; so the climate was at 
fault, I think. 
The opinion is now held by experienced planters 
in Ceylon that, ha":! the above-mentioned Districts 
been all opened in shade, coffee would still be in 
existence. 
Too much care cannot be exercised in the selec- 
tion of land for coffee, and it should not be that 
which has recently borne a crop of cereals or is 
otherwise poor in fertilizing ingredients. There are 
jungle lands to be found in B. C. A. with soil almost 
inexhaustible. This fact is borne ont by the natives 
growing crops of grain on them for 50 years or more. 
As to the age or lasting powers of the coffee tree, 
I remember coffee in Matale, Ceylon, in 1-89, 
looking well, with stems as thick as my 
thigh, whose age could not be less than 80 to 
100 years, for they were 15 to 20ft. high and grow- 
ing native fashion under shade. The yield was not 
much, owing to leaf disease. 
There is coffee, I believe, still in existence in 
Ceylon, which was planted during the last century; 
but it must be borne in mind that the coffee referred 
to is growing under specially favoiii-able circumstances, 
getting the benefit of leaf mould from village fruit 
trees enjoying good soil, and not being forced to 
ove--be tring by the liand of the cultivator. 
By fighting the enemies of the coffee tree in 
B. U. A., by libei-al manuring and tillage of the soil, 
by helping one another with information re our 
staple industry, given free and unseltiahly, by 
the adoption of shade to mitigate the evils of 
onr climate, I can see no reason why the coffee in- 
dustry of B. C. A. should not.be as lasting as it ii 
in other countries and as remunerative too. 
With better means of transport, and the labonr 
which is used for that work at present set free, and 
all the pests that the coffee tree is subject to aver- 
come, let us hope there is a bright and prosp rous 
future in store for the coiiee enterprise of British 
Central Africa. 
Before closing this brief essay I would urge upon plant- 
ers- the need for importing new seed, and the most 
careful leleotion of soniid B. C A. seed for nurseries, 
as I have no compunction in saying that all bar- 
ren coffee trees are not caused by bug. So far back as 94, 
I showed disease in a new clearing and in mv nurseries 
to Mr. J. H, Carson (of the Ny.assaland Coffee Co., 
who has had great experience in & ffee, and he 
said it was new seed thai was wanted and imported 
Brazilean seed for Leechimya E^tnte. 
HENRY BROWN. 
COFFEE IN QUEENSLAND. 
From the report of the Instructor in Coffee Culture 
to the Government of Queensland ; — 
I have made tours into the surrounding coiiee 
districts, giving advice and demonstration to those 
who applied for it. . . .In detail, the places visited, and 
where coff-je is grown, include Oooktowu, Daintree, 
Port Douglas, Cairns, Atherton, Myola, Oaklands, 
Mantaka, Kuranda, Mulgrave, Lower Russel, Clump 
Point, Mackay. Mount Jukes, Hampden, Kockhamp- 
ton, Byfield, Teppoon, Maryborough, Pialba, Bunda- 
berg, Blackall, Coolura, and Buderim. Space would 
not admit of even short iiotes regarding each indi- 
vidual district and place where coffee is being more 
or less cultivated. In general, however, I found 
from Cooktown southward to near Townsville a zone 
of country having a somewhat heavy rainfall — emi- 
nently suitable for the cultivation of coffee, but 
possessing a climate that will necessitate artificial 
methods of drying by means of kilns or drying mach- 
inery. At Cooktown and Townsville, and as far 
south as Rockhampton, the climate is such that there 
is every probability of growers being able to dispense 
with kilns and to dry in the open air, which, when 
possible, is always the more satisfactory method. 
South of this, again, the absorptive power of the sun 
is less strong, but, the atmospheric moisture not 
being great, it is probable that open-air curing may 
be possible. There is at present scarcely sufficient 
fully-grown coffee in these parts to thoroughly test 
this. The majority of gardens are small, though I 
found several of fair size, the largest being Messrs. 
Cutten Bros.' estate at (Jlump Point, of 80 acres; 
Messrs. De Moleyna Bros., of the Lower Russell, 
running them very closely with 75 acres. There ia 
very little coffee in cultivation of more than five 
or six years of age, the majority being either new, 
in its second year or bearing its maiden crop this 
season. Some few acres in each of the three dis- 
tricts of Cairns, Mackay, and Buderim may be called 
old coffee, but their exact age is in nearly every 
case doubtful. Ths first coffee-tree ever irapDrted 
has been pointed out to me, and it is healthy and 
flourishing ; but, as this has occurred in several 
different localities, its exact age is somewhat vague. 
The varieties of coffee to be found are Gof'ea Ara- 
bica ind Coff'ea Lilierica- The former is the principal 
species, and is the usual coffee of commerce, and 
the most valuable, growing and cropping readily. It 
is comparatively easily cured, and, though delicate 
as a seedling, is hardy enough once it has reached 
maturity. The latter is the larger and hardier shrub, 
but is more difficult to pulp and cure, and is only 
worth about one-third the price of Coff'ea Arabica. 
Of Gojfea Arahica several varieties are noticed: — 
C. Arab. var. Blocha, a small stunted-looking and 
small-leaved tree, slow-growing bearing freely, but 
having a very small bean ; G. Arab, var, Maragogipe 
