lJUNE  r, 
852  THE  TROPiCA!  AGRICULTURISI. 
again— that  it  is  inn^ossible  to  continue  for  many 
years  taking  one  kind  of  crop  frcm  the  land\\ithont 
returning  to  it  in  the  foim  of  nianuve  the  constituents 
wliich  that  crop  specially  dians  from  the  soil.  I his 
is  aheadv  hccomhig  apparent  on  some  sugar  lands  in 
the  Ma(  ka'  dist?  ict,  ami  there  fore  it  is  wcdl  for  faimers 
toleain  ill  they  fan  about  coffee,  for  which  the 
locality  is  declared  by  an  old  Ceylon  planter,  to  be  ad- 
mirably adapted.  With  annual  y dimin'shing  yield, 
and  grub  and  other  pests  by  the  canc  to  contend 
with,  the  ] lanter  would  be  in  a sad  plight  were  there 
no  epening  fi  r him  to  continue  his  occupation  in  some 
form  or  other.  Ceffee  leemr  to  present  this  opening. 
From  the ‘‘ Mcicury  ’ we  gather  some  particulars 
of  the  pusent  position  of  the  budding 
COFFEE  lN*.USTHy  AT  MACKAY, 
For  many  y(  ars  past  Mr  Costello,  at  Millicent,  near 
Habana,  has  grown  coffee  on  a commercial  scale,  and 
at  the  present  t'me  he  has  some  35  acres  under  crop, 
the  splendid  ceffee  from  which  finds  a ready  sale  in  the 
town.  But  the  atti  actions  of  cane*growiug  appear 
to  have  kept  others  from  following  his  example,  and 
until  recently  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  extend 
the  industry.  However,  the  failure  of  coffee  in  Cey- 
on  and  other  pi  rcos,  and  the  rapid  rise  in  the  value 
of  the  staple,  led  more  or  less  directly  to  Mr.  John 
Dansey,  a Ceyh  n coffee  planter,  visi.ing  Mackay 
about  twenty  months  ago.  With  a natural 
leaning  towards  the  crop  of  which  he  had  so 
much  expeiience,  he  saw  in  the  climate  and 
rainfall  and  soil  of  this  district  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity of  establishing  coffee-growing  on  a large 
and  payable  scale.  A company  having  a capital  of 
il6,000  was  registered  in  July  last  year,  and  acquired 
some  300  acres  at  Mount  .Tuke.s,  Mr.  Dansey  being 
intrusted  with  the  work  of  opening  up  the  estate. 
No  time  time  was  1 st,  and  the  necessary  buildings 
were  erected,  the  imichinery  ordered  from  Ceylon, 
which  machinery  will  bo  here  in  the  comae  of  a 
month,  and  a nursery  of  young  coffee  plants  made. 
Seed  was  obtained  from  all  avai'ablo  sources,  con- 
sidciable  amounts  being  taken  from  locally-grown 
trees.  Thei'e  is  now  an  a nursery  of  a hundred 
thousand  plants,  ■which  number  will  be  doubled  next 
year,  and  these  have  made  such  progress  that  plant- 
ing out  has  been  commenced,  and  in  a few  weeks 
twenty-right  acres  will  be  cavryiwg  young  trees.  In 
addition  to  this  area  planted  by  the  coffee  Company, 
private  individuals  liave  planted  in  the  vicinity  of 
Mount  Jukes  some  forty  acres  on  the  Bowen  road 
about  an  equal  amount  w'lll  be  put  in  shortly,  while 
down  at  Plano  Creek  small  areas  are  also  being  put 
undei  the  same  crop.  Then'the  coinp.vny  proposes  to  in- 
crease its  area  by  fifty  acres  each  yeir,  until  the  whole 
of  the  available  coffee  land  on  the  estate  is  planted  up 
The  General  Explor.ition  the  Land  Syndicate, 
Limited,  int  nd  to  go  in  for 
COFFEE  IN  liEITIKII  CENTltAE  AFRICA, 
after  a favourable  report  by  a Mr.  Barclay,  an  ex- 
perienced Nilgeny  planter,  and  in  order  to  mitigate 
the  ravages  of  the  “borer”  and  secure  other  advan- 
tages, the  planting  is  to  be  done  under  shade.  But  how? 
“ By  planting  Lihcrian  coffee  .among  the  Arahica  ” — so 
that  the  “ shade  ” as  well  the  crop  will  give  a return. 
Among  what  n ay  bo  termed 
AUTIIICIAI.  FODDERS 
suitable  for  dairy  cows  coconut  meal  is  said  to  have 
a high  value.  This  fodder  is  now  extensively  u.sed 
in  Europeiui  dairying  countries,  particularly  Sweden 
and  Denniaik,  where  it  has  become  indispensable 
whire  stock  arc  kept.  The  meal  has  lately  been  in- 
troduced into  New  SouUi  Wales,  where  it  is  sold  in 
Sydney  in  cwt.  hags  at  5s  per  cwt.  This  coconut 
meal  is  said  to  be  more  largely  n.scd  in  Denmark 
and  Sweden  than  linseed  cake  or  bran,  and  is  re- 
garded as  a very  valualilc  food,  not  only  for  cows 
hut  for  hoiscs,  pigs,  and  I'oultry.  Coconut  meal 
forms  part  of  the  daily  ration  of  liorses,  from  31b. 
to  (ill)  Ix'ing  added  to  chaff,  according  to  the  sis^o 
of  Ibo  lioise  audits  worl;.  Mixed  with  slim  mill;  it 
is  said  to  lie  splendid  for  fattening  pigs.  Young 
poultry  fatten  very  rapidly  on  coconut  meal,  wliicb, 
uud(  r pi’oper  conditions  of  fec'ling,  gives  bettor 
re.suUs  tiiaii  grain. 
New  avenues  for  the  disposal  of  an  over-abundant 
MAIZE  CROP 
are  always  welcome  to  groweis  of  that  cereal,  but 
we  doubt  whellier  the  latefct  discoveiy  will  meet  with 
general  approval  in  Queensland.  It  is  said  that  a 
Chicago  man  lias  discoveied  a process  for  mami- 
factuiing  white  powdei’ed  sugar  from  com.  The 
actual  tests  were  made  some  time  since,  ar.d  were 
entirely  successful,  The  Chicago  Sug.ir  liefiniiig  Com- 
pany is  now  turning  out  an  article  of  powdered  sugar, 
made  wholly  from  coni,  that  is  equal  to  anything 
on  the  market.  It  is  a secret  process,  and  the 
statement  is  made  that  it  is  expected  to  eventually 
make  all  grades,  even  to  a yellow  sugar.  This  new 
sugar  has  been  put  upon  the  market  at  about  I^d 
per  lb.  less  than  the  “trust”  price.  It  is  not  of 
quite  so  fine  a giain  as  the  regular  powdered  sugar, 
but  this  is  claimed  as  an  advantage,  as  it  will  not 
cake  or  become  lumpy.  It  possesses  97  per  cent  of 
saccharine  strength,  against  98  percent  of  the  regular- 
powdered  sugar.  The  foes  that  beset  the  path  of 
the  poor  sugar  cane-grower  are  multiplying.  First 
beet,  now  corn  ; what  next  ? 
The  industry  of 
RABBIT  PRESERVING 
and  exporting  has  attained  such  dimensions  in  the 
Soutli  that  it  is  a question  whether  the  benefit  derived 
from  the  rodent  is  not  greater  than  the  harm  it  has 
done.  Babbits  have  certainly  reduced  the  capacity  of 
the  land  for  carrying  sheop  and  cattle,  but  their  cap- 
ture has  provided  work  for  probably  a larger  section  of 
the  population  than  have  been  driven  out  by  their 
depredations.  Some  idea  of  ohe  magnitude  of  the  trade 
in  Victoria  alone  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
last  week  thei'e  was  a danger  of  the  cold  stores  at 
Flinders  street,  Melbourne,  becoming  blocked  wiib 
rabbits.  Although  9t),U0U  bad  just  been  shipped  in  two 
steamers  for  England,  there  remained  in  store  150,000 
rabbits,  and  the  number  was  being  added  to  at  the  rate 
of  10,000  or  12,000  a day, 
A project  for  the  estaiilisliment  of  a meat  and  rabbit 
preserving  factory  in  the  Mount  Gambler  disti ict  is 
being  warmly  taken  up,  and  it  is  expected  that  busi- 
ness will  begin  in  -Ypril  and  that  2,000,000  rabbits  will 
be  sent  from  the  neigbourhood  during  the  coming 
season.  So  that  South  jVustralia  is  also  entering  into 
the  rabbit  business  in  earnest. 
BATTAUJALLA  ESTATE  COMPANY. 
The  seventh  annual  report  of  the  Battalgalla  Estate 
Company,  Ijimited,  is  issued,  with  balance  sheet. 
Here  again  the  18i)5  standard  is  happily  maintained. 
The  Directors  in  their  report  state  that  they  are 
pleased  to  be  able  again  to  give  a satisfactory 
account  of  the  Company’s  working  for  the  past  year. 
There  has  been  an  appreciable  increase  in  the  yield 
of  tea,  the  total  quantity  manufactured  having  been 
222,281  lb.  against  170,500  lb.  the  previous  year.  The 
average  selling  price  in  London  has  Leen  !)-02d  against 
10" lid  the  previous  year,  and  in  Colombo  5-50d  against 
l)-25d.  Out  of  the  crop  the  Company  sold  in  London 
174,580  1b.  realising  net fO, 271  10s  Oil  and  in  Colombo 
43,055  lb.  realising  net  lll0,010-20.  These  figures 
compare  with  120,951  lb.  realising  net  ,i‘4,907  9s  Od, 
and  39,958  lb.  realising  net  K17, 904-33  in  1895.  Ex- 
change has  ruled  higher  during  the  year.  The 
original  £4,000  debentures  having  cxi)ircd  wore  duly 
paid  off.  A frosli  amount  of  £10,000  has  been 
authorised,  of  which  £1,000  were  issued  in  replace- 
ment of  above.  The  remaining  £0,000  will  only  bo 
issued  i)i  the  event  of  frerdi  property  being  acquired 
at  some  future  date.  The  usual  10  per  cent  has 
lieen  deducted  fro-n  factory  account.,  and  £295  fioni 
the  estimated  value  of  the  .\siatie.  I’todnco  (.’oinpanv's 
shares  owned  by  the  tionipany.  A. '>  per  cent  dividend 
was  paid  in  October,  an. I 10  pei-  cent  i.-i  now  pro- 
])osocl — l.'iijjrcent  for  tho  year,  same  as  1S‘)5. — £i01 
123  forward.  The  board  coinsists  of  ^Messrs.  E.  11. 
Ilancock,  Cliarles  A.  Kei.s.s  and  Adolf  Eimmarn.  The 
(ii-st  geiilleniaii  letii'cs  by  rotation,  and  offers  him- 
self for  I'o-eleetiou.  Local  “Times,  ' April  29. 
