1 Ocr., 1897.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 333 
off??? My reply was: ‘“‘No, I can see no reason for doing so. As long as I have 
trash below them to keep the fruit clean, I should not think of cutting them 
off ; these branches were covered with as many cherries as branches higher up.” 
So long as the roots are capable of supporting the crop, I say, give the bushes 
as much bearing surface as possible. If the bush is kept in the form of a cone, 
the lower branches will be healthy ; but if the top is allowed to overhang the 
lower portion, then these lower branches will be of no use. Where the land is 
sheltered, it is better to keep the plants to one stem, as they are much easier 
pruned and kept in order. I started on this principle, but had to give it up 
and allow the suckers to grow close to the ground to strengthen the base and 
induce roots, in order to keep the trees from being blown out of the ground. 
Many of these suckers are now being removed, as they have accomplished the 
object of making plenty of root and a strong base for the stem. More of these 
_ Strong suckers would have been removed at this pruning, but it would have 
been at the sacrifice of next year’s crop, which must be guarded against, for, 
large as the demand has been for seed this season, I anticipate it will be still 
greater next year; and although the present appearance of the trees points to 
a heavy crop, the limited number of trees will cause the supply of seed to fall 
short of our requirements. I have been confronted with the argument that 
coffee-picking in this neighbourhood would be impossible for want of labour.* 
I have not yet shared this fear. Picking of the coffee crop will be nearly 
over before cane-crushing begins, and there are always a number of men who, 
whilst waiting for the crushing, will find the coffee-field a favourable place to 
spend their waiting time, and where they can earn a good wage. Furthermore, 
as boys and girls can pick as much as and, perhaps, even more than a man, and 
as coifee-picking can be so conveniently done by contract, there will not be 
much difficulty. I do not think that the kanaka will ever make a coffee-picker, 
for he will not be any quicker with his finger and thumb than-he will when his 
whole body has to be brought into action, as is the case in cane-cutting. One 
great advantage coffee-growing has over cane-growing lies in the fact that the 
cane-grower has to cut, load, and cart (all laborious work) his cane to the mill 
or railway siding, and then he gets from 10s. to 14s. per ton, and if he is not 
within three or four miles of his place of delivery, then there is very little left 
for him over expenses ; but the coffee-grower can afford to settle fifty or more 
miles from his market, and in a three or four days’ journey he can bring to 
that market £100 worth of his goods, and even far more if he has it to bring. 
It is sometimes advanced that Queensland cannot compete with countries in 
coffee-crowing where labour is so cheap. Well, there is some show of reason 
in that, but facts are against the argument. The West Indian Islands have 
had labour cheap enough, but the sugar industry has just about collapsed, and 
whether the Royal Commission will see a way out of the trouble remains to be 
seen. One of the items brought before the Commissioners by a native 
labourer was the wretched wage they had to work for; if this “wretched 
wage” was an absolute necessity, sugar-growing in the West Indian Islands 
would have been a success. The Mackay district coffee-planter has two great 
advantages on his side—soil and climate. These are evidently well adapted for 
the purpose, and pluck and perseverance will do much to counterbalance the 
big-wage bogey. If the wage difficulty were an insuperable obstacle, then the 
Mackay people may give up all idea of coffee-growing ; but I do not think it 
will. 
In my next paper TI will deal with sowing the seed, wherein so many 
have failed, and with other details connected with this promising industry. 
* The same fear was expressed in years gone by, when cotton-growing was first initiated in 
this colony. It would, it was said, be impossible to find sufficient labourers at picking seascn— 
wages were too high. The results proved the fallacy of this. No cotton ever remained unpicked 
in the fields. Men, women, and children made good wages at 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. per cwt. of seed- 
cotton, and there was no lack of pickers. The first shipment of cotton to England was in 1854, 
and during the American Civil War, when the population was far less than it is now, thousands 
of balcs of cotton were sent home, yielding a large profit to farmers, pickers, and proprietors of 
anne ar We have every faith in the future of coffee-growing in the North.— 
id. Q.A.J. 
