) 
7 
1 Aprin, 1899. ] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 289 
In planting out young palms, the greatest care should be taken not to 
injure the roots. There are no plants more impatient of root injury. Should 
a root become bruised, it should be cut cleanly off with a very sharp knife. 
The hall-mark of a bad gardener is a blunt knife. 
Palms should be planted when quite young. Some nine years ago, here, 
there were certain palms in pots which it was decided to plant out; they were 
about 5 feet high, They have made some growth since then, but palms of 
similar species, about 8 inches high, were planted near, and these have shot up 
and are now four times the height of those which started with (as it would 
appear to the uninitiated) all the conditions in their favour. 
Tt is a good thing, in planting palms, to create at first a close jungle-like 
atmosphere around them. ‘This is secured here by placing three sticks tripod 
fashion over each, and then wrapping upon these a piece of the matting 
which the drapers receive as packing with their imported goods. The plants 
are then syringed, and the result is a close warm atmosphere beneath the little 
tent-like covering. This is opened on the shady side after the lapse of a few 
days, and, as the plant gains strength, it is gradually removed. Under these. 
conditions root growth commences at once, and the leaves respond by 
unfolding and commencing active growth. This method of treatment is, of 
course, applicable to any tropical plant to which it may be desirable to give a 
good start in life. a 
Tropical Industries. 
QUEENSLAND COFFEE. 
Tre recent small shipment of 5 ewt. of coffee from this colony to England was 
made, not so much with a view to testing its market value, as with the object 
of obtaining the opinion of experts in London as to its quality, and to elicit 
some information concerning the improvement of that quality. The price 
obtained (48s. per cwt.) is low, but with the enormous output of Brazil 
and the extension of the industry in Mexico, Peru, Panama, the Philippines, 
&e,, it was not to be expected that a high price would be realised, 
notwithstanding the fact that the sample was. pronounced to be, although small, 
very pretty coffee, well cured and dried, and comparing favourably with Central 
American. When we consider that West Indian coffee is purchased in Jamaica 
by the merchants at from 15s. to 20s. per 100 lb., and is sold on the Continent 
at from 24s. to 25s. per 100 Ib., Queensland may be congratulated on obtaining 
more than double the highest figure here quoted in an already glutted market. 
But why should we send away our coffee? We import about £7,000 
worth (equal to 104,901 lb. of raw and 52,955 lb. of roasted coffee) every year, 
and it seems to us that every endeavour should be made to overtake our own 
consumption, and, of course, that of all the other colonies of Australasia, before 
sending away shipments to compete in the home market with an article produced 
by the cheapest of coloured labour in other countries. One hundred acres in 
full bearing would supply the present demand in Queensland, and 500 acres 
under coffee would probably meet the Australasian requirements. At present 
there are not more than 300 acres planted, of which perhaps 50 acres are in full 
bearing. At the best 1 ton per acre may be gathered from trees over 4 
years old. A; 
In December, 1897, Mr. i*. Hepburn, an ex-West Indian coffee-planter, 
put down the produce of 50 acres, containing 1,000 trees to the acre, at 45 tons. _ 
This, he said, would yield, at 83d. per lb., over £3,540. Taking the above estimate 
of £7,000 as the imports of coffee into Queensland, this would mean 100 acres of 
