1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 379° 
But the operator needs to possess patience, for among 10,000 seedlings 
cultivated there may not be one showing real improvement in every respect. 
With our limited experience in crossing, it is uncertain what would happen, 
although there is reason to believe that cross-fertilisation would induce: 
beneficial variation in the growth and production of coftee. ' 
The land required for testing seedlings of mixed parentage should be of 
the best quality, and the cultivation should be on a liberal scale also. Area is 
a matter tor the planter himself to decide, as it depends wholly on the extent 
of his operations. I do not, however, advocate large areas for mere experimental 
work. When the seedlings give their maiden crop, it will be seen approxi- 
mately what merits they possess from a productive point of view. But other: 
merits, which may be roughly termed constitutional, will only become apparent 
after a lapse of time and under different modes of treatment. a 
I can readily imagine that a judicious selection of the fittest would prove 
a most difficult task, even to an expert. 
The operations discussed from the beginning until now, when the second 
generation bas borne its first crop of fruit, cover a period of about six years. 
This is a long time, and some men would doubtless say “is the trouble worth 
the candle? especially as there is nothing to prove that much good would come 
out of it.” In answer to such a remark, I am pretty firmly convinced that. 
good would come out of it, and have already planted up a small crossing-plot 
with the view of raising hybrids. ‘he plot consists “of 130 bushes, and’ 
includes O. arabica, C. liberica, and the variety—Maragogipe.”’ A few of the 
bushes are already well advanced in growth, so that the first batch of crossed 
seedlings may fruit within five years from date. But when matured bushes. 
ean be cross-fertilised this season, the results might be known within four 
years, which is not very long for a young planter to wait. My object, so far, 
has been to explain the modus operandi ot fertilisation rather than to discuss 
side-issues bearing on its application to the genus Coffee. But now, I may 
refer briefly to argumentative views on the latter question. As the coffee bush. 
possesses a hermaphrodite flower, it may be held by some that crossing 1s 
neither possible nor desirable. But it does not follow that a flower 1s self- 
pollinated because it contains both sexes. In numerous hermaphrodite flowers 
the sexes attain maturity at different periods, and in all such cases self- 
pollination is effectually prevented. That dichogamy prevails to some extent 
in the coffee-flower is certain, as I have often observed stigmas in the receptive: 
stage when the anthers had not dehisced, Iam unable to say, however, if this 
is a general condition, or if it only happens in occasional flowers. A flower: 
may thus be structurally hermaphrodite and functionally unisexual. i Ther, 
the sweet-scented coffee-flower offers great attraction to insects, which is a 
pretty sure sign that the dispersion of pollen is favoured by Nature. — Indeed, 
the condition of the pollen is such as would adhere readily to the hairy limbs 
of insects. It is not of the fine powdery kind (so-called dust of flowers) that 
would be suspended in the air or lightly carried by the wind. 
Considered, therefore, from a morphological standpoint there is little doubt 
but the genus Coffee is subject to cross-fertilisation, and that its flowers are 
entomophilous. Lastly, I wish to dispel the idea that established coffee can be: 
influenced one way or the other by operations of crossing, the results of which 
are only discovered in a subsequent generation. 
But it is highly necessary that the planter should strictly conserve his 
testing-ground, and not allow any unknown seed to be utilised for estate: 
purposes. [he golden rule in the testing or experimental ground is to destroy 
all inferior forms as quickly as possible. : 
New strains of seeds reserved for trial could be treated separately until 
such time as their merits are fully established. This is all I have to say on the: 
fertilisation of the coffee flower at present.—Extract from Planting Opinion. 
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