1 Jay., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 44 
Return from Llstate, first year. 
At the end of the first year the product. may 
be estimated at at’ least 450 tons of 
cleatied fibre, ready for the manufac: - 
turer. Taking the sale price of this 
at only 43d. per 1b., it amounts to '... £18,900 0 0 
Cost of producing the above as on the other =~ 
aFSid6) PA .- Mace rete sees RA te OW 
Freight at £2 per ton. .. £900..0 0 
Brokerage and. incidentals, 2 
per cent. ... bt ws AT © © 
Sine ——- 1,160 0 0 
Working profit a ae ... £11,268 ..3 0 
For the second year the yield is estimated 
at 1,850 tons, value eG it £56,700 O O 
Cost of production ab ere ae 13,552 7 O 
Working profit... ... am £43,147 13 0 
From these working profits, 25 per cent. patentee’s royalty will have to be 
deducted. 
For the present we would only note one little point of discrepancy. Mr. 
Mathieu, writing on actual experience, bases his estimate for Malaya on a 
three and a-half to four years’ old ramie plantation. Mr. MacDonald begins 
operations six months after planting! It isa pity that planting opinion should, 
we feel, be prejudiced at the very outset by estimates and figures which seem to 
us far too glowing. Far better pleased would practical men be to see a well- 
considered moderate statement work out a possible profit of £5 per acre, than 
to be met with £12 profit per acre the first year, and well-nigh £50 in the 
second year, from a cultivation which, so far as we know, no one has yet tried 
ona scale sufficiently large to justify reliable estimates for a plantation at any 
rate in the Eastern world. Garden estimates are useful as guides, but they do 
not count for serious estimates on a big scale with experienced tropical 
planters. 
Since the above was written we have seen. it stated that Mr. MacDonald 
has arranged with a native Sultan (Datu Mahommed) to put 1,000 acres under 
ramie, and that a central factory is to be erected to treat the product after the 
MacDonald-Boyle process. This undertaking and experiment will certainly 
be watched with the greatest possible interest. Mr. MacDonald has a wide 
margin to work on, and we wish him all success. 2. 
COFFEE PROSPECTS IN QUEENSLAND. | 
Wuitst all who are interested in the success of experiments in agriculture 
which may have the effect of opening up new and important industries, such as 
rubber, coffee, canaigre, sisal hemp, &c., will hail as benefactors to the colony 
those who_expend thought, time, and capital on these experiments, it is always 
as well to consider the possibilities or the risks that lie ahead of the pioneers 
of any one industry, igtith 7 Neas eet ees ect 
Let us consider the position held by coffee in the world’s markets. The 
cultivation of this berry has been entered upon’ in Queensland on a moderate 
scale, with every prospect of success. All experiments, both in State nurseries 
