1 Jay., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 49 
Mr. Hepburn, an ex- West Indian coffee-planter, says: “ With a full crop 
in the first picking a maximum of 140 lb. might be expected by a youth with 
sharp eyes and nimble fingers.” 
Now we will take Mr. Cowley’s statement as correct, because the work 
was actually performed under his supervision. Ninety pounds of ripe berry 
will produce about 17 1b. of pure coffee. At 3d. per Ib. this equals 4s. 3d. for 
the white man’s day’s work of ten hours. The question then arises: Will 
white men work on coffee plantations for 4s. 3d.a day (rations probably not 
included) ? or if not, will it pay to give them 5s. 8d.aday? This is where, it 
appears to us, the labour problem will come in. 
There is another point in connection with coffee-picking which we should 
like to draw attention to. Coffee berries do not all ripen at the same time. 
Pickers, if not careful, will often pick green berries as well as ripe ones. It is 
all the same to them, if paid by weight; but it is a serious loss to the 
planter. liven if a fine were inflicted for picking green berries there would 
still be loss, as the picker, although he would not bring in berries carelessly 
picked, would drop them on the ground and trample them in to save being 
fined. ‘Thus calculations as to cost of picking must be unreliable for this and 
other reasons. 
We know to a penny the cost of coffee-planting in foreign countries and 
in other colonies of our own; but no Queensland coffee-planter (and there are 
a few now) has laid down (outside of a prospectus) the actual cost of planting 
one acre of coffee, and the net profit or loss resulting from his operations, 
Many persons would go into coffee-growing if they could only get reliable 
statistics. We shall be glad to publish any article by an acknowledged expert 
in the business, which will give the information we have indicated. 
Mr. F. Hepburn, whose article on coffee cultivation in Queensland was 
published in Part 6 of this Journal, forwards the following estimate of the 
cost of sheds and appliances for preparing the bean for market, premising that 
_ the shape and positions of barbecues or drying-grounds will vary, but the area 
and price of materials will be relatively pro rata, or nearly so :— 
Comparative Estimate (50 Acres of 800 Trees per Acre) for Barsrcues 
and SHreps—or Trays and Sueps. 
Barbecues.—Concrete flooring* with brickwork dividing walls, convex at 
top, also other raised dividing walls and concrete steps, are required—on 
sloping ground—with sunk channelling covered with grating, or open, as 
may be required; also, concrete sloping entrances from the barbecues to the 
door of each shed, to enable the coffee to be quickly pushed under cover with 
the usual rake made of a piece of wood about 16 in. x 5 in. x 1 in.—or ase 
wooden shovels. 
<< 180 ft. x 20 ft. = 400 sq. yds. > 
* 
CHANNEL DRAIN, 
NORTH, 
About 57’ x 17’ net clear for 
Coffee—allowing for channel, 
&e, 
Sheds to be erected alongside Barbecues on this—souru side, 
The area above is for a full crop = 3 1b. parchment over 50 acres, or 
40,000 trees = total parchment, 120,000 lb. For the first crop, only Barbecue 
No. 1 would require to be provided, subdivided into three sections by 
temporarily laying on surface necessary lengths of suitable timber. The coffee 
* The concrete barbecues are subject to be undermined by vermin. 
