486 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL, [1 Junz, 1898. 
SEED AND NURSERIES, 
Much has been said of the preparation of seed, of the site, and of the 
formation of nurseries—three items which, without hesitation, I give as the most 
important points to be considered by the would-be successful cultivator. Few 
people, I regret to say, recognise the fact that the tree once planted out in the 
tield is reputed to last, under ordinary circumstances, a lifetime, and that, 
therefore, too much importance cannot be bestowed on the quality and 
preparation of the seed, its propagation in the nurseries, and its ultimate 
remoyal to the field. i 
Strong, healthy trees, of mature age only, should be selected from which 
seed is to be taken. ‘This seed should not be gathered until the cherry (fruit) 
has turned a deep red colour. The sooner the preparation of the seed takes. 
place after gathering, the easier the task, and the more satisfactory the result. 
This is easily accomplished by pressing the cherry between the thumb and 
forefinger, and shooting out the seeds; but, as this is a work of a somewhat 
slow and tedious nature, it is equally simple to lay the cherry down ona 
wooden floor to a depth of 3 inches, and getting a boy to tread it out bare- 
footed. This being accomplished, separate the outer skin (pulp) from the seed 
(parchment), and immerse the latter in a shallow tub or any receptacle of the 
kind containing water. Stir once or twice with the hand, and carefully remove 
all seeds found floating on the top of the water. This is called light coffce, and 
is useless for seed purposes. he remainder in the tub, spread quickly and 
thinly in any empty room where the sun’s rays do not penetrate. The less 
the immersion, the better the seeds will be. Turn the seed daily until quite 
dry, and in about three weeks they should be fit to put out in the nursery. 
The above I have often proved to be by far the best and least expensive way of 
curing seed ; the slight immersion which is necessary to remove the light coffee 
not being sufficient to remove from the seed generally the saccharine matter 
which adheres to it, and which greatly helps its germination when put out. . 
SITE. 
The site for a coffee nursery should be judiciously chosen. The soil 
should be the best possible, with a plentiful supply of water near at hand. 
The lie of the land should be such as to afford perfect drainage in the event 
of heavy rains. A nursery, properly cared for, should be dug over several 
times to a depth of at least 1S inches, care being taken to remove all stones, 
roots, and other injurious particles from the soil, and the whole should be 
thoroughly pulverised. The seed-beds should then be made according to the 
lie of the land, and in such a way as to facilitate the thorough drainage of the 
whole nursery. 
Different methods are adopted of placing the seeds in the beds; but of 
all methods I am cognisant of, the most feasible is to have a board cut, say,. 
3 feet by 1 foot 6 inches, with wooden pegs half an inch long, inserted at 
distances of 3 inches by 8 inches, or, say, seventy-two pegs to the board. The 
bed being thoroughly prepared and watered, all that remains to be done is to 
place the board squarely on it, imparting at the same time a gentle pressure ; 
and, by repeating this process from one end of the bed to the other, the actual 
‘number of seeds about to be inserted in each bed can be thus mathematically 
ascertained. 
Great care should be taken to see that no seed be inserted deeper than 
two and a-half times its own depth, and that each seed be laid with the flat or 
incised side downwards, and gently covered with soil. Pressing the seed 
roughly into the soil tends to cake its surroundings, and should not be 
practised. 
(To be continued.) 
