1 Nov., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 375 
and will cause it to throw out much wood and bear heavily. Planters in 
Queensland who are fortunate enough to have any grass land near at hand 
would do wisely by littering, for not only does it prevent the growth of weeds, 
but the decaying grass causes the ground to retain its freshness for a lengthy 
period, which advantages will be at once apparent to those who have yearly to 
put up with many months of drought. 
The Ouring of Coffee.—As soon as possible after being brought in from 
the field, the ripe coffee (cherry) is run through the pulper. ‘This machine 
performs only one function in the curing of coffee—that is, in removing from 
the coffee-beans the outer skin called pulp; as the cherry is put through the 
chops of the pulper, the pulp is forced backwards and is allowed to run into 
some adjoining pit, afterwards to be used as manure, whilst the bean itself, on 
being released from the, chops, finds its way into a large cistern, of 
which there are generally two, also one washing cistern and one cistern 
called the tail cistern. These cisterns are made of solid masonry, and are of 
various holding capacities, according to the quantity of cherry likely to be put 
through the pulper daily. For an estate yielding up to 600 bushels per day, 
cisterns measuring 22 feet by 10 feet by 8 feet will be sufficient. 
These cisterns are all fitted with slide doors, so as to allow the coffee to be run 
in from one to the other—i.c., from the fermenting cistern to the washing 
cistern, and also to allow of any light coffee to be passed from the washing 
cistern to the tail cistern. After the day’s picking has been put through the 
pulper, and the coffee, which is now called parchment, has all been safely run 
into the receiving cistern, it is then allowed to’ ferment fora period of from 
twenty to thirty hours, according to temperature. his fermentation, 
serving to loosen the saccharine matter from the parchment, is naturally 
of a very gentle description, and should be very carefully attended 
to, so as not to in any way interfere with the colour of the bean 
itself. The fermentation completed, water is then let in to the cistern, 
and the whole of the parchment passed through the slide door into the 
washing cistern, when more water is let in, and the whole receives a thorough 
washing, for which purpose an instrument resembling a wooden rake is used, 
with this difference: That instead of haying teeth, this one has none, and is 
simply a board about 2 feet long by 5 inches wide, into which a handle about 
5 fect long is attached. As the parchment is being washed backwards and 
forwards, all skins and light beans will become separated from the sound and 
heavy ones, and will rise to the surface to be skimmed off and passed into the 
tail cistern. ‘The washing being completed, the parchment cotfee is then put 
out to dry inthe sun; wire matting is generally used for this purpose on which 
to dry it. It should not be laid out deeper than from 2 to 3 inches, and 
turned several times a day. From fiye to six days’ thorough drying will 
be required before it is fit for peeling—ze., having the parchment and 
silverskin remoyed. In Ceylon this latter process is invariably carried out in 
Colombo, as the atmosphere in the hilly coffee districts of the island is too 
“humid to allow of the parchment being sufficiently dried for the purpose. 
The whole of the parchment coffee in Ceylon has therefore to be sent down in 
bags to the various coffee-mills in Colombo, and after further drying in the 
sun is put through the peelers, winnowers, and sizers, and finally packed and 
shipped as No. 1, No. 2, peaberry, &c., according to quality ; and so extremely 
caretul is the shipper to ensure the contents of his parcels being of uniform 
grade, that the whole of the beans, as received from the sizer, are again gone - 
over by hand, and all deformed or broken beans rejected—a matter of much 
importance in most markets of the world, where colour, size, and uniformity 
form the great desiderata. 
Conelusion.—l'rom the foregoing articles the intending planter may learn 
much of the essentials of coffee-growing ; but as these articles, necessarily brief, 
lay no claim to bea complete treatise on coffee-srowing, it must not be assumed 
that a mere judicious comprehension of the instructions given is all that is to 
