1 Ave., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 131 
We shall use white labour for picking—namely, our own children. The picking, 
of course, has to be done by hand, but I would advise people not to be too 
rough in the operation, and break twigs, &c., as you thereby destroy secondary 
branches. A. child under twelve can pick in a day 25 per cent. more 
coffee than a man. The average at the beginning of a season may be reckoned 
at 100 lb. per day, but it may go down to 701b., or as low as 50 Ib., per diem. 
With regard to price, T have an offer froma continental firm for any quantity, 
be it 500 lb. or 50,000 1b., for my coffee, at 9d. per lb. Inde endently of this, 
I have an offer from a firm to take all the coffee grown in the Cairns district. 
This latter firm has not yet quoted a price, but has asked me to send a sample 
so that they can offer a price for the whole crop, for a term of years. 
There is a sure market for coffee; it is an easy crop to grow, and one that is 
most remunerative. At least we can get £30 net per acre from it, and I think 
we can get as much as £40 or £45 per acre. Coffee is the crop for the poor 
man. It requires no mills, no tramways, nor anything of the sort. It requires 
a hoe, a pruning-knife, anda scythe to cut the grass. Ihave now to ask, on behalf 
of the Kuranda coffee-growers, that a drying-kiln be put up at the Kamerunga 
State Nursery, and I think it would be of great value to the district. It would 
not cost more than £70 or £80, and if erected near the railway station it would 
be a great convenience to coffee-growers. If such a kiln was erected by the 
Government it could be looked after by one man at very little expense. Jf put 
up privately, it would cost more and would: probably be not nearly so effective. 
With regard to varieties to plant, I would not advise any grower to try the 
Liberian. It apparently has a big berry, but when you come to take away the 
parchment it is very small, and besides, it has no aroma. You cannot sell it. 
It is the Liberian coffee that is grown in Brazil, and my friends there 
gave me poor reports of it. I would strongly recommend you, therefore, 
to grow the Arabian coffee. Of course there is what is known as the 
Mocha coffee, but, as Mr. Newport will tell you, there is no such variety. 
Mocha coffee is grown at Mocha, and it owes its peculiar qualities to the 
sandy soil on which it is grown. It is very rich in aroma, but it yields a 
very small crop. Imay here say: Never attempt to grow coffee on a subsoil of 
clay, but always have good subsoil drainage. A good subsoil of sand gravel 
makes a perfect coffee soil, and the richer the soil, the better for the coftee. 
As to hulling, once the cherry is ane it must be pulped, and take care it does 
not get overripe. But I may say that if you do let it become over-ripe, let it 
remain on the trees until it falls to the ground, so long as there is no grass Or 
moisture there, and if you go to the trouble of pulping it, you will have a better 
coffee than if you had pulped it when it was fresh. ‘That is what happens to 
Mocha coffee. The natives there let the fruit dry on the trees and fall to the 
‘round, They actually harvest it by sweeping, and if you buy Mocha coffee you 
will find it all mixed with sand. ‘This makes-the best coffee, but as far as we 
are concerned, the system is not practicable. Coffee should be exported in the 
parchment, for if the parehment iy taken off, and the coffee come in contact 
with the sea air, the aroma is destroyed, with the result that the coffee becomes 
tasteless and valueless. ‘The proper way to preserve coffee is in the parchment, 
and that is the way to export 1t to Europe. My yield of 12 ewt. to the acre 
was in the parchment, and, as a matter of fact, I sell no coffee but in that 
form. A gentleman asks me if I am in favour of the proposed increase in the 
duty on imported coffee, and I say that, without going into reasons, I am. I 
believe in federation in the main, and if we get it we shall supply the whole of 
Australia with coffee. Still T do not depend upon the Australian market, but 
upon the markets of the world, for the simple reason that we are able to produce 
a superior class of coffee. 
Mr. J. Panky (Tinana): Coffee does very well with me, but it has also 
its drawbacks. I have gained prizes for my coffee at the Maryborough show on 
several’ occasions, and have sold some of it as high ag 1s. 4d. per lb. But with 
hand labour for picking it would not pay, and I thought it better to sacrifice the 
coffee than to sacrifice the education of my children; so I now only keep a tree 
or two for my own use. : 
