586 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Dec., 1899. 
plants than are actually required, so that you may select the fittest even to the 
last), 1 lb. of prepared @. Arabica will be sufficient; 1s Ib. would probably be 
sufficient for 2 acres, 4 1b. for 5 acres, and so on. At greater distances, say 8 
feet by 8 feet, giving 680 trees to the acre, only 3-lb. or so of seed will be needed 
per acre. The figures given will be only approximate and calculated on a large 
and good sample. A smaller sample may run to over 2,000 to the pound of 
prepared C. Arabica, as also might a good sample if overdried. 
Varieties —Vhis brings up the question of the best varieties of plants to 
grow, and consequently the variety of seed {0 obtain. ‘Those mentioned are the 
principal of the better varieties I haye seen in Queensland so far. Coffea 
Liberica is a large tree and hardy, thrives best in climates with heavy rainfall, 
but will thrive almost anywhere. It bears well, but the picking extends over a 
very lengthened season. The product is hard to manipulate and is bitter, and 
worth barely half what ordinary ©. Arabica is worth. C. Arabica, of the Ceylon 
or Coorg varieties, which are most common, are hardy and good bearers. @, 
Arabica, var. Mocha, is small, stunted, very slow in growth, but bears well. It 
is doubtful, however, whether the cured article would obtain any better price 
than ordinary C. Arabica. 
CG. Arabica, var. Maragogipe, is very delicate here; bears a splendid sample of 
bean, but very little of it. Therefore ordinary C. Arabica of the common 
Ceylon or Coorg variety would seem eminently the best. 
Germination.—Seed may be germinated artificially in a box of damp sand, 
or, better still, in a box or basket of charcoal freely sprinkled with water and 
kept under shelter or in a warm place. In. this way, the seed will germinate 
freely and quickly in a week or so, but it must be taken out and planted into a 
nursery bed when the root, which will appear at the end of the bean, is not 
more than a quarter of an inch in length, and great care must be exercised not 
to break this root or the seed dies. 
The safer and better way—better because it is easier and cheaper—is to 
sow broadcast on a small bed. To prepare the germinating bed, fork or dig up, 
to the depth of 9 inches or 1 foot, a yard square of land for every pound or so of 
seed. For a quantity of seed, a Jong bed 3 feet wide will be found more 
convenient than a large square bed. Having removed from this all roots, stones 
the size of a walnut or larger (all stones if possible), and rubbish, loosen the 
soil, rake smooth and level, and trench round the bed to a depth of 6 inches. 
This has the effect of making the bed a raised one. Flat or sunk beds are 
sometimes used, but these, though convenient if irrigation is required, are 
found to be troublesome by getting caked in hot weather and needing constant 
pricking up, and becoming sodden or washed out in wet weather among other 
objections. 
_ The seed should then be spread lightly on the top of this bed. It gives the 
plant some slight advantage if the seed can be turned flat side downwards, but 
this is not an important point. After having spread out evenly, cover with 
enough light mould to just hide the seed and no more (it is a mistake to plant 
deeply or press down the covering), then cover to a depth of half an inch or so 
with finely-cut chaff. Grass and dead leaves are used sometimes, but these have 
to be taken off again as soon as the seedlings come up, and the little extra work 
entailed in cutting the grass into chaff is repaid by having no subsequent 
trouble in removing it. Moreover, chaff is more readily obtainable than dead 
leaves in most parts of Queensland. ‘The advantages.of a covering of chaff are 
that, while protecting the young and delicate germs from a cold or drying wind 
and possible accidental exposure, it retains the moisture and heat so necessary 
for germination, and the young scedlings can readily at any time make their way 
through it. 
‘The germinating bed haying been set and covered, it must be shaded, and 
the cheapest and most effective method is to erect a small roof or “ pandall” of 
sticks. Four small forked sticks, about 2 inches thick, of common scrub wood 
and about 2 or 23 feet high, put in, one at each corner of the square yard, will 
give sufficient support to a few more sticks laid across from fork to fork, and 
