‘Man, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 218 
Mithout referring to the employing of the children of the farmer, but 
tndoubtedly if children could be used for the work it is an advantage, for in 
salt a child can do as much as an adult. Keeping children back from school 
M the bush for the picking season, say three months or 80, does not, either, 
; Necessarily mean neglect of their education for the rest of the year. 
'¢ “nother advantage to the farmer is in being able to keep in the house a bag 
pf eo €e, the roasting and grinding of which would trouble the housewife but 
ttle, and the subsequent preparation is no more troublesome than tea. As a 
Tage it will be found not only pleasant but more sustaining and wholesome 
fa, at a cost of considerably less than 2s. per lb. 
rubbing.—In opening up, in the first instance, the question as to whether 
advisable to erub the land or remove the stumps of the scrub timber is 
Ret t must be left to the individual to decide. If forest land is opened, and 
fre are comparatively few stumps, the removal of these might be cheap and 
pould at once admit of cheaper working by the use of horse-power in weeding 
o the firgt three years. In scrub land, however, it is doubtful whether the 
“Ost of Temoving the stumps is covered by the difference between hand-hoeing 
and horse-seuffling, since this can only be done for three years, the coffee trees 
og “OVerine the ground in the fourth year, as a rule, that horsework is again 
Mecluded. The stumps will not interfere with the growth of the coffee, and, if 
lateral roots are cut away round the stumps before planting the coffee, their 
=i ¢ ene will be no disadvantage, save on the one point of prohibiting horse 
a tation, From the fourth year hand-hoeing would have to be resorted to 
th Mny case, but by then not only will there be many less weeds on account of 
ie lateral spread of the coffee, but most of the stumps will have rotted away. 
© ‘and opened is dense, thick scrub, heavily timbered, 1 do not think the 
iitage warrants the expenditure in grubbing, but for anything less it must 
Set gt the grower himself to say whether the cost of their removal will be 
—" 1 “mpensated for by the subsequent saving in working within three years. 
= % Lwo Crops on the One Land.—The cultivation of any other crop on the 
= | ilar land as coffee is to be strongly deprecated, whether corn, rice, pines, or 
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et es, If there is anything worse than corn or rice, it is a root crop such 
= | *8 sweet otatoes, as He effect of this crop will be apparent in the stunted 
| prowth of the coffee for years to come. Growers will do much better with 
= oth their corn crops, &c., and their coffee, if kept in separate blocks; the 
= ite apparent saving in weeding and cleaning by keeping them on the same 
=i] a 'S more than lost subsequently, for the maturing of the tree is retarded 
"AD fn * than encouraged; and although the value of the catch crop be taken 
= tee onsideration, it is more than paid for by the loss to the soil, and by 
“quently having to wait for another year for the maiden crop of coffee. 
by, ..° Stowing of leguminous crops as green manure is a different matter, 
‘ven in this case, if the coffee is young, the gain to the soil is 
=e, | sunterbalanced by damage to the tree, if the plant be allowed to grow over 
of dis Coffee and be not cut or ploughed in when green and young. The 
of th idvantage of cow-pea is that it overgrows and chokes the coffee, damaging 
—p | the Olne trees, and, if great care is not exercised, breaking the primaries ot 
i itso trees. For this reason, almost anything of the nature of a climber is of 
4 | 4 Use; some such leguminous plant as clover, for instance, if it could be got 
Ta Win so warm a climate, or some of the non-climbing dwarf varieties of 
as | "NS, such as the French, might be of advantage. 
oi | u hading.—The shading of coffee in Queensland 18 as a general rule 
Wye tren Cossary, and all the sunshine available is needed for the growth of the 
J} shaaond tipening of the crop. In certain localities, such as parts of Mackay, 
be | tine ‘san advantage ; and where such is the case, leguminous trees such as 
| es © of the Erithrinas, Cassias, Bauhinias, or Acacias would at least not detract 
= | ae the quality of the soil, yet at the same time would give as much shade as 
B | dros required. “Corn or such growths do no good as shade. They do a 
ds | haan’ the plant at all vertically, when the sun is fiercest and the tree needs 
*; and at other times shut out the air and ventilation, and if continued 
Poiteg in the coffee a long, thin, weedy growth with no stability and a yellow 
B 
