1 Fes., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 117 
suckers must be broken off; and this is what is technically called suckering. 
‘When, in the judgment of the grower, the plant has reached a proper height, 
it is topped. The blossom or terminal bud in the top of the plant is nipped off, 
thus keeping the plant from shooting to seed and wasting any of its strength. 
Just at this point the grower has to use some nice judgment if he wishes to have 
good wrapper leaf. for it is now a matter of the season. He wishes the plant to 
produce as many fine leaves as possible, but must not leave enough to have 
them of poor quality. Here and there through the patch an extra fine plant is 
left to shoot seed, and raises its pretty cluster of flowers high above the rest of 
the crop. Each capsule of seeds which is left when the blossom drops is full of 
minute seeds. Indeed, some idea of the smallness of these seeds can be gained 
when it is said that one plant will sometimes produce as many as forty thousand 
seed. 
A tobacco tenant’s cabin is a typical Kentucky scene. The cabin, except 
for its glass windows, is practically home-made. The logs of which it is built 
were cut, hewn square, and fitted on the ground ; the small open spaces between 
the logs were chinked and daubed with clay and small pieces of limestone from 
the branch near by. The huge open fireplace and the large chimney are made 
without the use of any mortar; only a small amount of heavy clay mud being 
used next to the logs to protect them from fire. :Clapboards made from clear- 
grained oak are used to cover the structure. But even more typical than the 
cabin itself is the open tobacco shed. It is simply a cover to keep the rain off 
the curing tobacco, but does not protect it from driving rains or wind storms in 
the least. 
Your correspondent was fortunate enough to see one of these primitive 
tobacco barns in the process of construction. The whole framework was made 
of tall young timber which was not heavy enough for lumber. These poles and 
uprights were taken from the clearing near at hand, and were dressed on one 
or two sides with an axe and pinned together with wooden pins, such as were 
used fifty years ago. The same process of pinning timbers can be seen in any 
of the old covered bridges in the State. The only nails which were used in the 
construction of the barn were those used for nailing the clapboard upon the 
steep roof. In this manner the cost of the whole structure in money was the 
cost of the nails, as everything else was made by the tobacco tenant himself. 
THE DATE PALM IN QUEENSLAND. 
Although the date palm flourishes so well in many parts of the State, yet 
it apparently takes a longer time to bear in some parts than in others. Mr. 
W. A. Compton, of Mount Marlow, Proserpine, Bowen, informs us that he has 
a tree, eleven years old, which has never borne fruit. He obtained the seed 
from Myrtle Brook, only 6 miles away, from bearing trees on the Messrs. 
Bradley’s property. Mr. Compton does not state how old the latter trees are. 
At Lake Harry, in South Australia, the palms flowered at four years old. At 
Helidon, below the Main Range in this State, they bore on Mr. Pentecost’s 
farm in fifteen years. In Egypt, the average time before bearing is from five to 
six years. 
It might be supposed that Mr. Compton’s tree is either a male or female, 
and hence not fecundated, but it does not appear that a male plant is abso- 
lutely necessary to induce a female plant to bear dates. It is, however, pro- 
bable that such dates would not be fertile. Again, plants raised from the 
seeds of imported dates take many years before fruiting. Offshoots from 
fruiting plants are the best to plant, as these will fruit in about five years. 
There are several varieties of the date palm, which are, however, useless, except 
for decoration purposes. Therefore care should be taken to obtain the true 
palm, Phenix dactylifera. 
