392 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1902. 
and while mostly towards the top of the tree often all the way down the stem. 
These are called “ suckers”; and, however, the term may have come into use, 
do literally suck the sap and vitality of the tree. 
These, if left, would constitute separate and distinct stems ; would com- 
plicate the pruning and picking; weaken the tree; make a thick, impregnable 
bush of the tree that would bear no crop, except on the extreme tips of the 
branches ; and reduce the quality of the crop if left, and they must therefore 
be removed. 
Suckers may be pulled off when young, and, until they become so old and 
tough that the main stem is damaged by their being pulled away, the knife 
should not be resorted to to remove them. 
If pulled off, the eye will come with the shoot and no harm be done to the 
tree, but if cut they only induce new growth. 
The natural tendency of the coffee-tree is to grow taller than the more or 
less artificial method of culture permits; therefore the efforts of healthy trees 
to grow upwards by means of these suckers must be expected. To allow these 
to grow, however, means ruining the trees on the estate, and far more harm is 
often done by neglecting the centering and suckering than even by neglecting 
pruning. This, however, will be dealt with separately. 
It is a good plan when possible to take the suckers off whenever weeding 
or chipping round a tree. On newly topped coffee, suckers should never be 
allowed to grow to more than 3 or 4 inches in length before being removed. 
When very young—i.e., only half-an-inch to an inch long—nothing is gained 
by removing them, for they only come again at once in the same way as blossom- 
buds, as mentioned in Article No. 5, Queensland Agricultural Journal, February, 
1901. But when older some time will elapse between the removal of a growth 
of suckers and the appearance of others. 
In suckering coffee it will be found, as with many of the other field works, 
the heaviest work is while the trees are young ; as they get older the tendency 
to produce this kind of growth is materially less. ~ 
THE ARGENTINE PORTS REOPENED. 
The Harmer and Stockbreeder says :—A brief telegram from the Argentine, 
per Reuter’s Agency, conveys the welcome information—which we trust will be 
officially confirmed—that the Argentine Government has reopened its ports to 
British pedigree stock. This will be welcome news to breeders. For a period 
of eighteen months the ports in that country have been closed, owing to the 
prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease within the Argentine, contracted, 
presumably, from a European source—not British. The Argentine authorities 
concluded that for a time their ports should be shut; and although the fact 
that we had to take similar action with regard to Argentina cattle imported 
alive and slaughtered at the port of debarkation about the same time gave colour 
to the suspicion that the measures taken were retaliatory, yet the Republic was 
undoubtedly acting on precisely the same policy as influenced His Majesty’s 
Government. Now that this country has shown a clean bill of health, so far as 
foot-and-mouth disease is concerned, for a lengthened period—no outbreak 
being recorded since March—it was generally anticipated that the Argentine 
authorities would act up to the spirit of their law and reopen the ports when 
we could give the necessary assurance that foot-and-mouth disease was stamped 
out. The expectation was very prevalent among breeders that the reopenin 
of the ports would have taken place about November, but the belate 
declaration of the Board of Agriculture probably postponed the action of the 
South American authorities. Now that the embargo has been withdrawn, we 
may anticipate a keen demand at the spring bull sales and for those breeds of 
sheep particularly concerned. 
