566 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL [1 Dec., 1901. 
k’tchen exciting the curiosity and the admiration of the thousands of visitors 
now frequenting this famous resort. 
In a recent article the Zimes-Democrat refers to the merits of red rice. 
There is certainly no more reason for discriminating against red beans, and these 
latter are very popular and high priced. 
The development of the rice industry in Texas has been sudden, and 
promises to be immense. In Orange county the rice harvest is in full swing, 
and hundreds of acres of the golden grain are falling before the reaper. 
COST OF PRODUCTION AND THE MARKETING OF COFFEE, 
Mr. H. Newport, Instructor in Coffee Culture, points out the difficulty of 
striving at the cost of producing coffee in Queensland, but says that it is a 
great deal more than it ought to be. To get proper statistics on the industry, 
it must first be firmly established; and, secondly, well-organised and exact 
accounts must be kept by the growers. In older coffee-producing countries, 
the costs of the various works (¢.e., cost of production) are not only kept care- 
ful account of, but cut down, after years of experience, to the lowest possible 
point. Mr. Newport then goes on to say: 
In Queensland the industry is still young, and in very few instances are 
accountskeptatall. Even were they available, they would form no criterion of the 
true cost of production in the State, or supply figures that could be compared on 
any common basis with those of any other country. I can say that coffee 
ought not to cost more than about 4d. per lb. (in parchment) to prouuce here, 
but even this rate would vary under different conditions and in different 
localities, and it will be a long time yet before any average can be struck for 
the whole State. 
I certainly do not think coffee can be, or ever will be, produced at 23d. to 
3d. per lb., as American coffee is, but we have in our favour the protective 
tariff and the quality of the article. : 
This latter is an important point, and one that I trust you will not lose 
sight of. Santos, Mexican, and American coffees generally are what is known 
as low grade, and fetch a considerably lower price, in the bulk, in the open 
markets, as will be seen by reference to sale price lists, &c. 
It practically means this—that if you produce cheaply you obtain an 
inferior acticle, and then it is a question as to whether it pays better to produce 
the quantity at a lower value or the quality at the higher value. 
High-grade coffee will always sell before low grade, even though the low 
grades may swamp the markets with their quantity. In the factory the poor 
article requires toning, and this toning or strengthening is done by the high- 
grade coffees. 
On these points Planting Opinion writes:—Coffee is a crop that has to 
undergo a process of preparation after being grown, before it can be placed on 
the market. It is not enough to grow the berry. To know how to grow this 
is one thing ; to know what to do with it after the crops are grown is another. 
We take it that every coffee-planter in Southern India is capable of seeing that ° 
his crop is properly prepared for the curer; but it may be well to remark that 
mistakes on the estate cannot always be rectified at the curing-mill, and that 
every | d sample of coffee sent out as ‘‘ Mysore,” ‘“ Coorg,” “ Nilgiri,” &c., 
damages the reputation of a whole district, perhaps even of “ Hast India” 
coffee generally. Indian coffee should command a much higher average than 
Brazilian, because of its general superiority. There is little room for doubt, 
however, that the margin between prices of Hast Indian description and 
Brazilian is growing narrower. Hither Brazilian is winning a better reputation 
or Indian is losing prestige. Every planter who, by carelessness or ignorance 
helps to bring such a loss of prestige about is doing irreparable harm to his 
neighbours. We do not for a moment suppose that things happen here such as 
are said on excellent authority to have occurred in Jamaica, but the fact that 
