568 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Dec., 1901. 
had been under cultivation for twenty years, but the next crop will be on virgin 
soil, a cedar scrub just felled. It is to be hoped that this land is above flood 
reach, as it will be interesting to know how much fibre per acre can be produced 
on rich land. 
Each full-grown plant should yield from twenty-five to one hundred leaves 
per annum ; hence one acre containing 600 plants will produce from 15,000 to 
60,000 leaves annually. The average yield of dry fibre Sean 100 leaves is 4 1b. ; 
therefore 1 acre will give from 600 Ib. to 1 ton of fibre. It is no uncommon 
thing for 13 tons to be produced per acre, and with improved machinery over 
2 tons may be expected. The working expenses are reckoned at about 30 per 
cent. of the value of the fibre per acre. Taking the average yield then at 1 ton 
per acre of a value of £30, a profit of £21 per acre may be made. Even 
putting the expenses at 50 per cent., there remains a profit of £15 per acre. 
Lhe requisite machinery is inexpensive, and can be worked by boys. ‘There are 
several machines of different kinds used in the Mauritius, Mexico, and 
Yucatan. They are known as the “Marabal,” the “Kennedy,” and a nearly 
perfect machine—Death and Ellwood’s. One of the latter is capable of dealing 
with the crop on 100 acres. The cost is about £24. Steam or water power 
may be used to drive them, and they will turn out some 250 lb. of wet fibre 
per day. 
THE DATE PALM IN QUEENSLAND. 
From time to time the Acclimatisation Society has imported suitable 
varieties of dates from different parts of the world, and these have been 
distributed to different parts of the State, but those who receive them have, 
with few exceptions, taken no trouble to notify the society of results. It would 
be of great value if all those in Queensland who have date-trees growing would 
furnish us with some particulars concerning them, such as the source whence 
they obtain them, the month and year when planted, the geographical, geological, 
and climatic conditions under which they have been grown, whether bearing 
or unproductive, and any other particulars such as rainfall since planted, &e. 
We shall be greatly obliged to all who will furnish us with particulars such as 
we have indicated. Many parts of Western Queensland are well adopted for 
date-growing, and doubtless, with sufficient data to give encouragement to the 
industry, the Acclimatisation Society and the Department of Agriculture would 
not be found backward in leading the way. 
TRASHING CANE. 
The need for trashing in a humid climate is admitted by most cane- 
planters. When the cane is not trashed the rain is caught at the junction of 
the leaf and the stalk ; dust blown into such spots forms with the moisture a 
soil in which the bud germinates and becomes a sprout which affects the density 
of the juice. This has just been well exemplified in Java. A Samarang 
correspondent of the Louisiana Planter writes as follows on the effects of 
dust and moisture on the cane plants of that island :— 
The high spirits in which the sugar manufacturers started grinding have 
been reduced to a considerable extent by a long spell of rainy weather, lasting, 
from the middle of June to the second half of July—at a time when drought 
was needed and expected. The usual consequences of rain—viz., bad roads 
and diseased bullocks—were aggravated by the fact that the canes, which had 
already attained their point of maturity, started growing afresh, thus lowering 
the sucrose content and the purity of the juice. Many people account for 
this undue rainy time through the recent eruption of the voleano Kloet in the 
