1 Jury, 1902.) QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 5 
VITICULTURE. 
The area under vines is steadily increasing, as fruitgrowers are awakening to the 
fact that few fruit trees give so good a return as a well-tended vineyard of selected 
table grapes. One grower, in the Esk district, enjoys a return of £60 per acre from 
table grapes. here is little fear of over-production for some time yet, as the local 
demand far exceeds the supply, and the Commonwealth markets offer a tempting 
invitation to the Queensland vignerons. In this direction, indeed, there is a great 
opening for Queensland growers to produce early table grapes, which would arrive in 
the Southern States before the local fruit could ripen, and would command 
remunerative prices in a practically inexhaustible market. These grapes could be 
grown in various localities from Brisbane to Bundaberg. The increased importation 
into Queensland of wines from the other divisions of the Commonwealth, consequent 
upon interstate freetrade, has momentarily checked the manufacture of wine in this 
State. But, with more attention on the part of our winemakers to the choice of 
appropriate varieties of grapes and improved processes in the cellar, Queensland 
wines would be found equal in quality to the majority of the Southern wines—in 
fact, in certain types, we could produce a wine superior to any made in Australia of 
the same class. The new varieties brought from different European countries by the 
Department of Agriculture are now coming into bearing. Some of them, especially 
the Douro vines from Portugal, show remarkable vigour and adaptability to our climatic 
conditions, and it is confidently expected that they will assist in improving the port 
type of wine made in Queensland. Some fine table grapes amongst these new varieties 
will also prove valuable to growers. . 
COorrer. 
The area under coffee continues to increase, and the reputation of Queensland 
* coffee is becoming known outside the borders of the State. Since the last Conference, 
the Instructor in Coffee Culture, Mr. Newport, was sent through the Southern States 
to bring our coffee under the notice of merchants, and to compare it with the quality 
imported from oversea. Although his mission did not immediately bear fruit, it is 
thought that the result will be satisfactory to Queensland growers. The region for 
coffee cultivation that is mostly favoured lies on the coast side of the Main Range 
from Mackay northwards, although some really good plantations are to be seen further 
south, notably at Buderim Mountain. The statistics show that the annual increase in 
cultivation has been regular; in 1898, there were 432 acres under cultivation; in 
1899, 495 acres; in 1900, 537 acres; and the crop for 1901 can be estimated at 547 
acres. 
ToBacco, 
This area under crop, owing to the presence of the Experimental Farm, under the 
management of our Tobacco Expert, is increasing in the South-east of Queensland. In 
1900 the area around Inglewood under tobacco,was 75 acres, and in the Texas district 
581 acres. For 1901, the Registrar-General estimates the figures to be 72 acres and 
692 acres respectively. The drought has been severe in the Texas district this year, but 
during 1901 a crop was reaped that brought the highest price in the Queensland 
market. Our Queensland methods as taught by Mr. Nevill have been sufficient to 
induce the Minister for Agriculture in Victoria to send his tobaceo expert to visit the 
Texas farm. 
Tue Pasroran Inpustry. 
During the year the effects of the continued drought on our pastoral industry 
have been even more disastrous than in 1890, and in many portions of the West the 
stock may be said to have been practically wiped out. Numerically, indecd, the 
losses have not been so great as those of the previous year; but that can be readily 
accounted for by the fact that during 1900 over 30 per cent. of the sheep 
and nearly 2() per cent. of the cattle that had survived the severity of previous 
years succumbed to the drought. The decrease for the two years ended 31st 
December last was 35 per cent. in sheep and nearly 27 per cent. in cattle; and, 
unfortunately, there is every reason to assume that the losses since the last 
enumeration have been equally heavy in proportion to those of the two previous 
years. The only bright feature in an otherwise drear picture has been the 
continued advance in values of live stock and wool. ‘These, however, do not compen- 
sate for the great falling offin our meat exports, which has enabled foreigners to usurp 
our place in the British meat markets. Our herds are not oteraal as much as 
formerly by ticks and tick fever, and, therefore, the question arises whether the 
gradual relaxation of the quarantine restrictions, which has been the policy of the 
Department in the past, should not be extended even further in the direction of their 
removal; for these restrictions have a tendency to close the best markets to a large 
