AUSTRALIA. Although Australia is a prospective coffee-growing country of large natural possibilities, the _Australian Year Book_ for 1921 states that Queensland is the one state in which experiments have been tried, and that in 1919-20 there were only twenty-four acres under cultivation. Queensland soils are of volcanic origin, exceptionally rich, and support trees that are vigorous and prolific with a bean of fine quality. The _arabica_ is chiefly cultivated, and the trees can be successfully grown on the plains at sea-level as well as up to a height of 1,500 or 2,000 feet. The trees mature earlier than in some other countries. Planted in January, they frequently blossom in December of the next year, or a month later, and yield a small crop in July or August; that is, in about two years and a half from the time of planting. The bean closely resembles the choice Blue Mountain coffee of Jamaica. For coffee cultivation the labor cost is almost prohibitive. [Illustration: PICKING COFFEE ON A NORTH QUEENSLAND PLANTATION] As much as fifteen hundred-weight of beans per acre have been gathered from trees in North Queensland; and for years the average was ten hundred-weight per acre. After thirty years of cultivation, no signs of disease have appeared. At late as 1920, the government was proposing to make advances of fourteen cents a pound upon coffee in the parchment to encourage the development of the industry to a point where it would be possible for local coffee growers to capture at least the bulk of the commonwealth's import coffee trade of 2,605,240 pounds. Coffee grows well in most all the islands of the Pacific Ocean, and in some of them, as in the Philippines and Hawaii, the industry in past years, reached considerable importance. HAWAII. Coffee has been grown in Hawaii since 1825, from plants brought from Brazil. It has also been said that seed was brought by Vancouver, the British navigator, on his Pacific exploration voyage, 1791-94. Not, however, until 1845 was an official record made of the crop, which was then 248 pounds. The first plantations, started on the low levels, near the sea, did not do well; and it was not until the trees were planted at elevations of from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above sea-level that better returns were obtained. Coffee is grown on all the islands of the group, but nowhere to any great extent except on Hawaii, which produces ninety-five percent of the entire crop. Next in importance, though far behind, is the island of Oahu. On Hawaii there are four principal coffee districts, Kona, Hamakua, Puna, and Olaa. About four-fifths of the total output of the islands is produced in Kona. At one time there were considerable coffee areas in Maui and Kauai, but sugar cane eventually there took the place of coffee. [Illustration: COFFEE IN BLOSSOM, CAPTAIN COOK COFFEE COMPANY ESTATE, KEALAKEKUA, KONA, HAWAII]