TextArea.preferredSize(int rows, int cols) returns a result that doesn't take the size of the TextArea's scrollbars into account. Hence reshaping to the returned size gives you a TextArea with room for fractionally fewer rows and columns than you asked for.

The description field as copied from bug report 1236911 follows:

>From: Garth Allen Dickie <###@###.###>
This does not look like form output to me.


Hi, I am using the JDK beta 2 for Solaris 2.4. When I
construct a TextArea component with rows=n, only n-1 rows
of text are visible. If I create TextArea component with
rows=1, then only part of the row is visible.

Regards,
Garth A. Dickie
_________
<Jim Hagen> I've constructed the example below to demostrate this.
mport java.awt.*;

public class T3169 extends Frame
  {
  Panel panel;
  TextArea t;

  int windowWidth = 200;
  int windowHeight = 150;

  public T3169(String args[])
    {
    super("Bug Report 3169");

    panel = new Panel();
    t = new TextArea("This Text is not fully displayed", 1,15);
    panel.add(t);
    add("South", panel);

    resize(windowWidth, windowHeight);
    pack();
    show();
    }


  public static void main(String args[])
    {
    new T3169(args);
    }
  }

The description field as copied from bug report 1235284 follows:

To followup on this bug, please contact ###@###.###
This code example adds 2 fields and a TextArea to a Panel. Not exactly what I'd do but it should work. The problem is relatively minor- unless you're trying to type on the last line of the TextArea, since the last line is not visible and the second-to-last is only partly visible.
 
This one comes from a customer.
 _____Begin Customer Data_____
What happens: In the attached program, a TextArea is added to a panel and
the panel is added to the frame. A List is added below the panel. Note
that the bottom anchor of the TextArea is obscured by the List; changing
the size of the visible part of the list has no effect.

Thanks for looking into this!

Robert Uomini
>From: ###@###.### (Robert Uomini)
_____End Customer Data_____
In the code below I have removed the List for clarity- the bottom of the TextArea is still not visible even without any other objects added to the panel after it.
_____Begin test code_____

import java.awt.*;

public class BugReportv extends Frame
  {
  Panel panel1;

  TextArea textarea;

  List list;

  Label label1;
  Label label2;

  TextField text1;
  TextField text2;

  int windowWidth = 450;
  int windowHeight = 700;

  public BugReportv(String args[])
    {
    super("Bug Reportv.JimmiChangedME");

    panel1 = new Panel();

    label1 = new Label("Label1:");
    label1.setFont(new Font("Courier", Font.BOLD, 14));
    panel1.add(label1);

    text1 = new TextField("text1", 32);
    panel1.add(text1);

    label2 = new Label("Label2:");
    label2.setFont(new Font("Courier", Font.BOLD, 14));
    panel1.add(label2);

    text2 = new TextField("text2", 32);
    panel1.add(text2);

    textarea = new TextArea(30, 50);
    panel1.add(textarea);
    add("Center", panel1);

    //list = new List(10, false);
    //add("South", list);

    resize(windowWidth, windowHeight);
    show();
    }

  public static void main(String args[])
    {
    new BugReportv(args);
    }
  }