738 Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. [Oct. 2, 1920. 



Spring Work for the Banana Grower* 



\\. J. ALLEN and REG. G. BARTLETT. 



The Selection of Suckers for Planting. 



OxE of the most important points in the growing of bananas is the selection 

 and proper treatment of suckers for planting. Unfortunately it is a factor 

 to which very little attention is given by the majority of growers. One 

 hear? a good deal about the selection of seed maize and the grading of seed 

 wheat, and of the increased returns and general improvement that arise 

 therefrom, but one does not meet many banana growers who recognise the 

 close relation that careful selection of suckers beai-s to the future life of a 

 plantation, not alone in regard to the yield of fruit, but particularly as to 

 freedom from disease. 



Too often we see suckers taken from abandoned plantations for the simple 

 but very unsatisfactory reason that they are cheap and easy to dig out. The 

 grower knows nothing of the history of such a plantation, nor why it has 

 been unprofitable and has had to be abandoned. A case in point occurred 

 quite recently. A plantation had been abandoned nominally because it had 

 become infected with bunchy top, but when examined it was found that the 

 suckers were po^tively riddled by beetle borer. An unsuspecting grower 

 might conceivably have decided to select suckers from such a plantation by 

 taking plants that bore no signs of bunchy top, but he would undoubtedly 

 have introduced beetle borer into his new plantation. The intending grower 

 should know not only that his suckers are free from disease and pests but 

 that they come from clean plantations. 



It can be readily understood that in the early days of the industry, when 

 the supply of available suckers was scanty, growers had to take what they 

 could get, and the unsound practice arose of planting anything and every- 

 thing in the shape of a sucker — -even to splitting up old butts into four and 

 sometimes six " slips." In many instances — it is hardly too much say, in 

 nearly every one seen — bunchy top has developed on plants raised from butts 

 split into small parts, perhaps because of the extent of cut surface exposed 

 ]:>y this method to the action of fungi and bacteria in the soil. Growers 

 will do well to take warning and pay careful attention to this important 

 matter of selecting the right class of sucker. 



Selection for Vigour. 

 Most growers know that the most vigorous sucker is the one with a good 

 bulb and with small narrow leaves. This type of sucker is always a good 

 grower and always produces a good bunch of fruit. The size of the sucker is 

 of less importance than the size of the bulb. Tiic bulb is simply food stored 

 up ; hence the larger the bulb the larger the (juantity of food stored up to 



