The Custard Apple in Queensland. 11 



'The foregoing is my clear remembrance of the matter. I was 

 uncommonly interested, because of the unusual interest of this variety 

 and its good growth. Doubtless you will remember the circumstances as 

 I do. If I am wrong in any particular according to your remembrance, 

 will you please advise me? " (Signed) LESLIE GORDON CORRIE." 



The foregoing extract from Mr. Corrie 's letter is substantially 

 correct. In 1889, at a meeting of the Fruitgrowers' Association, held 

 In Brisbane, the merits of this seedling Custard Apple were discussed, 

 and it was resolved that it be named Pink's Mammoth, after the raiser, 

 Mr. James Pink. 



It was not till 1887 that Mr. John Williams worked the first plants 

 for Mr. Corrie on Garden Island (Tindappa). The first plants worked in 

 Queensland were for Mr. Moore at Redland Bay, cleft grafting being 

 adopted; Mr. John Williams operated. In 1889, Mr. Williams worked 

 several hundreds of plants at South Park, Redland Bay, for Mr. Corrie, 

 but quite a number of the buds or grafts did not take, owing to exposure 

 to high winds. This accounts for the fruit variations found in this 

 grove, as quite a number of the trees are the seedling stocks, chiefly 

 seedlings of the original tree. 



The following are a few notable Anona trees in Queensland that I 

 have known, which must have been planted in very early times, but their 

 early history lies beyond my advent to the State. A very notable tree of 

 either A. squamosa or A. sericca was growing at Bowen, the one time 

 residence of the late Eugen Fitzalan, one of Bowen 's earliest settlers. He 

 informed me that he got the plant from Mr. Hill, of the Botanic Gardens, 

 about the latter end of the sixties. Mr. Fitzalan was an enthusiastic 

 botanist, naturalist, and gardener. This Anona, in 1887, was about 30 ft. 

 high, with a stem measurement at 2 ft. above the ground of 4 ft. 10 in. in 

 girth. It bore enormous crops annually, and practically carried fruit for 

 nine months in the year. 



Another notable Anona grew at Mon Repos, the then residence of 

 Augustus P. Barton, near Bundaberg. This was seemingly A. reticulata 

 (the netted Custard Apple). The writer saw it in the middle eighties. 

 The fruits were large, of fine form, and fair flavour. The flesh was a very 

 pale pink. The seeds were numerous, but all attempts to germinate them 

 were futile. Mr. F. L. Nott, Windermere, and Mr. Farquhar, of The 

 Hummock, tried their best and failed. I tried about a couple of hundred 

 with similar result. Mr. J. E. Noakes, of Mary borough, succeeded in 

 raising one plant out of several hundreds of seed, and about twenty 

 years ago it was growing in his garden. Mr. Barton told me that he 

 brought the original plant from Java. 



A somewhat notable plant of Anona grew for many years behind the 

 original cottage that stood in the Brisbane Botanic Gardens. I have not 

 seen it for ten or more years. It had the peculiarity of producing a 

 fascicular branch which resembled a bunch of mistletoe. This tree and 



