The Custard Apple in Queensland. 



II. A few Notes on the Custard Apple. 



BY JAMES COLLINS. 



Redland Bay has been called by many, and rightly so, the home of 

 the Custard Apple no other fruit-growing district in the State having 

 up to the present produced such quantities of Custard Apples as are 

 sent every year to the Brisbane and Sydney markets. It may, perhaps, 

 be safely said that Redland Bay produces more of this fruit than all 

 other parts of the State put together. 



It was in this district that the writer first saw fruiting trees of the 

 Custard Apple, and had the pleasure of sampling their fruit. The 

 trees were then growing in the garden now attached to the hotel at 

 Redland Bay, which was at that time owned by Mr. William Dart, 

 of sugar fame. Young trees from the seed of the above trees were 

 planted by the writer, in a newly started orchard at Redland Bay, owned 

 by the late D. J. Collins; this was about thirty-six years ago. Out of 

 about twenty trees planted then, three trees turned out to be good 

 croppers of fair quality fruit ; the rest of the trees were duffers 

 (unfruitful). Two, out of the above three trees, are still in a healthy 

 and vigorous condition. Some seven years later, the fruit from the 

 above trees was sent to the Brisbane market for sale, and it soon became 

 evident from the demand, and the prices obtained, that Custard Apple 

 growing would be a profitable undertaking. Among others who went 

 in early for growing the Custard Apple in the district were Messrs. J. 

 Moore, A. Strachan, the late H. Day, and the writer. 



It soon became evident that seedling Custard Apples were not 

 to be relied on, and, although the fruiting varieties then grown were 

 not nearly so good as those now grown, grafting from the better varieties 

 became the rule. 



To Mr. John Williams, of Sunnybank, belongs the credit of grafting 

 the first Custard Apple trees in Queensland; in fact, the trees that 

 were first grafted by that gentleman were perhaps the first that had 

 ever been done in any part of the world. 



To the late Mr. L. G. Corrie belongs the credit of introducing to this 

 district the two best varieties of Custard Apples now grown, viz.- 

 the Island variety and the Giant or Mammoth, now known as Pink's 

 Mammoth. 



The Island variety is a strong grower, an early, regular, and 

 persistent cropper of good quality fruit of medium size, weighing about 

 8 oz., although some fruits will turn the scales at from 1 to 2 Ib. 

 The fruit is uneven in shape, some are conical with a rough surface, 

 while other fruits from the same tree are almost round in shape with a 

 perfectly smooth skin. It is altogether a most desirable variety to plant. 



