70 THE BANANA 



land, Mr. A. J. Boyd * informs us that in May 1909 

 Mr. A. W. Benson, then Instructor in Fruit Culture in 

 Queensland, was deputed by the Minister for Agriculture, 

 Queensland, to proceed to Buderim Mountain, and select 

 suitable sites on which bananas had been grown, for 

 experimental work in manuring. He selected two plots 

 of land, both of which were so exhausted that to attempt 

 to grow bananas on them in that condition would have 

 been to court failure. After consultation with the Agri- 

 cultural Chemist, Mr. J. C. Briinnich, thecomposition of a 

 complete manure was decided on. The ground having 

 been thoroughly prepared, the planting of bananas was 

 done in September 1909 ; and the whole work was carried 

 on by the growers under the personal supervision of 

 Messrs. Benson and Briinnich. Mr. Benson was ap- 

 pointed Director of Agriculture in Tasmania, but the 

 experiments were continued by Mr. Briinnich, who gives 

 the following Fourth Progress Report and table "f on page 

 73, as the result of the first harvest of fruit : 



" The first harvest of fruit from the Banana Manuring 

 Experiment Blocks has just been completed and the 

 results are quite satisfactory. The experiments show that 

 exhausted banana lands, as long as the soil is in good 

 physical condition and contains a fair amount of humus, 

 may be made to yield fair profitable crops with thorough 

 cultivation and heavy manuring. 



44 Our manurial basis, the minimum quantity of fertiliz- 

 ing materials necessary which have to be applied annually, 

 is 



160 Ibs. of Potash, 

 80 Ibs. of Phosphoric Acid, 

 40 Ibs. of Nitrogen per acre, 



when the stools are planted 12 ft. apart, giving 302 stools 

 per acre. With ordinary artificial fertilizer this amount 

 works out to an application of 3| Ibs. of manure, at a cost 

 of about 3|d. per stool. 



* Queensland Agric. Journ., xxix. 48 (1912). f Ibid. xxvi. 317 (1911 ). 



