CHAPTER XXVI 



GENERAL REVIEW OF CULTIVATION 



AUSTRALIA 



QUEENSLAND. The cultivation of bananas in Australia 

 for commercial purposes is limited to Queensland, and the 

 area * devoted to it there is relatively small, viz. 51 98 acres 

 in 1910, which yielded 1,121,075 bunches, averaging 217 

 bunches per acre. There is, however, an immense area 

 suitable for this culture, much of which is at present in a 

 state of nature. Only the more accessible lands have been 

 planted, and of these only the richest. From the earliest 

 times in the colony the banana has been grown, first in 

 the neighbourhood of Brisbane, then gradually in the 

 settlements as they spread northwards, until it is now 

 found where the wild bananas are indigenous, in all the 

 scrubs of the northern coast, and especially in the rich 

 scrub lands surrounding Cairns, Innisfail, and the Tuliy 

 River, where soil, climate, and rainfall are all conducive 

 to the production of fine fruit. It is stated that in th 

 coast lands of Southern Queensland no deterioration in the 

 quantity, quality, and size of the fruit has been noticed, 

 but the reverse, although bananas have been grown on the 

 same land for many years. No more convincing proof is 

 needed of the adaptability of this district for the successful 

 cultivation of bananas. 



Until quite lately the cultivation in Northern Queens- 

 land has not been altogether on right lines, and owners of 

 the land there are beginning to find out that the old 



* See papers by Mr. A. J. Boyd and others in the Queensland Agric. 

 Journ. 



102 



