FRUITS OF QUEENSLAND. 



I NTRODUCTION 



Queensland's greatest want to-day is population : Men and women to 

 develop our great natural resources, to go out into our country districts as 

 farmers, dairymen, or fruit-growers not to stick in our towns, but to become 

 primary producers, workers, home-builders not the scourings of big cities, 

 the dissatisfied, the loafer, but the honest worker whose wish is to make a 

 home for himself and his family. There are many such in the overcrowded 

 cities of older countries, striving in vain to make a living existing, it can 

 hardly be called living, under conditions that are by no means conducive to 

 their well-being often poorly fed and poorly clad who would better them- 

 selves by coming to Queensland, and by whom Queensland would be benefited. 

 Queensland has room for -many such annually : men and women who come here 

 for the express intention of settling amongst us and building homes for them- 

 selves; who come here prepared to work, and, if needs be, to work hard; who 

 do not expect to become rich suddenly, but will be contented with a com- 

 fortable home, a healthy life, and a moderate return for their labour results 

 that are within the reach of all, and which compare -more than favourably 

 with the conditions under which they are at present existing. 



Queensland's most valuable asset is her soil, and this requires population 

 to develop it : soil that, in the different districts and climates best adapted for 

 their growth, is capable of producing most of the cultivated crops of the world, 

 and, with very few exceptions, all the fruits of commercial value, many of 

 them to a very high degree of perfection. This pamphlet is practically confined 

 to the fruit-growing possibilities of Queensland, and an endeavour is made to 

 show that there is a good opening for intending settlers in this branch of 

 agriculture, but the general remarks respecting the climate, rainfall, soils, &c:, 

 will be of equal interest to any who wish to take up any other branch, such 

 as general farming, dairying, &c. The Queensland Department of Agriculture 

 has received a number of inquiries from time to time, and from various parts 

 of the world, respecting the possibilities of profitable commercial fruit-growing 

 in this State, and this pamphlet is intended in part to be an answer to such 

 inquiries; but, at the same time, it is hoped that it will have a wider scope, 

 and give a general idea of one of our staple industries to many who are now 

 on the look-out for a country in which to settle and an occupation to take up 

 when they arrive there. 



