FRUITS OF QUEENSLAND. 



27 



us injured by the lightest frosts. It is grown in favourable locations in the 

 South, where it produces excellent fruit, but its cultivation is much greater in 

 the North, where the rainfall is heavier and the average annual temperature 

 greater. In the Southern part of the State its cultivation is entirely in the 

 ^ands of white growers, who have been growing it on suitable soil in suitable 

 localities for the past fifty years or even more. I recently saw an old planta- 

 tion that was set out over twenty years ago, and the present plants are still 

 strong and healthy, and bearing good bunches of well-filled fruit, so that there 

 is no question as to the suitability of the soil or climate. Bananas do best on 

 nich .scrub land, and it is no detriment to their growth if it is more or less 



Twenty-dozen Bunch, Buderim Mountain. 



covered with stones as long as there is sufficient soil to set the young plants. 

 Shelter from heavy or cold winds is an advantage, and the plants thrive better 

 under these conditions than when planted in more exposed positions. Bananas 

 are frequently the first crop planted in newly burnt off scrub land, as they do 

 not require any special preparation of such land, and the large amount of ash 

 and partially burnt and decomposed vegetable mould provide an ample supply 

 of food for the plants' use. Bananas are rank feeders, so that this abundance 

 of available plant food causes a rapid growth, fine plants, and correspondingly 

 large bunches of fruit. Though newly burnt off scrub land is the best for this 

 fruit, it can be grown successfully in land that has been under cultivation for 

 many years, provided that the land is rich enough naturally, or its fertility is 



