FRUITS OF QUEEXSLAXD. 31 



in a state of Nature. Only the more easily accessible lands have been worked 

 and of these only the richest. Manuring is unknown in most parts, and as soon 

 as the plantation shows signs of deterioration it is abandoned, and a fresh one 

 planted out in new land, the land previously under crop with bananas being 

 either planted in sugar-cane or allowed to run to grass. This is certainly a 

 very wasteful method of utilising our land, and the time will come, sooner or 

 later, when greater care will have to be given to it, and that once land has 

 become impoverished by banana culture, it will have to be put under a suitable 

 rotation of crops, so as to fit it for being again planted to bananas. The 

 trouble is, as I have already stated, we have too much land and too few people 

 to work it, hence, so far, we are unable to use it to anything like the best 

 advantage. During the year 1904 the production of bananas in Queensland 

 was some 2,000,000 bunches, and when it is considered that each bunch will 

 average about 12 dozen fruit, it will be seen that already we are producing 

 a very large quantity. There is, however, plenty of room for extension, and 

 any quantity of available countiy, but before this extension can be profitable, 

 steps will have to be taken to utilise the fruit in a manner other than its 

 consumption as fresh fruit, and this in itself will mean the opening up of new 

 industries and the employment of a considerable amount of labour. I have 

 mentioned 12 dozen as being the average quantity of fruit per bunch, but it 

 is frequently much more than this, and I have often seen bunches of 25 to 

 30 dozen fine fruit grown on strong young plants on rich new land. Although 

 the industry in the North is now almost entirely in the hands of Chinese 

 gardeners, there is no reason whatever why it should not be run by white 

 growers, as is done in the South, and there is no question that our white- 

 grown bananas in the South compare more than favourably with the Northern 

 Chinese-grown article, despite the fact that the latter has every advantage 

 in climate and an abundance of virgin soil. Most of the photos, of bananas 

 are, I am sorry to say, not by any -means typical of this industry, as they 

 have been taken during the off-season, when the plants Jook ragged and are 

 showing little new growth, and the bunches also are much smaller than usual. 

 Still, I hope that the illustrations will give some idea of the growing and 

 handling of this crop, and will show what a banana plant and its bunch are 

 like. 



THE PINEAPPLE. 



If there is one fruit that Queensland can grow to perfection, it is 

 undoubtedly the pineapple. This is not merely my own personal opinion, but 

 is the universal admission of all who are qualified to judge. On many occasions 

 I have taken men thoroughly conversant with pineapple-growing, and who 

 knew what a good fruit really is, through some of our plantations, where I 

 have given them fruit to test, and, without exception, they have had no hesita- 

 tion in saying that they have never tasted better fruit. Our fruit has a firm- 

 ness, freedom from fibre, and a flavour that is hard to beat. It is an excellent 

 canning fruit, superior in this respect to the Singapore article, which it sur- 

 passes in flavour. This is admitted by English and European buyers, and its 

 superiority is bound eventually to result in a great increase in canning and the 

 establishment of large works run on thoroughly up-to-date lines. 



