February, 1912.] 



113 



Edible Products. 



taste them could not help contrasting 

 them with the inferior potatoes obtain- 

 able at the local markets and boutiques. 



Pew planters know better than Mr. 

 Kellow how to achieve success in the 

 cultivation of upcountry products, bub 

 that he has succeeded in obtaining a 

 yield of over 1,300 per cent (i.e., over 

 fourteen fold) iu the field cf potatoes 

 referred to is, for Ceylon, a specially 

 gratifying result. Many of the tubers 

 weighed over 2 lb. each, 



H. F, M. 



MANURING OF BANANAS. 



BY J. MONTGOMERIB HATTRICK, 

 P.H.A.S., N.D.A. 



Botanically, all cultivated varieties of 

 Banana belong to the family Musacew. 

 Of the known varieties, only three are 

 cultivated for commercial purposes in 

 Queensland, namely :— 



(1) Cavendish. 



(2) Lady's Finger. 



(3) Sugar. 



The first, the Cavendish, is the one 

 most universally grown in Queensland. 

 It is a Chinese variety of relatively 

 small habit, and for this reason is 

 usually closely planted, say 12 to 16 

 feet apart each way. 



The other two varieties, Lady's Finger 

 and Sugar bananas, are both strong- 

 growing, and must be planted from 20 

 to 25 feet apart each way. So luxuriant 

 is the growth in many cases with these 

 strong growing varieties, that one 

 marvels at the amount of vegetable 

 matter produced on an acre of land, and 

 viewing it with the eye of a scientist, 

 it very soon ceases to be a matter for 

 wonder, that the soil under bananas 

 becomes so rapidly exhausted of avail- 

 able plant food. 



The variety chiefly grown in the West 

 Indies and in Fiji is the Gros Michel. 

 In the latter Colony it is largely used as 

 a shade-bearing plant in young cocoa 

 plantations, giving at the same time a 

 regular revenue until the cocoa trees 

 come into bearing. 



The essentials to successful banana 

 cultivation are : — 



(1) An adequate and regular rainfall. 



(2) A sufficiently and consistently 

 high temperature. 



(3) Shelter from winds. 



(4) Good alluvial or scrub land. 

 Conditions (1) and (2) are, if the 



bananas are to be grown without irrig- 

 ation, found only in the tropics. (3) 

 15 



Absence from storms, cannot be obtain- 

 ed anywhere, nor is it always possible 

 to select spots sufficiently well sheltered, 

 but as the plants are so liable to damage 

 by high winds, this point should always, 

 as far as possible, be bcrne in mind 

 when selecting a site for a banana plant- 

 ation. (4) A rich alluvial or volcanic soil 

 is essential, and if drainage be not good 

 naturally, it should be made so artifi- 

 cially. 



Data on the optimum quantity of 

 humus in a soil for bananas are difficult 

 to obtain, but there is not the slightest 

 doubt that the presence of abundant 

 humus is very essential. The writer is 

 firmly convinced from his observations, 

 and from the results of his experiments 

 in Queensland, that in the tropics, and 

 particularly on soils devoted to bananas, 

 and also pineapples, the organic matter 

 becomes very rapidly depleted ; and 

 mineral artifical fertilisers used alone, 

 while supplying abundant plant food, 

 will fail to give such profitable returns 

 as organic artificial fertilisers such as 

 dried blood, meat works refuse, etc., for 

 the simple reason that they tend, when 

 used alone, to alter for the worse the 

 physcial condition of the soil, while the 

 organic manures tend to improve it, in 

 addition to supplying the essential plant 

 foods. 



The cultivation of the banana for 

 commercial purposes in Australia is 

 practically limited to Queensland, and 

 even there the area devoted to it is, 

 as the following figures will show, 

 relatively small when compared with the 

 44,325 acres under this crop in the West 

 Indies in 1905. 



Area and Average Yield op Bananas 

 in Queensland. 



Year. 



Acres, 



Average bunches 







per Acre. 



1906 



.. 5,163 



260 



1907 



.. 4,975 



302 



1908 



.. 4,647 



355 



1909 



.. 4,994 



280 



1910 



.. 5,198 



217 



On these figures the area under the 

 crop has been practically stationary for 

 the last five years. Indeed, if one goes 

 further back, it is seen that the area 

 has actually diminished by almost 

 20 % since 1903. 



The reason for this is to be found 

 partly in the system of working. The 

 districts best suited to bananas in 

 Queensland lie in the North, where the 

 lands are held by whites, but leased to 

 Asiatics, chiefly Chinese, who in cultiv- 

 ating the banana do not display the 

 skill usually associated with their cultiv- 

 ation of other crops, for the simple 



