Edible Products. 



424 



[November, 1909. 



be seen to be appreciated. This is the 

 case even with dwarf-growing kinds, 

 but with strong-growing varieties, such 

 as the Lady's Finger, the growth is so 

 excessive that the wonder is how the 

 soil can support it. 



Bananas do remarkably well in Queens- 

 land, and there is practically an un- 

 limited area of country suitable for their 

 culture, much of which is at present 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 deterior- 

 ation it is abandoned, and a fresh one 

 planted out in new land, the land pre- 

 viously 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 im- 

 poverished by banana culture it will 

 have to be put under a suitable rotation 

 of crops, so as to fit it for being again 

 planted with bananas. The trouble is, 

 as 1 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 twelve 

 dozen fruit, it will be seen that already 

 we are producing a very large quantity. 

 There is, however, plenty of room for ex- 

 tension, and any quantity of available 

 counti y, 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 twelve 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 twenty- 

 five to thirty 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. 

 The two photos of bananas are not by 

 any means typical of this industry, as 

 they have been taken during the off 



season, when the plants look ragged and 

 are showing little new growth, and the 

 bunches also are much smaller than 

 usual. Still, the illustrations will give 

 some idea of the growing and handling 

 of this crop, and will show what a 

 bananas plant and its bunch are like. 



HOW VANILLA IS GROWN IN 

 HAWAII. 



Process of Pollinating the Blossoms 

 and Curing the Beans— Profitable 

 Business. 



(From the Queensland Agricidtural 

 Journal, Vol. XXIII, 1, Pt. 2, August, 

 1909.) 



The growing of the vanilla bean of 

 commerce has attained considerable 

 importance in Hawaii, where a number 

 of successful small plantations have been 

 producing for a number of years. Jared 

 G. Smith, late Director of the United 

 States Agricultural Experiment Station 

 in Honolulu, gives the following interest- 

 ing description of the growing of vanilla 

 in his book, " Agriculture in Hawaii" :— 



"The vanilla bean is the cured and 

 fermented fruit of a climbing orchid. 

 The finished pods are very dark-brown 

 or black, glossy, somewhat Avrinkled on 

 the surface, from 5 to 8 in. long and 

 about as thick as a lead pencil. The 

 vanilla extract of commerce is simply 

 an alcoholic extract. 



"The vanilla plant is grown either on 

 a trellis or is planted at the base of a 

 tree, so that it can clamber up the trunk. 

 Any soil is suitable provided the drain- 

 age is good. It grows well in regions of 

 abundant rainfall on the Kona (south or 

 south-west) side of the islands. A mean 

 temperature of 65 to 75 degrees gives 

 good results. 



" The plants are propagated from 

 cuttings, which are simply lengths of 

 the vine itself, from 2 to 6 ft, long. The 

 length of the cutting has some relation 

 to flower production, the longer ones 

 yielding flowers in a shorter period. 

 The leaves are cut from the lower end of 

 the cutting, and the stripped portion of 

 the stalk is buried horizontally under 

 2 or Sin. of soil and rotting leaves. The 

 upper end of the cutting is fastened to 

 the trunk of the supporting tree, to 

 which it soon becomes tightly attached 

 by its aerial roots. 



" The vanilla plant begins to flower 

 during its second or third year, and 

 continues flower production until seven 

 or eight years old, Cultivation consists 

 in keeping down the weeds and under- 

 brush in the plantation. 



