A478 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Noy., 1902. 
The Orchard. 
The Director of the Botanical Gardens, Mr. Philip Mac Mahon, writes :-— 
Dr. Bonavia has asked me to hand the enclosed paper on “ Imperial Gardens: 
for Fruit Dissemination throughout the Empire” to the editor of some leading 
journal in Brisbane. Dr. Bonavia is the author of the fine work “ The Oranges 
and Lemons of India and Ceylon,” and an authority on the subject whereof he 
writes. May I trouble you to have a copy of your issue in which the paper 
appears forwarded to Dr. Bonavia, Westwood, Richmond road, Worthing, 
Sussex, England. 
The following is the paper accompanying Mr. Mac Mahon’s letter :— 
IMPERIAL GARDENS FOR FRUIT-TREE DISSEMINATION 
THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE. 
By Dr. Bonayrs, F.H.R.S. 
Itis gratifying to learn that the two notable bananas of India—or plantains, 
as the Huglish there call them—have been at last introduced into the Royal 
Gardens at Kew. 
The “ Ram Kela” and the “Champa” bananas must have been known to the: 
British in India for perhaps a hundred years, and yet nobody, until recently, has. 
ever thought of introducing these fine things either into England or to any of 
our colonies. 
I do not think there are many plants the stools of which—like bulbs— 
can be taken long distances without any special care. The banana is such a 
anti. 
The way it is grown in Northern India is this :— 
A. trench is dug, 3 feet deep and as many broad. The bottom of the 
trench is manured, and the bulbous roots, with their sprouts, planted there—4 
or 5 feet from each other. Then every year a lot of fresh cowdung is thrown 
round the stems, until the trench is filled up in the course of years, when the: 
site is changed and the same process repeated. The banana requires plenty of 
water, except in rainy seasons. 
In Northern India the choicest varieties cannot be cultivated, as both the 
hot winds and the cold winter nights are unfavourable to them. Bombay, 
Madras, and Bengal are the districts that suit them. . 
The comparatively inferior variety now so largely grown in the West 
Indies cannot be compared with the choicer ones of India. 
It is surprising that wealthy persons in the United Kingdom have never 
devoted a special glass-house to the cultivation of these indubitably fine 
varieties of “Abateth 
The introduction of these choice bananas into England is a movement in 
the right direction. Eventually they can be disseminated throughout the 
tropical dependencies of Great Britain. 
But this is not enough. 
There is room for two or three Imperial gardens, where some of the 
choicest fruit trees of the world could be collected, studied, and not only 
disseminated throughout the empire, but new ones evolved by seed variation 
and cross-fertilisation ; for it is idle to suppose that all these choice fruits were 
originally contained in the Garden of Eden. 
Let us take them seriatim :— 
(a) Onr orn Two Garpens ror tun Crrrus GENus. 
There are so many fine and distinct varieties of this wonderful genus—some 
of which ave very little known out of the localities in which they are grown— 
