Part 3

In Queensland, the culture of bananas is confined to the frostless belts of the eastern seaboard, as it is a plant that is extremely susceptible to cold, and is 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 hands 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 plantation 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 rich scrub land, and it is no detriment to their growth if it is more or less 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 maintained by judicious green and other manuring. In newly burnt off scrub land all that is necessary is, to dig holes 15 to 18 inches in diameter, and about 2 feet deep, set the young plants in it, and partly fill in the hole with good top soil. The young plant, which consists of a sucker taken from an older plant, will soon take root and grow rapidly under favourable conditions, producing its first bunch in from ten to twelve months after planting. At the same time that it is producing its first bunch it will send up two or more suckers at the base of the parent plant, and these in turn will bear fruit, and so on. After bearing, the stalk that has produced the bunch of fruit is cut down; if this is not done it will die down, as its work has been completed, and other suckers take its place. Too many suckers should not be allowed to grow or the plants will become too crowded, and be consequently stunted and produce small bunches. All the cultivation that is necessary is the keeping down of weed growth, and this, once the plants occupy the whole of the land, is not a hard matter. A plantation is at its best when about three years old, but remains profitable for six years or longer; in fact, there are many plantations still bearing good fruit that have been planted from twelve to twenty years. Small-growing or dwarf kinds, such as the Cavendish variety, are planted at from 12 to 16 feet apart each way, but large-growing bananas, such as the Sugar and Lady's Finger, require from 20 to 25 feet apart each way, as do the stronger-growing varieties of plantain. Plantains are not grown to any extent in Queensland, and our principal varieties are those already mentioned, the Cavendish variety greatly predominating. In the North, the cultivation of this latter variety is carried out on an extensive scale, principally by Chinese gardeners, who send the bulk of their produce to the Southern States of the Commonwealth. The industry supports a large number of persons other than the actual producers of the fruit, and forms one of our principal articles of export from the North. As many as 20,000 or more large bunches of bananas frequently leave by a single steamer for the South, and the bringing of this quantity to the port of shipment gives employment to a number of men on tram lines and small coastal steamers. The shipment of a heavy cargo of bananas presents a very busy scene that is not soon forgotten, the thousands of bunches of fruit that are either piled up on the wharf or that are being unloaded from railway trucks, small steamers or sometimes Chinese junks, forming such a mass of fruit that one often wonders how it is possible to consume it all before it becomes over-ripe. Still, it is consumed, or, at any rate, the greater portion of it is, as it is the universal fruit of the less wealthy portion of the community, the price at which it can be sold being so low that it is within the reach of everyone. A banana garden in full bearing is a very pretty sight, the thousands of plants, each with their one or more bunches of fruit, as, where there are several stems it is not at all uncommon to find two or more bunches of fruit in different states of development on the same plant, forming a mass of vegetation that must 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.

[Illustration: Bananas for shipment at Innisfail.]

Bananas do remarkably well in Queensland, and there is practically an unlimited 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 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 country, 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 look 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 hesitation in saying that they have never tasted better fruit. Our fruit has a firmness, 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 surpasses 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.

[Illustration: Picking Pines for market--Woombye District.]

[Illustration: Pineapple Plantation--showing plants of different ages--Woombye, North Coast Line.]

Like the banana, the pineapple is a tropical fruit, and is very sensitive to cold, hence its culture is confined to frostless districts. It is grown all along our eastern seaboard, where, when planted in suitable soils and under suitable conditions, it is, undoubtedly, our hardiest fruit, and is practically immune from any serious disease. Its culture is entirely in the open, no shelter whatever being given, so that we are not put to the great expense that growers of this fruit in Florida and some other pineapple-producing countries must incur if they wish to secure a crop. Here we have no severe freeze-outs, and, though dry spells retard the growth at times, we have never suffered any serious injury from this cause. In the Southern part of the State, the coolness of the winter retards growth somewhat, and occasionally the tops of the leaves and young fruit are slightly injured, particularly in low-lying land, or where the plants are growing on land having a cold subsoil. When grown under more favourable conditions, however, they sustain no injury, and produce fruit, more or less, all the year round. Pines are always in season, though there are times when they are comparatively scarce. There are usually two main crops a year--viz., a summer and a winter crop. The former is the heavier of the two, and the fruit is decidedly the best, as its sugar contents are much higher. The main summer crop ripens in the North from the beginning of November, and in the South from January to as late as March in some seasons. The main winter crop is usually at its best in July and August, but there is always more or less fruit during the other months of the year. The pineapple likes a warm, free, well-drained soil, that is free from frost in winter, and that will not become soured by heavy rain during summer. Sandy loams are, therefore, our best pineapple soils, though it does well on free loams of basaltic or alluvial origin. Unlike the banana, the pineapple does not do too well in newly burnt off scrub land, owing to the difficulty in working the ground and keeping it clean. It requires a thorough preparation of the soil prior to planting in order to be grown to perfection. In the case of new land of suitable texture, the timber should all be burnt off, and all stumps and roots taken out of the soil, which should then be carefully broken up and reduced to a fine tilth, all weed or grass growth being destroyed. It should then be again ploughed, and, if possible, subsoiled, so as to permit of the roots penetrating the ground to a fair depth instead of their merely depending on the few top inches of surface soil. Careful preparation of the land and deep stirring prior to planting will be found to pay well, and turn out far the cheapest in the end. Given suitable soil, well prepared, the growing of pineapples is not at all difficult, as the plants soon take root, and once they became established, they prove themselves to be extremely hardy. Pines will grow and thrive on comparatively poor soil, provided it is of suitable texture, but in such soils it is necessary to supplement the plant food in the soil by the addition of manures, if large fruit and heavy crops are to be obtained. Pineapples are propagated by means of suckers coming from the base of fruit-bearing plants, or from smaller suckers, or, as they are termed, robbers or gill sprouts that start from the fruiting stem just at the base of the fruit. They are also sometimes propagated by means of the crown, but this method is usually considered too slow. Well-developed suckers are usually preferred, as these come into bearing earliest, but equally good, if not better, returns are obtained by planting gill sprouts. The latter have the advantage in that they always develop a good root system before showing signs of fruit, hence their first crop is always a good one, and the fruit is of the best, whereas suckers sometimes start flowering as soon as they are planted, before they are properly established, with the result that the first fruit is small and inferior, and the plants have to throw out fresh suckers before a good crop is produced. Gill sprouts are slower in coming into bearing than suckers, but the results are usually more satisfactory. Like the banana, once a pineapple plant has borne fruit the fruiting stalk dies down, and its place is taken by one or more suckers, which in their turn bear fruit and die. Pineapples are planted in Queensland in several ways, but by far the most common method is to set the suckers out in single or double rows, from 8 to 9 feet apart, with the plants at from 1 to 2 feet apart in the row. The rows soon increase in width by the growth of suckers, and the throwing up of ratoons--surface roots thrown off from the original plant, which send up plants from below the ground as distinct from suckers, which come from the base or even higher up the stem of a fruiting plant. It is not at all an uncommon thing to see the rows grown together, so that the plantation appears to be a solid mass of plants, but pathways have to be kept between the rows to permit of gathering the fruit, manuring, &c. Pineapples have been grown in the Brisbane district for the past sixty years, and I have been shown beds of plants that have not been replanted for over forty years that are still producing good fruit. This shows how well at home this fruit is with us; but, in my opinion, it is not desirable to keep the plants so long in the same ground, as the finest fruit is always obtained from comparatively young plantations, the older ones producing too large a proportion of small fruit. From the Brisbane district this fruit has spread all over the eastern coast, and its production is increasing rapidly in several districts. Once the pine is planted, its cultivation is comparatively simple. If in single or double rows, all weed growth is kept down between the plants, and the ground between the rows is kept in a state of good cultivation by means of ploughing or cultivating, the soil being worked towards the rows so as to encourage the formation of suckers low down on the fruiting plants. Manure is given when necessary, the manure being worked in on either side of the rows.

[Illustration: Smooth-leaved Cayenne Pines in fruit, planted 15 months, Woombye District.]

The pineapple comes into bearing early, and, except where suckers throw fruit as soon as planted, bear their first crop in from twelve to twenty months, according to the type of suckers planted and the time of year at which they are set. Practically every sucker will produce a fruit at the first fruiting, and these will be followed by succeeding crops, borne on the successive crops of suckers, so that when the whole of the ground is occupied by plants, the returns are very heavy. One thousand dozen marketable fruits is by no means an unusual crop for Queen pines in a plantation in full bearing, and, taking these at an average of 2-1/2 lb. each, you get a return of 30,000 lb., or 15 tons American per acre. The illustrations herewith give a good general idea of the usual method of growing pines, and the method of handling and marketing, as well as of the nature of the country on which they are grown. The illustrations are mostly of smooth-leaved pines, which bear a fruit averaging from 6 to 8 lb. each, but occasionally running up to as much as 14 to 16 lb., though the latter is an extreme weight. The single pine shown is just under 12 lb. Several kinds of pines are grown, which are generally classified into roughs and smooths. The rough, or rough-leaved pines, such as the Common Queen and Ripley Queen, and local seedlings raised from them, are very prolific, and though not equal in size and appearance to the smooth-leaved Cayenne, our principal smooth-leaved kind, are usually considered to be of superior flavour, and to be better for canning or preserving. Rough pines run up to as much as 6 lb. weight each, but this is uncommon, the best average I have met with being about 4 lb. per pine, and they were exceptionally good. The price at which this fruit sells here seems absurd to those living in cold countries, who are accustomed to look upon it as a luxury only found on the tables of the wealthy, as good rough-leaved pines are worth about 1s. per dozen during the summer season, and smooth-leaved pines from 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. a dozen. Prices are certainly higher during the off-season, but growers would be well satisfied to get 1s. per dozen for rough pines all the year round. I have no hesitation in saying that pines can be grown at a profit at from L3 to L4 per ton, so that the cost of growing is so low that there is nothing to prevent us from canning the fruit and selling it at a price that will defy competition.

[Illustration: Pineapple Plantation--Pines packed for market, and showing fruit-grower's home, Woombye District.]

Pineapple-growing has been a very profitable industry, particularly in the older plantations of the Brisbane district, and still continues to be so in many places despite the fact that prices are much lower now than they were some years since. The plantations from which the illustrations are taken are comparatively new ones, the land having been in its virgin state from six to eight years ago, and, as shown, some is only now being cleared. The owners of the plantations started without capital, and, by dint of hard work and perseverance, are now reaping an excellent return of some L50 per acre net profit. This is by no means an isolated example, but is one that is typical of what can be done, and has therefore been chosen. There is a great opening for the culture of this fruit in Queensland, and its cultivation is capable of being extended to a practically unlimited extent. We have a large amount of land suitable for the growth of this fruit that is available in different parts of the State, much of it at very reasonable rates, so that there is no difficulty in this direction for anyone wishing to make a start. It is an industry from which returns are quickly obtained, and is a branch of fruit-growing that holds out strong inducements and every prospect of success to intending growers. At present our production is about sufficient for our presently existing markets, but there is nothing to prevent these markets being widely extended. Our present means of utilising our surplus fruits, by canning or otherwise preserving same, are by no means as complete or up to date as they should be, and before they can become so, it is necessary to greatly increase our output. Small works cost too much to run as compared with large canning establishments, hence we are not yet in a position to make the most of our fruit. With increased production we will have an increase in the facilities for utilising the fruit. This requires labour, and there is right here an opening for many industrious workers, a business that I have no doubt will pay from the start, a business of which we have the Australian monopoly, and in which there is no reason that I can see in which we should not compete satisfactorily in the markets of the world.

[Illustration: Pineapple Plantation--Showing method of growing the fruit, Woombye District.]

Queensland possesses many advantages respecting the growth of this fruit as compared with other countries in which it is grown commercially, which may be briefly enumerated as follows:--

1st.--Freedom from loss by freeze-outs;

2nd.--The ease with which the fruit can be grown, and its freedom from disease;

3rd.--The large area of land suitable to its culture, and the low price at which suitable land can be obtained;

4th.--The fine quality of the fruit;

5th.--The superiority of our fruit for canning purposes;

6th.--The low price at which it can be produced, and the heavy crops that can be grown.

These are enough reasons to show that in the pineapple we have a fruit well suited to our soil and climate, a fruit in the cultivation of which there is room for great extension, and which will provide a living for many industrious settlers.

[Illustration: Rough-leaved Pines, Redland Bay District.]

[Illustration: Pineapple Plantation--On virgin soil, showing scrub land at back being cleared for fruit growing, Woombye District.]

THE MANGO.