other
way, it is one of the most wholesome and nutritious of foods for human
consumption. It is a staple article of diet in all tropical countries,
and the stems of several varieties make an excellent food for all kinds
of stock.

[Illustration: Twenty-dozen Bunch, Buderim Mountain.]

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 fav