Fruits of Queensland

by Albert H. Benson

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 £50 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.

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;