BANANA DISEASE.

Grey River Argus, 26 May 1922, Page 5

BANANA DISEASE.

AUSTRALIAN CROPS RUINED. I [A. and N. Z. (’able Association] i (Received May 25 at 9.5 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 25. The spread of the bunch top disease threatens the wholesale ruination of the banana plantations in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales. Many once nourishing plantations are being abandoned. Scientific, investigation has so far failed to evolve any effective remedy, the only method of combating it being the destruction of the diseased plants. Amongst those threatened are a number of the soldier settlements, in which much public money is invested, while other proposed settlements arc held up rather than inv( more capital in the threatened industry. Experiments in the direction of checking the disease have achieved a certain amount of success, but a permanent remedy is not yet in sight. The cause of the disease remains a mystery, though it is apparently re- . lated to the soil conditions, as, so far, Queensland and some of the New South Wales plantations arc not seriously affected.