The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1892-12-28
Our &ups ano Girls.
Growing and Selling Bananas.


nut to any other use whatever. Hardly
less familiar in the banana-producing
countries, is the assertion that bananas
are fit only for hogs and for Americans.
The first of these statements cannot
well be doubted by any who have seen
banana plantation when in fruit.
There is then such an abundance of
food within sight and reach that nature
seems to have been lavishly profuse,
:, and for once to have forgotten her
1ictunl that man shall earn his bread in
the sweat of his face. AS to the other
assertion, it is only a matter of fact
that the recent development of our
taste for the fruit, and of our ability to
consume enormous quantities of it, the
banana was grown usually without cul-
tivation, and was used almost solely for
feeding pigs-that is, when it did not
90 to absolute waste. The laboring
classes sometimes cultivated small lot
of plants, and used the fruit, boiled or
roasted, in the place of bread.
AS commercial industry, the grow
ing of bananas has sprung up almost
wholly within the past ten years, and
was originated and fostered principally
for the American trade. How rapidly
the industry has grown may be shown
by brief glance at our imports. In
1884, these amounted in value to about
81 100000; in 1885, to somewhat more
than S2,000,00 then, with steady in
crease each year, to nearly S4 800 900,
in 1890.
Nearly three-fourths of our entire
supply comes from Cuba and the Brit
ish West Indies, Honduras and Costa
Rica supplying most of the remainder.
in, tka Il hna
stimulated planting, and in all the above
countries banana plantations have be-
come plentiful, and the business of
growing them is conducted with
considerable method and regularity.
The fruit is easily and cheaply
grown, the principal cost as it comes
to our markets being the expense
of transportation and handling. To
minimize this the plantations are
usually established upon the coast, or
upon rivers, so that the product can be
foated down to the coast and loaded
without expensive rail carriage.
The land chosen for the plantation
must be rich in decomposed vegetable
matter, and either naturally damp or
artificially irrigated.
The cost of making a plantation is
not great, after the purchase and
clearing of the land. From two hun
dred to three hundred plants are re-
quired to the acre, according to the
distance at which they are set; this is
commonly twelve to fifteen feet apart.
The plants are secured by taking the
shoots or suckers that sprout up about
the roots of the parent tree and trans
planting them. AS each tree produces
a number of these, the stock is rapidly
and easily increased, and the value of
the plants is consequently very slight.
The plants should have cultivation at
FIRST so that they do not become choked
by other vegetation, but in a little time
they will spread so far as to wholly
cover the ground and prevent ANYTHING
else from making Roadway. Within
nine months the plants should mature
and begin to produce fruit, which
ripens and is gathered every month in
the year. From the trunk number of
branches are thrown, and the lunches
of fruit are borne at the junction of the
trunk and branches. Each plant will
yield from three to six punches. These
each consist of four to twelve small
clusters which are termed hands. -
Each hand " bears eight to twelve
bananas.
''hands" is counted as full bunch
while those with less are taken as half
or third punches. The average pro-
duction may be put at six hundred to
eight hundred punches per acre, and
they are worth forty to sixty cents per
bunch delivered at the coast ready for
loading upon the fruit vessels which
are continually at hand to purchase.
After the plant has matured and
borne its fruit it Immediately dies
down, but this does not necessitate re-
planting, as the farmer provides against
such contingency by permitting one
or more sprouts TO grow up from the
main stump. These are at different
stages of growth, and follow each other
TO maturity at short intervals. Thus
when the first natures the others NAV
be say six, four and two months old, sc
there will be but short intervals be.
tween the harvesting of successive
crops. Thus while each trunk fruits
but once, the root may, and usually
does, produce three or four crops d
year, and the harvest goes on all the
time. Our principal sources of supply
are Cuba, Jamaica, Honduras and the
South American coast about Aspnwall
In these countries-being Spanish
American-it goes without saying tina
the business of cultivation is carried
on in most haphazard manner Ii
Cuba it is wholly in the hands of tn,
natives. In Jamaica there is now al
American company carrying on th,
business on an extensive scale anC
with good profit. An endeavor has re
Gently been made to attract American
to Honduras to engage in similar en-
terprise, but the climate has driven tn,
adventurous settlers out again
The banana is purely tropical frui
and will not stand the slightest degre,
of frost, consequently its cultivation il
the United States must be confined to
very limited area. The plants may bt
found growing out of doors and use,
mainly for decorative purposes, in va