St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-10-29
BANANA GROWING.
The Native Of Central America De-
ponds on 1t for His Living.
But He Has to Work But a Fort
night to Secure Food for n
Whole Yenr-HOw II Fruit
IL Grown.

The headquarters of the banana trade
in Nicaragua is Bluefields, until recent
ly the capital of the Mosquito reserva-
ton, whence about 100000 punches
are, or were, annually exported to the
United States.
But for the banana and the plantain
| the natives of Central America would
have to live by the sweat of their brows;
possessing the banana and p%lantain,
they may toll or not, as they please.
There is no necessity. A fortnight's
Intermittent labor will supply a man
and his family with food for a year.
During the II months and two weeks re-
naming they may swing in their ham
moclis if they think fit. Their dinner
will always be within arms reach, so to
say. One Of the motions" of that much
misunderstood and unfortunate reform
er, Col. Walker, the ~"flibuster," was to
destroy every banana and p%lantain tree
in Nicaragua. 1t would have been a
task for Hercules. Whether he was in
sober earnest, or merely expressing a
wish, is of no consequence; he was right
in his conclusions. Only by doing *
and making replanting a penal offense
could he hope to overcome the innate in
dolence of the people and compel them
to be industrious and happy.
For the planter with small means
that is with a capital of $1,000 upward
i know of no occupation Sc certain to
realize a decent income as growing
bananas, provided that the plantation is
within easy reach of the sea, and there
are steamers to carry his produce to
New Orleans, New YorkorLondon. That
is OF prime Importance. For the rest,
he may tickle the soil and it will laugh
with a harvest. He need not take any
risk. He may sell his produce to the
captain of a fruit steamer for 25 cents
a bunch, pocket the money and have
done with it. And this plan has many
advantages.
The banana is cultivated from suckers
%springing from the roots of an existing
tree, generally known as the "stool."
These suckers are detached and planted.
They strike and shoot up so fast that it
is no great ~exaggeration to say that you
can see them grow. In year or less the
Planter harvests the first crop.
The banana has no trunk, but a soft,
fibrous, so-called stem, composed of the
leaf stalks rolled one over the other,
which grows to from ten to twenty feet
in height, and withers after the fruit
has ripened. The tree is seldom known
to seed. The roots, however, furnish
shoots or suckers year after year, until
the stool is exhausted. The purple
flower blossoms on long spikes, spring
ing from the cluster of leaves which ap.
pear to open out from the stem. The
flower spikes are often four feet long
and the bunch of fruit which succeeds
the blossom comprises from eight to
twelve dozen bananas, weighing from
30 to 60 pounds. The leaves are from siy
to ten feet long and from one to two
feet wide. When the leaves are newly
opened the tree has a most graceful ap-
pcarance.
For successful cultivation a cool, rich
and moist soil is required, the alluvia.
deposits Of the river bottoms, or the
higher land where rain is abundant Of
water plentiful. Bananas grown OF
high ground are said to be finer thar
those of the valleys.
In preparing a plantation the trees
and b%rushwood should be cut down
and after lying a month to dry, burned
and the ashes spread over the land. Tn,
: suckers, which, being very abundant
; may be purchased at a low price, ar
! then planted at a distance of from 10 tt
Is feet apart, or say 200 to the acre. II
!, Mexico, as will be seen presently, the
p are often planted much more closely
, 1000 trees to the acre being common
After the first crop is harvested tn
r stems should be cut down, chopped int.
e short lengths and heaped around tn
roots, whence spring the new suckers
Philadelphia Press.
AVERAGE HEIGHT OF MEN.