The evening times., 1900-01-02
FACTS ABOUT BANANAS.
why the Red One Has Disappeared
From the Market.


Red bananas are so scarce nowadays as
to be practically a rarity: the prevailing
banana is yellow. Twenty years and more
ago the red was the prevailing banana and
the yellow the rare che. The change from
red to yellow is due to commercial reasons;
the yellow banana is more profitable.
The yellow banana requires less care ard
time in the cultivation. and SO costs less
in that stage. II sticks to the stem better
than the red banana. and stands
handling better. There are one-third more
yellow bananas to the bunch than red.
With all these marked advantages in its
favcr the yellow banana has practically
driven the red banana out.
With this great scarcity red bananas now
bring fancy prices: il may be ten times as
much as yellow bananas. With yellow
bananas at 81 or Sl.50 bunch red would
be worth from S. to s1l. and here would
be fewer in a bunch Red bananas sell
nowadays in the fruit stores as high as %
cents each The comparatively few punches
imported are taken by dealers in fine and
fancy fruits as novelties. the rarity, in
large measure. determining the price. Il
might be asked why, with red bananas at
such prices, more are not cultivated: TO
which the answer is that il more were
raised the price would go down again, and
for the general demand, in competition
with the more economically produced, more
prolific. and better shipping yellow banan-
as The red banana appears to be now in its
scarcity like some other kinds of compare
lively rare fruits. or, say. like game. Some
people prefer the flavor OF the red banana,
some prefer that of the yellow; il is prob
able that the great majority would have no
choice and the far lower price at which
the yellow banana can be offered to the in
dividual consumer settles the question.
Bananas were never before so cheap as
they have been in very recent years.
Formerly a luxury that was rather costly
than otherwise. the banana is now cheap
luxury; very good bananas can now be
bought commonly in the streets in the
season at cent a piece, or 10 cents
dozen. Formerly bananas were brought so
this country in sailing vessels, in slick
fast schooners which, with any sort of
favoring conditions made quick trips; with
adverse weather if long continued the
cargoes rotted Now bananas are brought
by steam, in fast steamers built especially
for the fruit trade. These steamers may,
of course be held up by storms, but they
are not likely to be; commonly they land
cargoes here in a specified time. and IN the
best and most suitable condition for nam
ding and marketing 10 tHe DeSt ddNdutaSe
and with the least possible waste. and with
advantage as to evenness of supply. The
great bulk of the banana trade in this
country is now controlled by a company
which banana importers have organized.
The bananas eaten in this country come
from Costa Rica, British and Spanish Hon
duras, Colombia, jamaica and Cuba; that
is, from countries around the southern part
of the Gulf of Mexico and around the
Caribbean Sea. The bulk of the fruit from
the Gulf countries goes TO New OT'eIns for
distribution, that from the other countries
coming to Atlantic ports. For many years
bananas have had a more or less wide dis
tribution from the ports of receipt, but
they were never before so widely dis
tributed, nor sold SO eheapy at interior
points as now. Bananas are now sold. not
as rarities but more or less commonly, in
all parts of the country, practically every
where, the eastern part OF the country be-
ing supplied from Atlantic ports, and the
Mississippi Valley and the western half
from New Orleans. Costa Rica bananas are
now shipped from New Orleans over pretty
much all the western country to the Pa
cific Coast.