The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-25
BANANAS
FOR AMERICA MUST COME FROM
 MEXICO.
Supply Exceeds Demand-gimpIe Con- dftions Make Good Fruit Coun- try-Dried Bauauas
 Wanted.
New York Commercial.

New York Commercial.
 Banana culture is not in the experi- mental stage. It passed that period several hundred years ago and has ever since held the record for producing, more per acre, with less time, labor andt money than any other known fruit. 1, vegetable or cereal.
 The banana is king of all the cultf- vated plants. and Is relished by every living soul. It serves as fruit. vege Il table and cereal and Is the principal food of millions of people. In compari u son with vegetables and cereals 1t prof duces fourteen times as much as docs the potato and one hundred and thirty times as much as wheat. It produces fruit in the same year in which 1t is, planted, increases in production for several years and continues indefi-t nitely.
 The worlds output of bananas is con- tracted for years in advance and 1t is impossible to supply the demand. Tho United States consumed about 10000, ,0OOt punches of bananas last year. and this demand is increasing at the rate If 2s per cent per year. Tn Europeani countries 1t Is increasing still more rap-. idly. All who have taken cognizanca of these and other patent facts anu act ed accordingly, have made fortunes Business conditions of the past have been such as to induce extensive banana culture for export on the island of Jamaica and along the Central Ameri- can coast, and more than one hundred and fifty steamers are engaged in this traffic alone. Conditions have changed and those interested have turned theiE attention to tropical Mexico, whence the future supply, at least for tho United States. must come.
 Best Banana Soil. 2.
 The banana grows in almost all tropi. cal countries. and 1t has no pests, but 1t has its favorite conditions. The product is enormous and perpetual when the soil is right heat sufficient rainfall abundant and there are nG high winds. Add to this quick trans< porVttion and the conditions are ideal. The best banana soil Is composed aa follows: Clay. 40 parts; lime. 8 partst humus, parts and sand. 62 parts.
 In other words. an ideal banana soil is that which has been made through the agencies of atmosphere and wa- ter, by washing down the mountain sides and depositing the same alona the lower levels, on the river banks. where rank tropical vegetation soon supplies the required humus. The tenn perature should average from 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, with little varia- ton between day and night, and the rainfall should average above 100 inches and be distributed throughout the year. Quick and inexpensiya transportation for the fruit is essen- tial to the profitable growing of ba- nanas.
 Among the most favored regions in this respect Is the Isthmus of Tehuan- tepec in Mexico, and the State of Ia. oasco may be said to surpass other parts of the Isthmus. for its river banks produce large punches. fruit ma- lures every month of the year, and its quality is unexcelled. Great rivers flow through that State. and on them gulf steamships pass entirely through the State. to and from the ports of Frontiere and Laguna, anchorins abreast of almost any point to take fruit aboard. From those plantations to the United States the distance is less than half that from any other place now sending bananas in commer- cial quantities to this country
 Demand for Dried Fruit
 A feature of the banana industry but little known outside of the tropics, but sure to assume quick prominence in the worlds markets, is the dried product. Dried bananas and banana flour have been used for ages by the natives of the tropics and for ship supplies, but not NAN'A hO" huS tHciT importance heen realized, even by those directly en- gagged in the traffic of food products: nor was the supply sufficient to cover any part of such demand. t
 Now packers, grocers, confestioners and commissioners are searching tha tropical world over for a suppiv of evaporated bananas for making banana a coffee. bread, shredded. desiccated and crystallized fruits and other products Evaporated and milling plants are be- Ing established to manufacture tbese products, utilizing for the same sueh fruit as may be undersize, overripe or bruised
 Tabasco has the lowest death rate of any State in the Republic of Mexico. Not single case of the much-dreaded' yellow fever has ever developed at the port of Frontiera. Typhus fever. ty- phoid. pneumonia and rheumatism are unknown. There are no generally nra- vailing diseases. Those are sweenirp statements. yet are backed by govern ment statistics. United States consular reports, medical authority of unoues. tioned veracity and by the travelling public.