The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-09-08

shipped off to-day. The trains Will
carry them down TO the port and the
bananas viii go from the cars on end :
less belts OF canvas right into the
steamers. They are put in cold stor-
age and remain there until they he
SIN to fly out on similar carriers into
the cold storage cars at New orleans
or New York.
These bananas will go to New Or
leans or to Mobile. from where thew
Will fly to the chief cities of the Mis-
sisslppi Valley and the lands farther
west The United Fruit COMPANY
aims to supply our whole country. II
mas 1t divided into sections. and there
is port for each section. am
Io.a mat the bananas from Port
Limon Costa Rica. which lies sixty
miles away up the coast. all co 10
New York and Boston. and that those
OF Jamaica are shipped largely to Eu-
rope
The European business is extending
and the fruit company is trying TO
educate the people there to eating ba-
nanas: They have done this in the
United States and have built up an i'm
mense market. For some time thew
nave had to send fruit to Europe at
loss. but the business is now be-
ginning TO pay. and 1t will eventually
be OF great value.
In tile Bnnane Plantations.
But let us so down and take a ride
through this vast banana plantation
We have special cars and can stop
where we please We pass for miles
through nothing but bananas. The
trees sprout from the ground and rise
TO the height of a two story house
Each Is composed of broad ribbonlike
leave eight or nine inches wiae. The
leaves spront from the base of the
plant. around which they form a short
trunk. and then go out in a most
graceful curve. bending over so that
their en1s rustic and wave in the
breeze.
Now we have left the cars and are
walking through the fruit forest. How
dark II is The leaves are so thick
and so many that they keep out the
sun. On every side of us the view
is tho same There are stalks and
trunks of bananas as far as we can
see. and we wonder what we should
do if we should get lost. and whether
We should not go round and round in
a circle as men have been known to
act when lost in the Wilderness
How the Treeb Look.
Now take close look at the plants.
This is near Bocas del Toro. and the
banana grnws nowhere more luxuriant-
~ than here
NY ei'No at NIf pHSe are Us Dig
around as the thigh OF President Taft
and the topmost leaves are twenty or
thirty feet from the ground. The
bananas are OF great size. and the
punches or stems are bigger than
those OF other parts OF the world
Each stem is known az a han,l. ana
the Individual bananas are called
hnsers In many places bunch OF
eight or nine hands is fairly good
Yield. but here tho average Is eleven
or twelve. and some OF the punches
have as many as seventeen hands.
each containing ten or twelve fingers
IS the bananas are called
The punches range all the way from
$50 to 300 bananas, and this means
the yield OF one plant. The banana
plant Yields only one crop of fruit
AS soon as the bunch is cut off. the
stem is cut down and other plants
sprout up from the roots. There lie
no such thing as planting the banana
from the seed III hannas ever had
seeds they have long since disappeared
from the lack of use. All the plants
now grow from suckers or sprouts,
and they come up so readily that an
estate will yield continuous harvest
from year TO Year without replant-
ing, on some spots banana trees
have reproduced their kind for fifty