El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-07

Rica, which lies so miles away up the
coast. all go to New York and Boston,
and that those of Jamaica are shipped
largely to Europe
The European business is extending
and the fruit company is trying to edu-
cate the people there to eating bananas
They have done this in the United
States and have built up an immense
market. For some time they have had
to send fruit to Europe at loss, but
the business is now beginning to pay,
and it will eventually be OF great value
In the Banana Plantations.
But let US 70 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 ribbOn-like
leaves eight or nine inches wide The
leaves sprout from the base Of the
plant, around which they form a short
trunk, and then go out in a most grace
full curve, bending over so that their
ends rustic and wave in the breeze.
Now we have left the cars and are
walking through the fruit forest. How
dark it is. The leaves are so thick and
so many that they keep out the sun.
On every side of US the view is the
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
the wilderness
How the Trees Look.
Now take a close look at the plants
This is near Bocas del Toro, and the
banana grows nowhere more luxurious
" than here. The trees at the base
are as big around as the thing of presi-
dent Taft and the topmost leaves are
20 or 80 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 as a hand, and the individual
bananas are called fingers. In many
places a bunch of eight or nine hands
is a fairly good yield, but here the
average is II or Il, and some of the
punches have as many as II hands, each
containing 10 or u fingers, as the ba-
nanas are called
The punches range all the way from
$50 to 800 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 is no such thing as
planting the banana from the seed. IT
bananas 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 a continuous
harvest from year to year without re-
planting. On some spots banana trees
have reproduced their kind for so years
without replanting, and at the end the
yield was quite as great as at first.
Cutting the Fruit.
Now, let US stop and watch them
cutting fruit This requires skill The
bananas must not fall to the ground, as
the slightest bruise will make them
unfit for shipping. The cutting is done
by negroes who are skilled in the
business. They use long lances, with
sharp steel blades, and cut half way
through the stem at one stroke. This
makes the bunch fall and the cutter
catches it as it gently drops down. He
now cuts off the rest of the stem and the
bunch is handed to the men who carry
it off to the cars.
I suppose IL makes your mouth water
to think of eating a banana fresh from
the tree. Such a banana would surely
cause collie. The fruit ripens best by
being cut green, and on all these
thousand acres cannot see a single
yellow banana. 1t is only at the ports
that I have been able TO get fruit to
eat. The green bananas will keep two
or three weeks after crtting, and f cut
at just the right time they taste better
by being allowed to lipen on the way
to the markets.
Six Thousand WOrkmen
Many people think that there IS but
little labor in raising bananas. There
Waa never a greater mistake. When the