The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-09-08
IN BANANA LAND-By Frank c. Carpenter

base of the plant arouni which they form a short trunk and then so out it a most graceful 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 ever yslds 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 VIC should not go round and round In n circle, as men have been known to act when lost in a wilderness.
 How the Trees Look
 Now take q close look at the plants. This is near Bocas del Toro, and the banana grows nowhere more luxuriantly than here The trees at the base are as big around ss the thigh of President Taft and the topmost leaves are 20 or A 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 SIS a hund and the individual bananas are called fingers In many places bunch of eight or nine hands is a fairly good yield but here the average is Il or 1e and some of the punches have as many as 1T hands. each containing 10 or 1e fin gers as the bananas are called
 The punches range all the way from 2C0 to 800 banaras 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 ard other plants sprout up from the roots There Is no such thing as planting the tannna from the seed. If the banana ever had seeds they have long since disap- reared from the lack of use. All the plants now grow from suckers or sprouts. and they come up so readily that any estate will yield a continuous harvest from year to year without repantng. On some spots banana trees have reproduced their kind for So years wi.aout replanting, and at the end the yield was quite us great as at first.
 Cutting the Fruit
 Now, let us stop and watch them cut ting fruit. This requires skill. The ba- nanas must not fall on the ground, as the slightest bruise will make them unit for shipping. The cutting is done by ne- groes. who are skilled in the business. They use long lances with sharp steer blades, and cut half way through the stem at one stroke This makes the bunch fall, and the cutter catches if as it gently drops down. He now cuts off the rest of the stem, and the bunch Is handed to the men who carry IL of to the cars.
 I suppose it makes your mouth water to think of eating banana fresh from the tree. Such . banana would surely cause collie. The fruit ripcns best by being cut green. and on all these thou sand acres I cannot see single yellow hanana. IL is only at the ports that 1 have been able to get fruit to eat, The green bananas will keep two or three weeks after cutting. and if cut al just tie right time they taste better by being allowed to ripen on the way to the mar lets
 Six Thousand Workmen Many people think that there is but little labor in raising bananas. There was never n greater mistake. When the Ilrsted Fruit company took up these thousands of acres they were covered with n jungle as dense as that on the slopes of the Hlmalaya mountains. The ground was covered with mighty trees, some of which were 150 feet high. These trees were bound together with vines and iianas. which were matted together and formed a network of woven vegetation. There were palms of a score Of varieties and the mass of green was SO dense that you could cnlv cut your way through with a knife and an av. All of this jun gle had to be cut down and turned over. The big trees. some of which were as large around as flour barrel. and som had even the diameter of a hogshead, were left to rot where they fell.
 After the land was cleared and burned over, the plants had to be set out at POO hills to the acre. They had to be kept clean of weeds. and this notwithstanding that nature here is so generous that if the land is left free for six months t will ali Le jungle again.
 And then some of the lands wei !. svamnv and they had to be ditehe1. The rainfall here is 10 inches month. or 19o inches year, and the banana tree will rot grow with its feet in the water. In some other banana plantations the lan1 is 20 dry that irrigation Is needed, but here the rainfall is just right. Tn plan ming the plantations roads and railroads were built. Farmhouses and homes for the men were put up at every few miles,