El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-11

Copyright, 1913, by Frank G. Carpenter)
, mahogany yet uncut in Spanish Hon
duraS or the Honduras republic. MahOg-
any grows in the valleys all over that
I country, and especially in the lowlands
along the northern coast of the Carib-
1 bean sea.
1t is near this coast, running inland
so or more miles, that the chief banana
plantations are. and not far from the
sea in the same region are immense
cOcOanut groves with tens of thousands
OF bearing trees.
The most of the banana industry be-
longs to the United Fruit company, and
that company has a line of steamers
which plies regularly between Port
/ COrtez and New Orleans, calling at Port
Barrios and Belize on the way. The
shipments of bananas amount to 2,O00,-
600 punches and upward per year, which
means an aggregate of more than 300,
000. 600 bananas per annum- The bust
ness IS carried on about the same as it
is in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Pana-
ma. The plantations have many little
railroads for carrying the fruit They
are divided into farms, and each farm is
a settlement Of its own The oYerseerS
are Americans, and the labor is largely
done by negroes from Jamaica and the
other islands of the West Indies, who
come there for the purpose.
Making a Banana Plantation.
The process of making the plantations
is about the same everywhere The jun
gle has to be cut down, and this means
i
in diameter and the cutting out of IN
-derbrush and lianas through which it is
impossible to go without a machete or
ak. AS soon as the land has been
cleared, it is burned over and then the
markers 20 through and stake out the
holes where the plants are to be set.
The banana plants come from sprouts
of the older trees and they are set out
about as far apart each was as the
trees of the average peach orchard.
They are planted among the half
burned logs and grow without cultiva-
ton. The only thing is to keep down
the weeds, when the logs will soon rot
away. / have seen plants growing
among trees as big around as a flour
barrel, and in going over the planta-
lions have had to keep to the paths in
order tC make my way through upon
horseback.
About year after setting out the
bananas they are 20 or 80 feet high
and are ready to fruit Each tree bears
but one bunch of bananas, and when
this is taken off the tree is cut down
and the sprouts which have grown up
about its roots are left to produce the
next crop.
The cutting of the bananas is with
sharp knife on the end of a pole, the
cutters catching the bunch as it falls.
The bananas are carefully handled. The
piles, which wait for the train, are laid
on soft beds of leaves. and the cars are
padded with leaves in order to keep the
fruit from being bruised
Banana Settlements
1t is a big task to start a banana
plantation, and the plans must be care
fully made The estate is first surveyed
and paths and roads are laid out the
same being connected by tramwayS and
railroads. And then the farm settle
ments have to be built and in each
there must be store, a carpenter shop
and a blacksmith shop and also the sta
bles and the homes of the Workmen.
Some of the managers and Overseers
bring their wives with them from the
United States and they must have COM
Portable homes screened with wire net
ting.
Some of these houses here are beau
tifully finished and well furnished.
They have the latest magazines and pa
pers, and in some of them you will find
many novels, histories and scientific
books. Many Of the white employees
have hobbies. One may be an ornithol-
ogist another a bug hunter, and there
are no end of collectors of orchids and
other strange flowers. At the Virginia
banana plantation, near here, they have
quite an aviary. containing many of the
quaint birds of Guatemala These in
clude the wild turkey, which has bril-
liant yellow color. the tuna with its
gorgeous plumaSe, and the policeman
bird. which makes a terribl screening
If strangers come near the house.
Loading Fruit by Machinery.
7 have been much interested during
my stay in Central America in the
handling of the banana crop, and espe-
transfer the fruit from the cars to the
ships. At Port LimOn, Costa Rica. this
is done by machinery The fruit is car
ried from the plantation over the rail
road in leaf lined cars to the SIDE OF
the ship as it lies at the wharf TIE
tracks are so laid that the train lead
of bananas is parallel with the steamer.
and the fruit from a half dozen differ /
ent cars can be transferred u the shin
at the same time.
The loading is by movable carriers
which run upon wheels Each carrier is
a long belt about two feet in width, so
arranged that one end of it rests over |
the opening into the hold and the other
out on the wharf. This belt moves bv
machinery, and the bananas thrown !
upon 1t by labOrers are carried into the /
mold I have seen four rivers of ba-
Hanas thus moving for hours carrying 1
If9lJ INTO a ship.
Inc men are so trained that the l
cream OF fruit is continuous the man I
dSelIent knowing just how many 4
D1icLes one man can carry in an hour, [
car.
AT New Orleans the fruit is landed in /
me same way, being there transferred /
~ Coiu storage cars. which take it to l
al parts Of the Mississippi basin. The |
bananas for the eastern part of the
CHIteu states usually 20 to the sea
ports Of the Atlantic.
ODJect Lessons for Central America.
rms work of the Americans on the
panama plantations is a series of OBJ
Ject lessons IN sanitation, agriculture /
and business Management for the peo-
PIE OF Central America Most of the !