The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-04-01
STORY OF The BANANA
Its Cultivation An Important Modern
Factor.

Correspondence of Hartford Courant)
Key West, March 31.-Bananas
twenty-five cents a dozen is the bust
ness way TO put it. The banana as
a factor in Twentieth Century devel-
opment Is the way the phi1osophic his
torfau will put it. The story of this
little fruit is really g. romance. 1t
has recast the lives of tropical coun-
tries, added a cheap, nourishing and
delicious food to the diet of the tenn
perate zones. and incidentally brought
abundant fortunes to it's promoters,
who surely deserve the reward.
The cyclopedia of thirty years ago
refers to the banana as a fruit eaten
in the tropics. To-day banana peels
are waiting to trip up whoever steps
on them all the way from Alaska to
Norway. The United States con-
surneg bananas by the hundreds of
millions, and England, Germany, Nor
way, Sweden and France eagerly take
all that are shipped there. There is
almost no limit to the demand. Ba-
mana growing has become a great in
dustry and banana eating has become
common human habit, and yet it is
ell due 20 the enterprise and fore
sight of three or four keen men that
this situation now exists They ex-
plotted banana plantations and they
exploited q banana market. In both
they succeeded. The United Fruit
Company, the o&tcome of their 1abors,
has made them and others rich and
has proved one of Boston's most prof
liable ventures.
In 1871 there was not a banana
growing In Costa RIGA. To-day about
500, 900 bunohes are shipped from
Port Simon each month, or, say TO-
0O0, 900 punches a year. say
punches but the correct word is
'tstem.'' The Stem contains so many
'-hands'--the bananas that grow in
one plane ON the stem-and each ba-
mana of the "hand'' is a finger The
Costa R1czn stems averaged about
las fingers each. Figure that out
and you have a billion and a quarter
bananas shipped yearly from that one
port. 1t was in 1871 that Minor c.
Keith, now Vice-president of the Fruit
CompanS, took over from Jamaica to
Porto Rfca the first banana roots. All
this immense business has followed;
nor In tlEis the full measure of it. Pre-
vfous TO that time the civilization of
Costa Fe4ca faced west. All business
thsre was done on the Pacific side,
hut now a wonderful railroad, built
by Mr.. Keith, runs up from the Car
rfbean Sea to the capital, San Jose,
and the people look to the east as well
as to the west. The same result has
since been accomplished in Guatema-
ia where MIR. Keith and Mr.. William
ma1a City and thus brought trade to
the Atlantic side, while the Fruit
Company at the same time developed
in Guatemala the line of the rail-
road, one of it's largest plantations.
It grows bananas in Jamaica, Qua
temala. Costa Rica, Panama and Co
Iombia, and, no doubt, elsewhere. The
banana L. a tail stalk with a very
light surface root. Down it goes
q heavy wind Hurricanes are the
pests of fts country, so the plantations
are scattered over such a vast area
that general destruction is impossible.
Moreover, a new banana plant will
sprout, grow and yield it's single stem
all in a little over year, so that ire
forestat1on'' is not a matter of long
time.
President A. w. Preston of the
Fruit Company, who has been one of
the chief factors in it's remarkable
success, is a personal friend of Mr..
Brooker and, through letters from
him to the company's representatives
our party was given peculiar facilities
for studying banana plantations. At
Port Limon Manager Mullins, an old
Central Vermont man, took US by spe-
ciaI train to Farm No. 6, so miles in
land, where the night was spent in all
che comfort of intelligent dealing with
hot weather. large wooden house, |
all doors and windows, with spacious
and delicious tropical fruits, and 9TH |
CT foods. Some idea of the extent of |
the company's business may he had
from the fact that it has in Costa Rica |
$4,000 head of live stock. The man |
aging men are nearly all of them col |
lege graduates. and, wherever you find |
n United Fruit employee, there you |
nnd a loyal and enthusiastic friend of |
the company
The next day the same special train |
carried us all the way up to San Jose,
the capital city, 1900 feet above the |
sea The Fruit Company owns or OPP
mrates all the railroads but the gov
gTnment provides in its charters that
after ninety-nine years the roads shall
become it's property. That is the con-
dition of the franchises, but ninety
nine years, of which not ten have yet
Elapsed, carry the worry along beyond
nhe necessity for consideration by this
zen Grafton or the next. The train
runs first through banana plantations
md later reaches the higher levels,
where, shaded by banana plants, cof-
lee Is grown on a large scale Costa
R5ca coHee is considered especially
shoice- The views on the way up
we're wonderfully beautiful. San Jose
g a SpaniHh-Arnerica capital. They
are ell pretty much older, with a Ca
hsdpa1, q plaza, a band concert, con-
Em@aAanA CUTTERS. When 7 pulled the u