The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1913-01-14

TAI then spend the rest Of his day
In hunting or fishing, or he can cut
out OF mahogany paddles and other
things for which there is a ready
market. The lumber camps are not
pious places. Many Of the laoorers
are roughs. and there are frequent
lights and considerable drunkenness.
There are also a women who fol-
low the camps. and the crowd is not
a Sunday school one. The overseers
with from twelve to twenty Indian
rowers. and his own cook and Indian |
valet.
FEELING Mahogany.
n green mahogany is not easy to
fell, and the bringing of q large tree
to the ground is a days task for two
men. The cutting is done about ten
feet from the base on ccoun Of the
wide spurs which project from the
trunk and a platform or scaffold has
to be erected where the sawmen and
AXmen a stand.
After the trees are felled roads have
TO be made to the rivers and the
streams on the way must be bridged.
Much of the wood is hauled upon
rude trucks which have wheels Of
solid WOOD sawed from the end Of a
log and having iron boxes fitted into
the center. Much OF the work is done
In the night by torchlights of pitch
pine. All this is in the dry season.
The rafting is done in the late sum-
me- or fall and the camps break
up about the middle Of December.
After that the aborers return to
Belize and they then receive the bal
ance due them, which results in an
other great spree.
In Spanish Honduras.
l understand there is a great deal
Of mahogany yet uncut in Spanish
!, Honduras or the Honduras republic.
Mahogany grows in the valleys all
over that country, II especially in
the lowlands along the northern coast
OF the Caribbean sea. =
1t is near this coast, running in
land fifty or more miles, that the
chief banana plantations are, and not
far from h sea in the same region
are immense cOcOanut grove with
tens Of thousands Of bearing trees.
h most of the banana industry
! belongs to the United Fruit Company,
and that company has a line Of steam
5 ers which plies regularly between
/ Port COrtez and New Orleans, calling
at Port Barrios and Belize on the
| way. The shipments of bananas
: amount to 100000 punches and up
} ward per year, which means an ag-
gregate Of more than 800, 0OO, OOC
bananas pei annum. The business
is carried on about the same as il
: IS III OudlelIlald, COSTA Rica ana ran
anna. The plantations have many
little railroads for carrying the fruit
They are divided into farms. and each
farm is a settlement of it's own. Thu
t OverSeers are Americans, and the la.
e Dor is largely done by negroes from
Jamaica and the other stands of tn
Y West Indies, who come there for tn.
purpose.
@ =. Making 4 Banana Plantation.
The process of making the planta
= tons is about the Same~everyWhere
S The jungle has to be cut down, ant
r this means h telling of trees from
c three to ten feet in diameter and tn,
cutting out Of underbrush and lana
through which it is impossible 70 g
d without a machete or AK. AS 500
5. as the land has been cleared. it j
n burned over and then the markers 6
through and stake out the holes Wher
d the plants are to be set. The banan
20 plants come from sprouts Of the olde
t. trees and they are set out about a
n far apart each way as the tree Of tn
l. average peach orchard They ar
is planted among the ~half-burned log
k and grow without cultivation. lTh
only thing is to keep down the weeds
when the logs will soon rot away.
~ have seen plants growing anon
trees as big around as a -four barre
and in going over the plantation
order to make my way through upo
horseback.
h About a year after setting out tn
m bananas they are twenty or thirt
ID feet high and are ready to fruit. Fac
Of tree bears but n bunch Of banana
ne and when this is taken off the TIRE
o. is cut down and the sprouts whic
t. have grown up about its roots al
ly left to produce the G. crop.
r., The cutting of the bananas is wit
ix - sharp knife on the end of "A pol
in the cutters catching the bunch as
DIS falls. The bananas are careful
n handled. The piles, which wait #
Sc the train. are laid IN soft beds
I'D leaves, and the cars are padded wit
re leaves in order to keep the fruit fro
being bruised.
Banana Settlements.
1t is a, big task to start a bHTal
o4 rlantotiou and the Mans must