The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-03-17
FORTY BANANAS
FOR EACH PERSON
Slip in the Peels Would Launch
Ships of the World

I .Aah '.fANtit'.iA anu fff.tH MUM DO tN
the apple and. taken the year round
cos.derab.y less expensive. From a.,
crowded markets 81 New York 90 the
,russ-roads country store Of Arkansas
The yellow bunch is an familiar as IS
,hc homely barrel uf POTATOES, and the
enormous quantity Of this nourishns
fruit consumed hy the people OF lbc
United States is astouudiug
III you did NOT eat 40 banasas last
year you did NOT have Your share"
writes Franklin NdWns, editor of the
Monthly Rulleetin Of Tho Pau-Amerl-
can Union over l6.ooo.0o0 punches.
COZ more than 2.IJU.OOo. 00U bauasas.
We're imported by the United states !n
1919. The immensely Of these ship
n'ents can Doe more readily grasped by
the statement that they would cover
an area over 20 feet wide reaching
from New York 10 san Francisco. on.
placed end 90 end. would extend more
than thirteen times around the earth
at the Equator. The slip" i'm the
peels would launch the ships of the
world The wholesale value of the
1913 importation, AT point OF export,
was over Sl5,393. 600. while IN AN prob
ability the consuming public of the
uitcd States expended over $40. 600.
ooo for this detachable fruit"
With the increased cost of living
owing 10 the proportionately decreas-
ing food supply, the banana comes
f.,.,,.. "a .,. .,, t,,,,,..,,.,,,t ,.,... =. -.
worlds economy While it's use as
food is limited i'm this country almost
entirely TO its consumption i'm raw
state. I'm localities where il grows il Is
frequently fried or baked and is also
used for making flour. delicious con-
fections, etc. Placed in a closed bar
rel and allowed To ferment, bananas
produce an excellent vinegar while
from the ripe fruit delightful cordial
IS obtained Dried ripe bananas are
said 10 be superior TO figs weigh only
about one-ninth as much as the
lunches and occupy correspondingly
ess space in shipment. In other words,
he banana has many kinds of food
values a. yet but little known i'm the
country which consumes the most.
One Of Oldest Industries
Banana culture is really one of the
Oldest OF Industries. 1t seems To have
'een known almost since the origin of |
he human race Long before the
lawn Of history i'm the old World. per- |
maps before The old World rose from
he waters, man lived on the fruit f |
he musas. The banana was generally |
."nsidered "a native Of southern Asia,
iud To- have been carried into Ameri-
"a by Europeans, until Humboldt |
hrcw doubt upon It's purely Asiutir
'risiu. quoting early authors who as
crtcd that the banana was cultivated
d th" Americas long before the con-
.ucst II is claimed that bananas
urmcd one Of the staple foods of the
meats uf Peru who lived in the warm
nj temperate REGIONS of the Montana.
seems that almost all tropical couu-
ries claim the fruit as Indigenous.
ON the American continents bananas
re successfully grown through 80 de-
rces Of latitude from Tampico, Mex
'u, - degrees north, to Asuncion.
- degrees south. Cultiya-
ion Of the fruit is practically restrict
q To the eastern coast line, for the
anana is one Of the thirstiest OF
lants, and cannot be expected to pro-
ucc its maximum i'm districts where
here are less than 100 inches Of annu-
rainfall.
The banana has prodigal method
propagation, for before the parent
talk and fruit have matured new ones
Dring M These are ulfshoots that
row from the root of the original
liant resembling the sprouts from
he eyes of potato, and each i'm
arm becomes a parent stalk with its
'uit II follows that unless most of
ne constantly appearing new plants /
r" cut (Which is the practice) the II
rst stalk i'm a few years viii become
ne center of a small jungle. The l
Iants grow To height Of from IL 10 I
) feet. spreading in all directions. un- /
] the soil is ovcrburdencd with {
.ast Of stalk and leaf growth and |
united fruit is produced. q
Plant Grows Very Rapidly.
The plant will grow with wonderful t
ipidty under favorable circumstan- I
rs. Within period of six or seven t
eeks the or foot plant will mo @ $
IAN double In size, and "A month or so !
ter the leaves cease To unfold and :. {
bike appears out of the center of the
own. This is the future stalk of the y
inch and carries "A huge red blossom /
the end II develops rapidly. bend ;
= more and more until it has COM v
ctely turned upon itself, So that the q
tnanas grow end up. or i'm a position !
10 reverse Of that in which they are I
en when hung up for sale. GSom n
- months after the blossom appears
~ fruit is ready for the gatherer. a
In cultivation four suckers. or q
roots, are usually allowed To grow m '
~ hill, and their graduation is so \
ranged that while the oldest is bear :
* fruit the next Is in blossom. the I
ird is half grown, and the last is Just 4
,ming up from the ground The d
antation yields "a continuous harvest In
r. years without replanting I'm plant n
~ for the market about POO hills arc 1
lowed to the acre. Sometimes the n
lmber il Increased to 22j. having 900 Il