The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-03-26

z Everybody that eats at all eeS1s fps1- nanas-that is almost everybody. From the rare luxury and tropical cu-
 riosity of 40 years ago the banana has
 become almost as common and well known as the apple and, taken the
 year round, considerably less expen-
 sfve From the crowded markets of
 New York to the cross-roAds country
 store of Arkansas the yellow bunch is as familiar as is the homely barrel Of
 Hefatoes. and the enormous quantity Of sfhis nourishing fruit consumed by the people of the United States is as- founding.
 ssIf you did not eat 40 bananas last
 year, you did not have your share
 writes Franklin Adams, Editor of the
 Monthly Bulletin of the Pan Ameri-
 can Union. lover 5000 ,0OO bunchessor
 more than 3, 5 50O.0O0.000 bananas, were
 imported by the United States in 1913
 The imnensfty of these shipments can
 be moxe readily grasped by the state
 rnent that they would cover an area
 over 20 feet wide reaching from New
 ork to San Francisco, or, placed end to end. would extend more than thtr-
 teen; times around the earth at the Eouator. The "slib't in the peelss would launch the ships of the world. The wholesale value of the 1913 i'm portation, at point of export, was oy-a CT S15, ,393,0 ,0oO, while in all probabL- ity the consuming public of the United States eXpen0ed over 94O,UVVsVVO AOA this de1ectab1e fruit as I with the Increased cost of living owing to the proportionateIy decreas- ing food supply. the banana comes forward as an important factor in the worlds economy. z While its use as entirely to it's consumption in a raw state, in localities where it grows it is frequently fried or baked and is also l used for making flour. delicious com fections, etc. Placed in a closed bar rel and allowed to ferment, bananas produce an excellent vinegar, while from the ripe fruit a delightful cordial is obtained. Dried ripe bananas are said to be superior to fgsy weigh only about one-ninth as much as the
 punches and occupy correspondingly less space in shipment In other words, the banana, has many kinds of food values as yet but little known in i the country which consumes the most Banana culture is really one of the oldest of industries It seems to have been known almost since the origin | of the human race. Long before the dawn of history in the Old World, per haps before the Old WorId rose from the waters, man lived son the fruit of l the musas. The banana was general l ly considered native of southern l Asia, and to have been carried into America by Europeans, until Hum boldt threw doubt upon it's purely I Asiatic origin. quoting early authors who asserted that the banana was cuI- l tivated in the Americas long before the Conquest. It is claimed that ba- nanas formed one of the staple foods of the Incas of Peru who lived in thG warm and temperate regions of the l Montana Tt seems that almost all l tropical countries claim the fruit as I Indigenous
 On the American continents ba- | I 50 degrees of latitude, from Tampico, Mexico, 2 5 degrees north, to Asuncion, l Paraguay, 25 degrees south. CuIti- lvation of the fruit is practically re- stricted to the eastern coast line, for l the banana is one of the thirstiest of plants, and cannot be expected to pro duce it's maximum in districts where
 there are less than 100 tncAes of an- I nua1 rainfall.
 The banana has prodigaI method l of propagation, for before the parent stalk and fruit have. natured new ones | spring up. These are offshoots that l grow from the root of the original plant, resembling the sprouts from 1 the 'teyes'' of a potato, and each in 1 turn becomes a parent stalk with it's fruit. It follows that unless most of l the constantly appearing new plants are cut out (which is the practice) l the first stalk in a. few years will be- come the center of a small jungle. The plants grow to a height or from l D 10 35 feet, spreading in all directions,
 until the soil is overburdened with i a mass of stalk and leaf growth and stunted fruit is produced.
 The plant will grow with wonder
 full rapfdity under favorable circunn-
 stances. Within a period of six. or
 seven weeks the 2 or foot plant will more than double in size, and a month l or SO later the leaves cease to un- l fold and spike appears out of the center of the crown This is the fu- | ture stalk of the bunch and carries ] develops rapidly, bending more and ] more until it has completely turned upon itself, so that the bananas grow end up, or in position the reverse l of that in which they are seen when hung up for sale. From to 12 months after the blossom appears the fruit is ready for the gatherer.
 In cultivation four suckers, or | shoots, are usually allowed to grow in I one hill, and their graduation is SO arranged that while the oldest is bear
 ing fruit the next is in blossom the third is half grown, and the last is l just coming up from the ground. The
 plantation yields a continuous harvest for years without replanting. In
 planting for the market about 200
 l hills are allowed to the acre. Some
 times the number is increased to 225, l having 800 stalks, yielding about 300
 | marketable punches a year It is
 said that the cost of production of punches that sell for 20 cents is abou