Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-03-17


years ago the banana has become al
most as common and wen known as
the apple and, taken the year round,
considerably less expensive. From the
crowded markets of New York to the
crossroads country store of Arkan-
sas the yellow bunch is as familiar
as Is the homely barrel of potatoes,
and the enormous quantity of this
nourlshing fruit consumed by the peo-
pie of the United states is astound-
ing.
IF 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 American
Union. "Over 100000 punches, or
more than $500, 900 bananas, were
imported by the United States In 1913.
The immensely of these shipments can
be more readily srasped by the state
ment that they would cover an area
of over 20 feet wide reaching from
New York to San Francisco, or plac-
ed end to end, would extend more
than thirteen times around the earth
at the Equator. The slip" in the
peels would launch the ships OF the
world. The wholesale value of the
1913 Importation, at point Of export,
was over $15,ss3,ooo, while In all prob
ability the consuming public of the
United States expended over $4,000
900 for this delectable fruit"
With the increased cost of living
owing to the proportionately decreas-
ing food supply, the banana comes
forward as an important factor in the
worlds economy. While its use as a
food is limited in this country almost
entirely to its consumption in raw
state. in localities where II grows 1t Is
frequently fried or baked and is also
used for making -four, delicious con-
fections, etc. Placed In 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 figs, weigh only
about one-ninth as much as the
punches and occupy correspondingly
hess space in shipments. In other
words, the banana has many kinds of
food values as yet but little known In
the country which consumes the most.
Ono Of Oldest lnduvtries.
Banana culture is really one Of the
Oldest of industries. 1t seems to have
been known almost since the origin of
the human race. Long before the
dawn OF history in the Old World,
perhaps before the Old World rose
from the waters, man lived on the
fruit Of the muses.. The banana was
considered a native of south
ern Asia, and to have been carried in
to America by Europeans, until Hum
holdt threw doubt upon it's purely AS
iatic origin, quoting early authors who
asserted that the banana was culti-
waited in the Americas long before the
Conquest. 1t is claimed that bananas
formed one of the staple foods of the
Incas of Peru who lived in the warm
and temperate regions of the Monta-
ma It seems that almost all tropical
claim the fruit is indigenous.
On the American continents bananas
arc successfully grown through 90 de-
grees Of latitude. from Tampice, Mex
leo, 20 degrees north, to Asuncion,
Paraguay, % degBees south. Cultiva-
ton of the fruit is practically restrict
cd to the eastern coast line,
for the banana is one OF the
thirstiest OF plants, and cannot
be expected to produce its maximum
in districts where there are less than
100 inches of annual rainfall.
The banana has prodigal method of
propa ga ton. for before the parent stalk
and fruit have matured new ones
spring up. These are offshoots that
grow from the root of the original
plant, resembling the sprouts from
the "eyes'' OF a potato, and each in
turn becomes q parent stalk with it's
fruit. 1t follows that unless most of
the constantly appearing new plants
are cut out (Which is the practice) the
first stalk in a few years will become
the center of small jungle. The
plants grow to q height of from 10 to
So feet, spreading in all directions,
until the soil is overwhelmed with a
mass Of stalk and leaf growth and
stunted fruit is produced.
PIants Grow Rapidly.
The plant will grow with wonderful
rapidity under favorable ciIeum-
stances. Within a period OF six or sew
en- weeks the two or three foot plant
will more than double in size. and q
month or SO later Tie iOdN6S CCdWc W
unfold and a spike appears out of the
center Of the crown. This is the fu-
ture stalk of the bunch and carries
a huge red blossom at the end 1t de-
velops rapidly. bending moro and
more until it has completely turned
upon itself, so that the bananas grow
end up, or in position the reverse Of
that in which they are seen when
hung up for sale. From to II months
after the blossom appears the fruit is
ready for the gatherer.
In cultivation four suckers, or shoots,
are usually allowed to grow in one
HILL and their graduation is so ar
ranged that while the oldest is bear
ing fruit the next is in blossom, the
third is half grown, and the last is
just coming up from the ground. The
yields a continuous harvest
for years without repYanting. In plant
ing for the market about 200 bills are
allowed to the acre. Sometimes the
number is increased TO 225 having 800
stalks, yielding about 900 marketable
punches a year 1t is said that the
cost of production Of punches that
sell for 80 cents Is about from 10 to Is
cents, the average profit per acre be-
ing about $50 annually.