Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 204, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1911 — The BANANA AND its RELATIVES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The BANANA AND its RELATIVES

by FRANKIN ADAMS

, HP F you did not eat three dozen .w v* gB bananas last year, you did not - ■■ have your share. Over 40,000,J| 000 bunches, or more than J£(!w4j| 3,000-,000,000 bananas, were imported into the United States in JW oSj/X “bipment can be more readily wfrmS\ grasped by the statement that ■ JrW. /A it would cover an area 20 feet i m * wide, reaching from New York n _ to San Francisco, or, placed end II to end, would extehd thirteen V ; -' : times around the earth at the equator. The "slip” in the peels CSmEZSSZ) would launch the Bhlps of the. world. The wholesale value of the 1910: importation, at point >-of export, was over $12,500,000,' while In all probability the consuming public of the United States expended over $35,000,000 for this delectable fruit. During the past ten years the number of bananas consumed in the United States has more than doubled, and the increased tropical acreage under cultivation assures even * more startling figures for the next decade. Many European countries are importing large quantities of bananas; last year Great Britain con- " oumed over $8,000,000 worth, Germany, over - $1,000,000, and France, $500,000. With the world’s decreasing food supply, and the wheat crop at a standstill, the banana comes forward as an important factor in saving the day. One acre with little labor will annually produce 17,000 pounds of bananas, or more than one and one-third times as much food substance as an acre of corn, two and one-third times as much as oats, almost three times as much per acre as wheat and .potatoes, and four times as much as rye. The chemical composition of bananas and potatoes is almost identical.

Forty years ago there were tery few people In this country who could boast'd! having teen a bunch of bananas. The fruit'was practically unknown. Now, In even the moat remote country ■tore, this “pride of the tropics” is a familiar Sight. . ' Despite the fact that millions of bunches ars consumed, they belong almost wholly to one member of the family, the common yellow Guineo. .. ~ Scientists have recognized and classified as many as 40 different specfes,' ranging from the ornamental groups that do not develop fruit, tothe giant bananas, the Platano of the Spaniards. The red banana is not common in the American markets. In the United StaTes it is used only to “dress” fancy baskets of fruit, but in the tropleal countries it Is quite a favorite. The individual banana is large, but the stalk does not carry as many “bands” as the yellow varieties, so as it does not bring as large a price to the grower and wholesaler, Its extensive cultivation is not encouraged.

Banana culture is one of the oldest of industries. It has been known since_the origin of the human race. Long before the dawn of history ‘ln the old world, perhaps long before the old world rose from the waters, man lived on the fruit of the Musas. The banana was generally considered a native of southern Asia, and to have been carried into America by Europeans, until Humboldt threw doubt upon Its purely Asiatic origin, quoting early authors who asserted that the banana was cultivated in America long before the conquest. It is claimed that at the lime of the Incas in Peru, bananas formed one of the staple foods of the natives of the warm and temperate regions of the Montana. In spite of the uncertainty as to Jußt which country may claim the fruit as indigenous, all tropical lands assert their right to it The first Importation of bananas to the United States occurred in 1804, when the schooner Reynard, on a voyage from Cuba, brought into New York, as a commercial venture, a consignment of 80 bunches; but the real beginning of the trade dates back to 1866, when Mr. Charles Frank undertook the importation of fruit from Colon to New York. Previous to that venture small cargoes consisting mainly of the red banana had been received at Irregular intervals from Cuba. In 1870, Captain Baker, an owner of a Cape Cod schooner, took a charter to carry gold miners and machinery 800 miles up the Orinoco river In Venezuela. After discharging his cargo. Captain Baker ran into Jamaica to secure some cocoanuts un ballast to New York, carrying a few- bunches of bananas on the deck as an experiment The result promised a great future for' the industry on that islands which hag been fulfilled, the exports last year reaching |4,000,000. On the American continent, bananas are successfully grown through 60 degrees of latitude, from Tampico, Mexico, 26 degrees north, to Asuncion in Paraguay, in the Tropic of Capricorn, 25 degrees south—a belt over 8,000 miles «a width. Cultivation of the fruit is practical- _

ly restricted to the eastern coast line, for the banana is one of the thirstiest of plants, and' cannot be expected to produce its maximum amount of fruit in districts where there are less than'loo inches of annual rainfall. Unfortunately for humanity, great greas of the land lying within this belt are high, dry And sterile, while others are sandy or rocky, so only a small fraction Is so located that banana growing can be made profitable. The altitude must not invite danger of frost, and high temperature is necessary for the growth. The southern coast of the Mexican gulf, the Puerto Bar Hos section of Guatemala, the Puerto Cortes district of Honduras, the Puerto Limon district of Costa Rica, the Bluefields district of Nicaragua, the Bocas del Torro region of Panama, the Colombian province of Santa Marta, and certain portions of Cuba, Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Dutch Ghlana, all combine the favored elements of stU and mate.The plant has two natural enemies—the gopher and-the wind against almost all other tropical conditlofas Its hardihood la remarkable. _ .* • It is a matter of common observation that the banana Is absolutely seedless, cultivation through Innumerable generations having led to a vegetable method of propagation. Some of the primitive seed-bearing varieties are still said to exist in Isolated regions of the far east. step toward cultivation is the clearing of the land. Info the tangle of shrubs and vines and the thick snarl of tropical vegetation the laborer comes with an ax and “machete” and cuts low everything but tbe giant trees. When all of tbe Bmall timber and brush has been felled planting la commenced. Young - shoots are obtained from a plantation already in bearing and these are placed in rows about 12 feet apart When the planting is finished, the only labor necessary is to keep,

down the weeds and carefully clean the ground about the the root of each stalk. The banana plant will grow with wonderful rapidity under favorable circumstances. In fact, the development from a newly planted sucker to the plant in full bearing is simply Bhort of marvelous. Within a space of six or seven weeks the two or three foot plant has more than doubled in size, and a month or so later the leaves cease to unfold and a spike appears out of the center of the crown. This Is the future stalk of the bunch and carries a huge red blossom at the end. It

develops rapidly, continually bending more and more until in' a short time it has turned completely upon itself, so that the bananas grow end up or In a position the reverse of which they are usually hung. From seven to twelve months after the blossom appears the fruit is ready for the gatherer. At irregular intervals along the entire stalk, and only extending part of the way round at any one place, the bracts break forth tiny ridges of flowers — which are almost immediately replaced by nine to* twelve embryo bananas. These are the future "hands” of the buneb, so called on account of their resemblance to those members when held In a certain position. The banana has a curious and prodigal method of propagation, for before the parent stalk and fruit have matured new ones spring up. These are offshoots that grow from the root of the original planting, resembling sprouts from the “eyes” of a potato, and each in turn becomes a parent stalk with Its fruit It follows that unless most of the continually appearing new plants are cut out (which is tbe practice) the first stalk in a few years will become the center of a miniature jungle. Tbe plants grow to a height of from fifteen to thirty-five feet, spreading In all directions, until the soil is overburdened with an enormous mass of stalk and leaf growth, and . stunted fruit is produced. In planting for tbe market about 200 bills are allowed to the acre. Sometimes the number can be safely Increased to 225, In which case there will be 600 stalks. However, after one year all of these stalks do not produce a marketable bunch of bananas, and tbe average yield is not over 300 full bunches to the acre per annum. Perry, the well-known authority on bananas, estimates that a grower can produce a bunch for from ten to fifteen cents, which will have s market value of 30 cents. Tbe cost of producing after the first crop is confined to cultivating and harvesting, which may be done for

from $lO to S2O per acre yearly. The net profit, however, averages about SSO per acre in the various,banana producing sections. The banana often grows in combination with other products. In some cases it is used as a shade for young coffee plants. A great many people are of the opinion that the banana would be much better if it was allowed to ripen on the plant, but this is not the case. Such fruit is strong in flavor, does not mature to perfection, and the skin breaks, attracting numerous insects, while the weight of the bunch itself becomes too great for the plant, either one or both coming to the ground. The bunches are cut when the fruit is one-half to three-quarters matured, though still green and as hard as nails. It continues to feed from the cut stalk, which contains a great amount of sap, until fully rfpe. Should the cutting occur too soon, however* the fruit, although turning yellow, will never attain the perfect flavor. With the cutting of the bunch ends the life of the plant, for it bears but once and is usually cut down to obtain the fruit, or succumbs a few days later to the cleaning process, whicty is merely the bringing of a spent piece to the ground. Cutting the fruit itself involves the only careful labor on the banana plantation, as the bunches weigh from fifty to sixty pounds, and even slight knocks are followed by bruised spots, under which the fruit quickly ripens and decays. However, by the liberal use of dried

banana leaves the fruit is safely brought to th« railroads. Bananas grown for the market are planted, as a rule, on the border of navigable waters Plantations are divided into sections or zones of about ten to twenty miles in length, and the zones are “cut” in rotation, thereby cleaning up the available supply of fruit in one or several sections while it is maturing in others. In Costa fHca the system which has been evolved for handling the fruit from the time it is cut from the plant until it is placed on the dealer's little stand in the far interior cities of the United States is indeed marvelous. When a steamer starts from a United States port to secure its cargo a cable is sent advising of the departure, so that preparations can be made for cutting the crop. The carrying capacity of the vessel is known almost to a bunch. Each plantation manager furnishes at the be ginning of the week an estimate of the amount of fruit he can cut, and one, two, or three see tions may be called upon, according to the size of the ship and the quantity of fruit available in each section. About thirty-six hours previous to the expected arrival of the steamship orders are sent to the plantations, notifying them to cut fruit for delivery on a specific date. The day before the steamer is due trains are made up and sent out to pick up the fruit, these trains being so timed that steamers will not be delayed, waiting for cargo.

On the morning of the cutting, the plantation Is all astir. First out are the “cutters,” who go up and down the long avenues of banana plants, closely inspecting each hanging bunch. In cutting the fruit long lances are used, palm poles armed with broad, steel blades. The stalk of the tall plant is half severed at a point about eight feet above the ground. The weight of the fruit causes the top of the plant to bend slowly to the earth, where the bunch is cut from the stem by a stroke of the machete. Following the cutters come the picking-up gangs, who deliver the fruit at the receiving platforms along the railroad track. An inspector watches the fruit as it is passed into the cars. He counts and grades each bunch, rejecting those that show signs of ripening and those that are undersized or bruised. After cargoes are discharged in the United States, solid trains of banana cars run as “specials” every day in the week from New York, Baltimore and New Orleans to all of the large cities of the country. Carloads are even shipped to Calgary, Canada, over 2,000 miles from New Orleans. > The front ventilators of the forward cars a! these trains, and the rear ventilators of the last cars, are connected by means of canvas tubes run into a main trunk chute. A powerful exhaust draws off the heat thrown out by the fruit in its ripening process, and the tans circulate cold air through every car in the train. During the winter months the operation is reversed, and fruit in transit during very cold weather is wanned while proceeding to its destination.