112 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
starting plantations, suckers about eight months old are gen- 
erally used and cut to within six inches of the underground 
stem, which has developed in the meantime at the base of 
each. Such suckers usually measure from eight to fourteen 
inches across the cut surface and are planted out about fifteen 
feet apart each way. A rich, moist but well-drained, alluvial 
soil is best adapted to banana culture and under these condi- 
tions the suckers above referred to usually yield fruit in 
from ten to fourteen months. 
A single banana shoot bears fruit but once. In harvesting, 
the stem is partly cut through six or eight feet’ above the 
ground, after which the upper portion bearing the bunch 
slowly bends over to the ground. The bunches are removed 
and transported as rapidly as possible to the shipping points. 
During the growth of the banana plants numerous new suck- 
ers are produced. Most of these are carefully removed, but 
in order to insure a continuous stand of plants promising 
ones are left from time to time to successively take the place 
of the fruiting trunks when the latter are cut down at harvest 
time. While it is possible in this way to have a continuous 
succession of plants without replanting, it has been found 
necessary for various reasons to replant about every three 
to six years, depending on conditions. 
Although the banana was apparently introduced into the 
West Indies early in the sixteenth century, the fruit as an 
article of export did not assume much prominence until the 
latter third of the nineteenth century. Some idea of the 
Hane growth of the banana trade in recent years may 
e gained when it is recalled that in 1867 the Governor of 
Jamaica in his Annual Report stated that the value of all 
fruit exported from that island during the year was only 728 
star sterling. In 1911 Jamaica exported sixteen million 
unches of bananas worth alone about seven million dol- 
lars. While Jamaica produces about twice as many bananas 
as any other country, the industry has assumed large pro- 
portions also in Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, Guate- 
mala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Santo Domingo. In 
1912-13 these countries exported to the United States over 
forty-four million bunches valued at over fourteen mil- 
lion dollars, A much smaller but steadily growing export 
trade has sprung up with the European countries, though 
the Canary Islands still supply the great bulk of bananas 
for the European trade. ing to the narrow frostless 
zone in the United States the banana is cultivated but little 
in this country and is found only in Southern Florida, the 
extreme southern portion of Louisiana, and southwestward 
to the Pacific. 
