132 



THE AGKICULTUKAL NEWS. 



J[av G, 1905. 



WEST INDIAN FRUIT. 



PACKING BARBADOS BANANAS. 



In the riccompanying tignro (ti.u' pfnuission to 

 publish whicli we are indebted to the courtesy of 

 Messrs. W. Pink & Sons), crates of bananas are shown 

 ready for shipment from Barbados. The metliod of 

 packing bananas that has been recomuiended at 

 Barbados by tiie Imperial department of Agi'icultiire 

 was tluis described by Sir. J. H. Boveli in a ])aper on 

 the Fruit Industry at Barbados, read at the recent 

 Agricultural Conference : — 



In packing the bananas great care should be taken that 

 the fruits have not even the slightest biuise. Bunches 

 containing fruit that is bruised, however .slightly, should not 

 be shiiiped. Each bunch should be w-rapjied first in cotton 

 wadding and then in i>ai>ci. Strings of shag (the sheaf of 



niidrih) to form a bed about 1 inch thick when pressed by 

 the weight of the bunch. This will prevent the under side 

 of the bunch from coming into contact with the crate. 

 Having placed the bunch in the crate, gradually stuff 

 the tlried leaves round it, until sufficient have been put in to 

 llre^•e^.t the paper from unwrapping. Now cut the ' shag ' 

 string and draw it out, and continue i>acking until the bunch 

 is firmly fixed in the crate. The remainder of the slats 

 .should be nailed on as they arc needed to keep the packing 

 in its place. 



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P.,\X.\X.\S I;K.\I>V KOK snil'iMKNT. 



the lianana leaf) should he lightly wra['|"'d round tlu' 

 sheets of paper to keeii them in position while the bunch is 

 being [lUt into the crate. Having wrapped the bunch of 

 bananas, put into a crate, on which only half of the .slats 

 liave been nailed, a sutticient ijuautity of dried hanana leaves 

 (the lilades or thin portiiMis of the leaf on each .side of the 



JAMAICA V. BARBADOS BANANAS. 



'J'he following is a letter addressed by Mr. J. R. 

 Jackson, A.L.S., to the editor of the Wc-^tcrn Murniiif/ 

 Xr U's : — 



Sir, — In an extremely interesting article 

 in your issue of .January 1 9 last on the above 

 suliject, where comparisons are drawn between 

 the qualities of the .Jamaica and the Barba- 

 dos fruits, and much valuable information is 

 giwn on the subject generally, which cannot 

 fail to be of interest to everyone who wishes 

 well to our AVest Indian Colonies, there is one 

 l)assage to \vhi( h I may, perhaps, be allowed 

 to take exce[>tion. It occurs in the paragraph 

 on the advantages of packing, as is done with 

 the Barbados fruit, over the 'naked' .system 

 under which the Jamaica fruit is shipped. The 

 writer says ; — 'We have before now pointed 

 (lUt the erroneous nature of the views held by 

 Sir Daniel Morris, the Imiierial Conuuissioner 

 of Agriculture in the West Indies, in respect 

 to banana packing. It is a mistake to advise 

 the marketing of bananas in a state of nature, 

 so to sjieak. We are told that the Jamaica 

 banana can lie ship[ied naked, and arrives in 

 England in good condition. But to this 

 system, which was most unfortunately adopted 

 from the start, the low estimate of value put 

 upon the Jamaica banana in the English 

 markets is due.' 



From what I know of Sir Daniel Jlonis' 

 views on the subject — a knowledge confirmed hy the reports 

 of his speeches and by his writings in the official publications 

 of the Iui}>erial Department of Agriculture — these views 

 ajipeared to me distinctly contradictory to these with which 

 he is credited, and this is confirmed in a letter just to hand 

 from him iij which he says: 'As you can easily understand,. 



