50 



Industry in Jamaica," prepared for the Agricultural Conference in 

 Barbados, January, 1902, is printed in pamphlet form, and its pages 

 afford a very useful amount of information. 



•" It supplies the Alpha and Omega of banana culture, and ought to 

 be read by all those interested in the industry. 



•■ The several examples therein given of the debit and credit side of 

 things agree with my own observations, and the particulars I per- 

 sonally obtained on the spot. 



•• One estate I visited afforded souk- very interesting details. It 

 consisted of 300 acres of converted cane land principally, and had 

 been in cultivation about three years. 



" The cost of cleaning and preparing the land, ploughing, planting, 

 weeding and pruning was a little over the average of £10 per acre. 

 The initial expenses were fully realized with the first fruiting, after 

 which, the net clearance each year amounted to not less than £10 per 

 acre. This is typical of many estates, both where irrigation is carried 

 on and otherwise. It is a simple calculation. An acre of bananas 

 planted, say 14 x 12 feet, will give roughly 250 plants, or 3 stems to 

 each stool. Under good tillage, and with average luck, these should 

 produce not less than 300 bunches annually, extending over the 

 ratooning period, which varies from .'! to 6 years. To be on the safe 

 side, suppose we say 2(50 full paying bunches which realize the 

 average price of 1/6. The gross revenue conies to £1 ( .» 10s., and after 

 deducting say 45 per cent, for general management, including prop- 

 ping the fruiting stems, reaping, carting and interest on capital, the 

 net clearance is £10 per acre and not less. It is generally conceded 

 that 100 acres of bananas in full bearing, under average conditions of 

 soil, cultivation and rainfall, means an income of £1.000 a year. 

 This of course applies to Jamaica where the market for bananas is cer- 

 tain and steady. In specially favoured districts, and irrigated lands, 

 the profits are much higher, and when stock-keeping is combined with 

 cultivation, or where young cocoa and other products are interspersed 

 between the bananas, there must obviously be a much wider range 

 for profitable speculation than could possibly be found in any other 

 farming industry known to the West Indies. 



" 12. To describe in detail all that I saw and learned with regard 

 to planting and treatment of growing crops, would be travelling even 

 farther than I have already gone outside the real object of my mission 

 to Jamaica. I saw sufficient to convince me that we have a very great 

 deal to learn from our neighbours in that Colony, but of course they 

 have been twenty years or so at the business, and bananas to them 

 have been, and are. what cocoa at present prices is, and will be (so 

 long as those prices continue.) to many of our planter- and small 

 settlers. 



"' It remains, however, to be seen whether the latter could not 

 advantageously plant the '" Gros Michel" more generally than is now 

 done, as shade for young cocoa, and I am quite sure, that with capital 

 and enterprize there are (exclusive of Tobago.) thousands of acres of 

 idle lands within 20 miles of Port-of-Spain — much of it conveniently 

 served by roads and railways— that mighl be profitably taken up fol 

 bananas alone. 



