232 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



inspector, he simph' slices the brand off the stem with his knife, aud 

 the bunch can not then be exported, but must be sold locally or 

 allowed to decay and its value become lost to the grower. It is 

 largely the knowledge of this possible rejection and loss that main- 

 tains the present standard of care and efficiency in the preparation 

 of export bananas for inspection. 



"Wrapping the bananas. 



Immediately following the inspection and passing of the bananas 

 the bunches are wrapped. No mechanical devices are used for this 

 purpose. Banana leaves or rice straw, whichever is to be used, is 

 laid upon the floor of the shed ; upon this is spread the newspaper or 

 muslin that is to serve as an inner wrapper, and then folloAvs the 

 bunch of fruit. A few dexterous movements on the part of a China- 

 man and the operation is completed. The bananas of each bunch are 

 now protected from the eff'ects of any rough usage that may occur 

 in transit to the market, and in my opinion are also protected from 

 any possible attack of fruit-flies. 



Routing and storage. 



The entire operation of cutting, cleaning and packing is gauged 

 with a nicety to comply with the date of sailing. Close connections 

 are made, and the bananas are about the last freight to be put into 

 the ships before sailing. Bananas from the Waialua district are trans- 

 ported to the docks in closed cars and unloaded direct from the cars 

 aboard the ships. From Waikiki, Moanalua, Manoa, Kalihi, and 

 Kalouao districts the bananas are hauled in wagons to the docks. No 

 bananas were stored upon the docks during the time of my visit. 



Technical work on bananas. 



I have the assurance from Dr. E. A. Back that no fruit-flies have 

 been bred from bananas under normal conditions by the agents of the 

 United States Department of Agriculture in a series of experiments 

 that have been continued over a period covering fourteen months, and 

 made v/ith thousands of specimens obtained from the different banana- 

 growing districts situated on the Island of Oahu. This, together with 

 my own observations, has given to me a sense of much comfort and 

 relief concerning the commercial shipments of bananas as a possible 

 means of introducing the fruit-fly into the orchards of the mainland. 



No better object lesson of the necessity and desirability of estab- 

 lishing and maintaining Federal supervision of all horticultural 

 products destined for export from Hawaiian ports could be asked for 

 or found than the state of perfection to which the preparation of the 

 commercial banana shipments have been brought by the efforts and 

 skill of the agents now in charge of this work. It has the full endorse- 

 ment of the buyers, who recognize its true significance, it is now 

 accepted by the growers as a necessary feature of the industry, and 

 to permit the details of the operation to lapse into a state of perfunc- 

 toriness as a result of relaxation of the present methods of inspection, 

 or the relegation of the same power into the hands of less interested 

 parties, would be suicidal and should not even be contemplated, much 

 less permitted. 



