TROPICAL SOILS— PENDLETON 455 



adequate attention to the maintenance of soil fertility of his garden ; 

 he seems to be indifferent to the erosion of his soils. As a consequence 

 native tea gardens are often in a shocking condition as, for example, 

 in Ceylon. The deterioration of these valuable lands is sad to behold. 



Coffee raising, too, requires considerable investment for proper 

 processing of the berries in order to produce a good-quality bean, and 

 coffee plantations are often extensive, so it is still mainly a capitalistic 

 enterprise. The one important tropical crop that is produced mostly 

 by peasant farmers is cacao. This crop is grown extensively along 

 the Gold Coast, British West Africa, and in the American Tropics. 

 European agriculturists have not yet made significant progress in 

 producmg cacao under plantation conditions and on a large scale; 

 probably an important reason is the lack of any need for elaborate 

 machinery for processing the "beans." 



One of the outstanding tropical plantation crops is bananas. It is 

 obvious that rapid transportation and effective cold storage are neces- 

 sary if bananas are to be marketed in quantity in the temperate re- 

 gions. Before the general incidence of sigatoka and Panama diseases 

 in Central America, there were banana-shipping companies that mar- 

 keted peasant-grown bananas in temperate regions. Now, with the 

 need for rigorous control of diseases, and with the proven benefits of 

 spray irrigation in even rainy regions, plantation growing of bananas 

 has become the usual practice. The companies interested in pro- 

 ducing and marketing them in quantity are careful in their selection 

 of soils. Notably they did not settle in or utilize any of the vast areas 

 of the Amazon Valley. Rather, they have gone to Central America, 

 Jamaica, and now to the Pacific coast of Ecuador. Where possible 

 they have selected volcanic soils. In general, banana soils must be 

 well drained, nearly neutral in reaction, and located near a seaport. 

 All planting, spraying, and irrigation must be carefully taken care of. 

 In some cases the banana rhizomes are planted before the tropical 

 forest trees are felled. After felling, but without burning, the banana 

 plants grow up through the slash with relatively little help in cutting 

 of branches that are smothering some of the plants. By the time 

 the banana plants are ready to bear, the slash has decayed or been 

 eaten by termites. 



THE BELGIAN CONGO 



The Congo Eiver basin of central Africa is another vast region 

 where the rainfall is heavy and well distributed, and where the relief 

 is relatively low. The Belgians have spent a vast amount of time and 

 effort in trying to rationalize kaingining and other agricultural prac- 

 tices that can be carried out in that region without the utilization of 

 fertilizers. 



370930—56 30 



