16 THE IRR1GA 72 ON A GE. 



groves of cocoanut palms to what seemed to be an ocean of banana 

 fields, I was surprised to find cart loads of ripening bananas heaped 

 up along the way bananas enough, it would seem, to feed all New 

 England. I turned to a friend sitting beside me and looking out of 

 the car windows. 



"Why does the country pile up bananas by the roadsides to rot:' " 



''That the leaves may grow stronger and last longer." 



"But the people do not grow banana leaves." 



"Oh, yes, they do." 



"Why?" 



"To protect their coffee plants. Those are not banana fields. 

 They are coffee fields. Coffee has to be protected from the sun." 



It is so everywhere. Holland protects her glistening gardens 

 from the sea; New England makes her short season long by gardens 

 under glass. The Dakotas protect their crops from drought, and by 

 <5anned fruit and vegetables secure for the winter the products of long 

 season crops. They are doing what the hardy people of northern 

 Europe so well have done. Florida is protecting her oranges, and 

 Costa Rica her coffee. The agricultural and horticultural world is 

 finding out the value of the agricultural college; two windmills may 

 be placed in a single field; both of them will go. What is worth 

 growing is worth protecting. Thrift finds a way; creative genius is 

 money. One may conquer the soil. 



