BANANAS. * 93 



bleeding from the stool : this treatment will result in keeping 

 the stool in good vigorous state of health and tend to produce 

 large saleable bunches. 



4. That as soon as possible, and especially after the stools 

 have borne a crop or two, careful moulding of the stools with 

 manure, rich surface soil and decayed stems, will tend to keep 

 them bearing for a longer period, and save the exhaustion which 

 must follow heavy cropping. 



.The profits on banana cultivation would appear to range 

 from 12 to 15 per acre, after the lapse- of eighteen months. 

 The cost Of establishing a plantation, including the price of land 

 (at a dollar an acre), will not exceed some 8 per acre until 

 the first crop is reaped. 



As I have already mentioned, there are some thousands of 

 acres of splendid land suitable for banana culture in this colony, 

 which offer every inducement to experienced tropical planters 

 to settle down and reap the returns which must inevitably 

 attend the judicious and careful culture of this fruit. Practi- 

 cally, the export trade in bananas has arisen since steam com- 

 munication was established with America. The export in 1880 

 was 8,958 bunches of bananas, of the value of 700 ; in the 

 next year, namely, 1881, it had risen to 22,229 bunches, of the 

 estimated value of 1,469. 



cacao. Independently of the profits arising from the culti- 

 vation of bananas themselves, the planter has other inducements 

 before him, whicli must always be borne in mind in case the 

 present demand for bananas fails, or communication with the 

 United States becomes irregular or -is completely cut off. I., 

 for instance, some of the profits arising from the sale of bananas, 

 and the shade they afford, are judiciously utilised for establishing 

 plants of cacao, Liberian coffee, coco-nuts, oranges, lemons, &c., 

 the value of the land will be considerably increased ; and if at 



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