666 FIELD AND GARDEN PRODUCTS 



more attention than the cleaning of the plants of their dry leaves 

 and the keeping of all the detritus from the plants well gathered 

 round the trunk to fertilize it, allowing plenty of space for the new 

 sprouts to come out. Sometimes these come in such profusion, that 

 the expert laborer has to extirpate them and only allow a certain 

 number to grow up. When the plantation is in full growth and 

 production the collecting of the fruit is constant, and every week 

 the plantation can be gone through to collect the ripe bunches. As 

 if nature had provided it, the largest bunches contain fruit of the 

 most delicate flavor, with sweetness and fine pulp, and they also 

 are those that keep the best, lasting for many days, thus giving 

 sufficient time for transportation. The dry leaves and trunks of the 

 plants are useful for paper manufacture. When the bunch of 

 bananas is ripe the tree or stalk, often 10 inches in diameter and 20 

 feet high, is cut down with a single stroke of the machete; the 

 stump dies, but numerous sprouts are ready to take its place and 

 the plantation constantly renews itself. Many are in good produc- 

 tion for a half century or more, and wherever there is a suitable 

 transportation for so heavy a crop it is very profitable. The trunks 

 are cut in pieces and piled around the tree for fertilizing. (Y. B. 

 1898; B. P. I. B. 198; Hawaii E. S. Rep. 1906.) 



