BANANA— BEANS 



571 



sular invoices certified at the shipping 

 ports. Great Britain imported during the 

 calendar year 1911 a total of 6.714,479 

 bunches, value $8,943,099, an average of 

 $1.33 a bunch, the value fixed at the im- 

 porting ports. During the same year the 

 value of bananas (including banana food 

 products) imported into Germany amount- 

 ed to $1,974,046. It should be stated that 

 some of the bananas imported into Great 

 Britain are sent to Germany and other 

 countries of Northern Europe, and that 

 Hamburg, which is a great distributing 

 center, ships bananas arriving at that 

 port to Scandinavia and elsewhere. 

 France and other countries of Southern 

 Europe receive very few bananas. 



The banana supply of the United State.s 

 was received from the following coun- 

 tries: Jamaica, 15,467,918 bunches; Hon- 

 duras, 7,151,178; Costa Rica, 7,053,664; 

 Panama, 4,581,500; Cuba, 2,478,581; Nic- 

 aragua. 2,270,100; Gautemala, 2,017,650; 

 Colombia, 1,542,988; Mexico, 817,006; 

 British Honduras, 557,160: Dominican Re- 

 public, 304,000; Dutch Guiana, 261,548; 

 and other countries, 17,246 bunches. Es- 

 timating the average number of bananas 

 at 140 to the bunch, it appears that the 

 people of the United States consume over 

 6,000,000,000 bananas a year, or more 

 than 5 dozen for every man, woman, and 

 child in the United States, including 

 Alaska and Hawaii. 



The increasing consumption of bananas 

 in a number of countries naturally raises 

 the question of an adequate supply to meet 

 the coming demand. In Jamaica, where 

 the immense banana crop is produced on 

 about 3 per cent of the total acreage of 

 the island, there is yet plenty of suit- 

 able land available. In Mexico, Central 

 America, Panama and Colombia, not to 

 mention the large possibilities of Haiti 

 and the Dominican Republic, there are 

 vast tracts of land where a fertile soil, a 

 warm climate, and abundant rainfall 

 favor the production of bananas on a 

 large scale. Not only is there land 

 enough, but the profits of the crop are 

 sufficiently remunerative to attract the in- 

 vestment of ample capital to meet the 

 world's demand. 



Beam Tree. See Apple, Botany of. 



Beans 



The bean Is one of the most widely 

 cultivated of garden plants, and includes 

 several varieties, among which are the 

 following: Bunch bean, kidney bean, pole 

 bean, string bean, butter bean, lima bean, 

 haricot bean. French bean, and Carolina 

 bean. 



The following are not in common use, 

 but are of historical interest. Carob 

 bean, the fruit of the carob tree that grew 

 in Palestine, the pod of which had a 

 sweetish taste; same as locust tree. 



Buck bean, a bog herb of the gentian 

 family. 



Brazilian bean, the fruit of a tree of the 

 laurel family. 



Calabar bean, the highly poisonous seed 

 of an African climber. It is used chiefly 

 for contracting the pupil of the eye, oc- 

 casionally for tetanus, epilepsy and other 

 nervous disorders. With the natives of 

 old Calabar, it was a test for crime, witch- 

 craft, etc , whence it came to be called 

 the ordeal bean. 



Egj-ptian, Pythagorean, or sacred bean, 

 the fruit of the lotus. 



Florida bean, the fruit of a West India, 

 leguminous climber often washed up on 

 the coast of Florida. 



Sea bean, the fruit of a climbing shrub 

 growing in tropical America. 



Goa bean, the edible seed of an Indian 

 plant. 



St. Ignatius bean, the seeds of the lo- 

 gania family which yield strychnin. 



Indian bean, the catalpa. 



Scarlet bean or Spanish bean, cultivat- 

 ed for its scarlet flowers. 



Tonqua bean, the fragrant seed of a 

 large tree of the bean family. 



The bean, usually cultivated for its 

 food, is an annual, and is horticulturally 

 divided into bush and pole varieties. Un- 

 der the bush varieties, may be included 

 all those that have stout, erect, or slight- 

 ly twining stem. Under pole varieties are 

 included those that have twining stems, 

 and are benefited by having some kind of 

 support, around which they may entwine. 

 Certain varieties are often planted with 

 corn, entwining around the stalk, and are 

 familiarly known as "corn beans." 



