HONDURAS. 27 



which, averaging seventy pounds of fruit each, will yield 30,450 

 pounds of nutritive matter and some 600 pounds of fibre. The 

 returns from plantains will be found to be fully as large as those 

 from bananas, while the demand will be stronger and more con- 

 stant. At present the people of those United States ports where 

 plantains are landed, buy all that are offered, so that none reach 

 interior towns. The fruit is cooked in a great number of ways, 

 and in all stages of growth. Dogs, cattle, horses, pigs, fowls 

 and almost all other animals eat the banana and the plantain. To 

 a large degree this fruit takes the place of breadstuffs in all 

 countries in which it grows. 



A person can start from New Orleans or Mobile with only 

 $275 in his pocket, and by planting bananas on this grant can 

 in one year begin to get an income of $1,800 per annum. His 

 fare to the coast will be $35 ; clearing and planting 10 acres, 

 $120 ; expenses of living, $120 ; total, $275. He can himself clear 

 and plant 10 acres at least, making a total of 20 acres of plantation 

 which will each yield 200 bunches for the first crop, 9 months 

 after planting, or a total of 4,000 bunches. During eight months 

 of the year the price will be about 50 cents a bunch. At those 

 figures the crop would bring $2.000. For four months the price 

 is about 35 cents a bunch, which would give an income of $1,400 

 each nine months. 



Pineapples grow to large size, and of superior flavor in North- 

 eatern Honduras. The variety known as sugar pines is especially 

 worthy of attention, being very large and sweet. On the sandy 

 land between Caratasca lagoon and the ocean they often reach a 

 circumference of 17^ to 18 inches, by 27 to 30 inches in the 

 longer circumference, and a weight of 5 to 7 pounds. 



In some places pineapple sprouts are planted in rows 3^ feet 

 apart, the plants being set 2^ feet apart in the rows. This gives 

 4,080 to the acre from which 4,000 pines should be obtained in 16 

 to 18 months after planting. In the Bahamas the plants are per- 

 mitted to grow within 18 inches of each other, making 19,360 to 

 to an acre, but the yield is probably neither as good in quality 



