49 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ance of riotous vegetation, only awaiting the directing hand to 

 turn their fertility to use, were everywhere. Old sugar works 

 and stillhouses, monumentally built of stone, still contained the 

 massive remains of machinery which even the corrosion of the 

 tropics had not yet wholly destroyed. And on each estate the 

 splendid " great house," still splendid in its desolation, enshrouded 

 in creepers and climbers, in clinging mosses and " wild pines " and 

 orchids, stood an eloquently mute witness to the external grand- 

 eur of the life of the sugar planter of an earlier part of the 

 century. And all these things are still far too common. But al- 

 ready the change is evident. These old estates are being rapidly 

 taken up and cleared. The great houses are being renovated or 

 replaced by new if less pretentious homes. Life and activity are- 

 replacing death and decay. One hears of thrifty men who have 

 bought fine estates, renovated and equipped them, and estab- 

 lished fruit plantations hundreds of acres in extent, at an expense 

 of thousands of pounds, and from the profits of the first five years 

 have stood free of debt and independent. These are not isolated 

 or exaggerated cases ; but they will, of course, become less fre- 

 quent as the fruit supply increases. The pioneer in growing and 

 shipping fruit has been a Cape Cod sea captain, who, trading 

 among the islands, had the foresight to seize the opportunity 

 when it was his for the seizing, and faith that Americans would 

 buy all the fruit he could offer them. In twenty years his real 

 estate and shipping interests have grown too extensive for a 

 single man, and are now in the hands of the Boston Fruit Com- 

 pany, of whose Jamaica interests he is still in charge. This com- 

 pany now owns or controls over thirty of the finest fruit estates 

 in the island, from Morant Bay around the eastern end as far as 

 Buff Bay. Jamaicans cordially recognize their indebtedness to- 

 Captain L. D. Baker for the present hopeful outlook for their 

 island. 



One of the largest and perhaps the most successful of the fruit 

 company's estates is that called " Golden Vale," eight miles south 

 of Port Antonio, its headquarters in the island. Here some two- 

 hundred acres of genuine " banana land " are now under cultiva- 

 tion, and the area is being steadily increased. A visit to this 

 plantation will give the best idea of the details of banana culture. 

 The road takes us directly away from the coast through the hills 

 that come down to the very shore almost everywhere in eastern 

 Jamaica. The fine government roads make driving a pleasure,, 

 and the magnificent hill views and wonderful vegetation are an 

 unfailing delight. So it is all too soon that we descend the hills 

 into the valley of the Rio Grande, pass through the plantation 

 and settlement of " Friendship," on the hither side, ford the river 

 with wheels hub deep in water, and enter Golden Vale. Thanks. 



