494 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



rattoons give the best fruit, and there is a steady degeneration 

 with succeeding rattoons. The limit of profitable yield for a plan- 

 tation varies especially with the soil. But the maximum for deep 

 and moist banana lands may be said to be about ten years. Then 

 the ground must be cleared and a new culture begun with fresh 

 sets. Very little is done in rotation of crops, and the soil has as 

 yet received little fertilization except such as results from the 

 decay of the old plants. 



It is not alone on the great estates, nor even chiefly on them, 

 that our enormous supplies of fruit are being produced. Scattered 



FIG. 3. IN THE " GOLDEN VALE " PLANTATION. 



all over the hills are little clearings of a few acres, or even less 

 than one acre, thickly set with banana plants. It is from these 

 little patches that perhaps a majority of our fruit comes. For 

 even the Boston Fruit Company, with all its estates, is compelled 

 to buy largely to supply its trade, and most of the other shippers 

 are wholly buyers. Thus the smaller and less available tracts are 

 turned to account, which is a matter of the first importance in a 

 country so irregular and so mountainous as Jamaica. 



Whether for shipment or for home consumption the fruit is 

 cut as soon as it is " full " that is, when it has reached its adult 



