CHAPTER II 



CULTIVATION. GENERAL OPERATIONS. 



PREPARATION OF LAND. CLEARING. 



DISTANCE. DIGGING HOLES 



THE chapters on cultivation that immediately follow con- 

 cern the banana grown so largely for export in Jamaica. 

 The experience summarized here extends only to its culti- 

 vation in that island, but the soil and climate differ so 

 remarkably in different districts that much of what there 

 is to say on the subject in connexion with that colony will 

 probably apply to its cultivation elsewhere. When the 

 banana industry in other lands is under consideration, 

 notes on the cultivation, as practised locally, are included. 

 It will be observed that there are no hard-and-fast lines, 

 no definite directions that can be formulated for the 

 cultivation, but that the cultivator himself must thoroughly 

 study the plant as well as the soil and the climate, and 

 that he must be for ever experimenting in order to increase 

 his knowledge of the behaviour and capabilities of the 

 plant in each field of his cultivation. These chapters 

 must be taken only as suggestions for experiments towards 

 acquiring an exact acquaintance with the plant under 

 strictly local conditions ; the more completely these are 

 carried out the greater will be the ultimate success attained. 



GENERAL OPERATIONS 



The following is a condensed general statement of 

 operations on the north side of Jamaica where the soil is 

 a heavy loam, 9 to 15 in. deep, with a stiff clayey subsoil 

 and a rainfall of 90 in. : 



20 



