40 THE BANANA 



of follower * may be left throughout the field, but other- 

 wise, then each sucker must be treated on its own merits. 



" I have observed more mistakes in pruning, entailing 

 more or less loss to the owner, than I care to recollect : 

 some from ignorance, but more often from greed. It is 

 hardly possible to grow more than 450 stems per acre and 

 get your followers right. Yet some persons try to get as 

 many as 600 to 700. These speculators usually wind up 

 by marketing not more than 200, and most of these in the 

 bad months. It is quite possible to grow 700 suckers to 

 the acre, but the followers and fruit take so long to mature, 

 that not more than the above amount can be cut in one 

 year after the plant crop is harvested. If the suckers be 

 correctly spaced, and the land fairly fertile, 300 paydbles 

 per acre may be considered a probable return, and no 

 cultivator should attempt to produce more. 



" The object in suckering is not only to obtain size of 

 bunch, but primarily to meet the months of highest prices. 

 A ten-hand bunch marketed in October fetches only Is., 

 one containing seven hands sold in April or May realizes 

 the same price, and sometimes more to the grower, with 

 lower cost of marketing and less chance of rejection ; 

 therefore size of bunch is of secondary consideration. 

 When a cultivator learns to prune correctly, then he can 

 turn his attention to produce ' straight ' bunches. 



' The consumer abroad wants bananas during the spring 

 months, and wants them badly, but what is more im- 

 portant, he is then not so particular as to quality, but in 

 the later part of the year when his own fruits are in season, 

 he gets fastidious, and will purchase only the best, and 

 not much of that either. The fruit companies are there 

 to supply the consumers' wants, and they of necessity, so 

 long as fruit is plentiful, select only good fruit ; it is, there- 

 fore, good policy from all standpoints to prune so as to 

 market the bulk of your crops as near the month of March. 

 April, May, and June as possible. 



* " Follower," a sucker left at the root of the parent plant to produce 

 the succeeding crop. 



