42 THE BANANA 



October, must be left from June to July, as they take 

 from twenty-one to twenty-five months to mature a crop, 

 and if the field be a closely planted one, even longer ; in 

 fact it would be hard to tell the age of a sword sucker or 

 peeper in such fields. On the plains, if ratoons are well 

 grown, August peepers are safe, whereas in the colder 

 altitudes of the interior regions May peepers one foot 

 high are sometimes found to just answer. 



" As I explained before, each planter at the start must 

 experiment for himself, but after having once hit on the 

 correct time to leave peepers, do not neglect even for a 

 week to prune out those followers not wanted, as it is very 

 difficult to tell the exact age of a sucker after it has passed 

 the peeper stage. 



44 It is better to prune for an early crop rather than a 

 late one, for if even 25 per cent, come too early, you can 

 pick, choose, and refuse your followers ; whereas if an 

 equal quantity happen to be late, the peepers in nine 

 cases out of ten will also be late in starting from the bulb 

 and showing themselves above ground. If you should be 

 unfortunate in getting two successive late crops, it is 

 extremely difficult, even for an expert, to bring back your 

 field into correct fruiting. 



" Do not make the mistake of leaving more suckers 

 than I have advised, because they look stout and pretty. 

 The earlier you remove the superfluous ones, the less 

 temptation and heartache you will have. Too many 

 suckers rob the parent plant, and later retard the maturing 

 of the crop. 



" Never leave a peeper on a stump,* except where ab- 

 solutely necessary, or a water sucker will result, producing 

 for certain either a six or seven hand bunch. I have seen 

 fertile land growing banana suckers that were strong and 

 the picture of health, but the fruit from which graded 

 nearly all sixes and sevens. The cause could easily be 



* " Stump," the remaining portion of plant after a bunch has been 

 harvested, and the top containing the leaves and upper part of the trunk 

 cut ofi. 



