HARVESTING 45 



owner or the manager, riding from one to the other, con- 

 trols the number cut for delivery that night or in the early 

 morning at the wharf. The bunches are wrapped in trash 

 and handed up by two men to another in a wagon, who 

 packs them in carefully so that there shall be no bruising. 

 Wrapping is not necessary when the station or wharf is 

 near at hand. It is singularly picturesque to ride through 

 the shady rows of bananas, with here and there, all round, 

 majestic heads falling and figures moving swiftly at their 

 work, to note the quick movements of the men with keen 

 upward glances, the stately walk of the women with a 

 bunch balanced on their heads, all accompanied by the 

 noise of the large leaves in their descent, the cries of the 

 men, and the peculiar call for the women when they are 

 wanted. 



When the fruit is " caught " it is simply severed with a 

 cutlass and removed. As soon after as possible men are 

 sent into the fields to chop up both stem and leaves, 

 leaving a stump of the cut stem of 3 to 4 ft. on the root, 

 which benefits the suckers by the moisture it contains. 

 If cut down to the root, undoubtedly the suckers would 

 suffer. The stump withers, and can be pulled out and 

 cut up later. When fresh cut, a man can easily chop 100 

 stems a day. The chopped-up stems are spread over the 

 land, which can then be ploughed without obstruction, 

 while they help to manure it. 



The Baraton. Instead of leaving the stump to wither, 

 it is sometimes dug out by a special tool, described by 

 Dr. James Neish * as follows : 



" The baraton is a digging tool used in Nicaragua and 

 other States of Central America in the cultivation of 

 bananas. It is specially employed in the Central American 

 countries for digging out and separating from the living 

 stool the dead portion of the underground stem of a 

 banana plant which has borne its fruit. This portion of 

 the plant when allowed to remain in the soil hinders the 

 growth of the parent stool by preventing it from throwing 

 * Journ. Jam. Agric. Soc., v. 196 (1901). 



