BANANAS AS FOOD 123 



and Hawaii. As indicating the rapid increase in the 

 consumption of bananas in the United States it is interest- 

 ing to observe that the value of this fruit imported during 

 the fiscal year ended June 30, 1900, was $5,877,835 ; in 

 1905, $9,897,821 ; in 1910, $11,642,693 ; and in 1912, 

 as already stated, $14,368,380, which shows an increase 

 of 23-4 per cent, in the last two years and of 144 per cent, 

 in twelve years. The gain in Great Britain last year was 

 8*4 per cent., in Germany last year 24 per cent., and in 

 the last two years 111 per cent. Owing to direct ship- 

 ments of bananas from Caribbean countries now being 

 made to German as well as to British ports, the Hamburg- 

 American Steamship Company having, it is said, acquired 

 a substantial interest in the Atlantic Fruit Company, and 

 a concession of banana lands having been made by 

 Colombia to a German company, it may be regarded as 

 certain that the imports of this fruit into Germany will 

 show a large advance from year to year. The increased 

 facilities recently provided for direct shipments of bananas 

 to British ports justify the belief that the consumption of 

 bananas in the United Kingdom will show substantial 

 gains in future years. 



" The increasing consumption of bananas in a number 

 of countries naturally raises the question of an adequate 

 supply to meet the coming demand. In Jamaica, where 

 the immense banana crop is produced on about 3 per cent, 

 of the total acreage of the island, there is yet plenty of 

 suitable land available. In Mexico, Central America, 

 Panama, and Colombia, not to mention the large possibili- 

 ties of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, there are vast 

 tracts of land where fertile soil, a warm climate, and 

 abundant rainfall favour the production of bananas on a 

 large scale. Not only is there land enough, but the profits 

 of the crop are sufficiently remunerative to attract 

 the investment of ample capital to meet the world's 

 demand. 



" As all the conditions seem to be favourable for a 

 greatly enlarged production of bananas, and as the highly 



