DEVELOPMENT OF THE BANANA TRADE 159 



10 million bunches in 1908, but they fell in 1909 to 

 9,365,690 bunches, in 1910 to 9,097,285, and in 1911 rose 

 to 9,309,586. But on the whole, as the demand steadily in- 

 creases, so do the number of acres planted and the number 

 of bunches exported. In Costa Rica the area under 

 bananas in 1910 was 62,500 acres, and new plantations 

 amounting to 2500 acres were made in 1911 ; in Jamaica 

 in 1911-12 the area was 82,435 acres, the average for the 

 previous four years being 67,573 acres. The Canary 

 Islands appear for the present to have come to about the 

 limit of cultivable land for bananas, and the production 

 therefore cannot increase very much until new irrigation 

 canals are made. The output from Costa Rica for the 

 year 1912 was estimated at 10 J millions, from Santa Marta 

 in Colombia over 6 millions, and from Bocas del Toro in 

 Panama 5| millions. 



The United States Consul at Port Antonio, Jamaica, 

 writes as follows :* " Notwithstanding the increased acre- 

 age in bananas, the Jamaican crop for 1912 shows a 

 considerable decrease in consequence of an unusually 

 protracted drought, and the crop has been further damaged 

 by hurricanes which swept the island on November 17 

 and 18. The injury to the banana crop in this consular 

 district, embracing the parishes of Portland and St. Mary, 

 will probably cause a decrease of about 1,000,000 bunches, 

 and there will be a loss in the whole island estimated at 

 3,500,000 to 4,000,000 bunches, chiefly in the yield of next 

 year. Where plantations have been entirely devastated, 

 they will yield little fruit for export next year, for the 

 reason that it will be more profitable to plan for a spring 

 crop in 1914, when the prices will be high, than for a crop 

 in the fall or winter, the seasons when prices are generally 

 lowest. As the loss in Jamaica will probably be more than 

 offset by gains in Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, and 

 other countries which have been steadily increasing the 

 acreage in this crop, a small advance in the world's produc- 

 tion for the current year may still be expected. The 



* "United States Daily Consular and Trade Reports," December 26, 1912. 



