TRANSPORT ON LAND 175 



morning following its discharge from the steamer. A 

 number of light vans are ready to distribute it, diverging 

 along the main roads to a distance of fifteen miles, enabling 

 the smaller towns and the larger villages to obtain their 

 supplies on the best possible terms. Several of the more 

 enterprising railway companies, as well as the London and 

 North- Western Company, realizing the importance of the 

 trade, have built specially fitted trains for the conveyance 

 of bananas, the principal features being steam-heating 

 during the winter months and efficient ventilation for hot 

 weather. 



Bananas need careful handling at all times. When 

 knocked about whilst in a green condition, the skin, when 

 ripe, will show black marks, but these in no way affect the 

 fruit. Ripe fruit, on the other hand, that has suffered 

 rough treatment will go pulpy and turn black. 



The fruit will only travel properly in the unripe con- 

 dition, and the retailer has to take care that only such 

 portion of his supply shall ripen each day as he can get rid 

 of. Messrs. Elders and Fyffes publish, for the benefit of 

 the retail merchant, full and detailed directions for the 

 construction of small rooms for the reception of the fruit 

 and for the proper ripening of it, enabling him to handle 

 it successfully, and to ripen it as required for sale from 

 day to day. 



In Louisville, Kentucky,* electric radiators are em- 

 ployed to ripen the fruit for local consumption. Formerly 

 gas was employed to heat the air in the ripening compart- 

 ments, but after a disastrous explosion it was decided to 

 use electric radiators. The ripening rooms comprise two 

 compartments measuring 8 ft. by 10 ft., with 6 ft. 6 in. 

 ceilings, which are separated from the rest of the cellar 

 by double partitions with intermediate air spaces. The 

 bananas are placed on hooks suspended from the ceiling. 

 A resistance type of air heater, consuming from 1200 to 

 900 watts at its three temperature steps, is placed on a 

 zinc mat on the floor, and keeps the room temperature at 

 * Times Engineering Supplement, August 16, 1911, p. 19. 



