INDIA AND CEYLON 183 



close is given a month later, at the rate of 3 Ibs. per plant. 

 During the following October the fruit is harvested, just 

 when it is " full " but still green. The hands are " put 

 in a store " formed of " cylinders of a bamboo mat 10 ft. 

 by 10 ft. placed vertically. This store is generally in the 

 centre of the house, and thus the entrance of air is pre- 

 vented as far as possible. On the floor of this improvised 

 storehouse rice-straw is placed, and on it the hands are 

 spread layer by layer." The topmost layer is covered 

 with banana leaves. One store takes about 12,000 to 

 15,000 fruits. They are put in the store in the morning and 

 are taken out after three days, when the fruit is yellow. 

 The ripe hands are carried in baskets to the prepared 

 ground on the plain outside the village. The ground has 

 been made hard by beating it with a wooden plank and 

 then plastering it with cow-dung and water. A mat, 6 ft. 

 by 8 ft., is spread on the ground. Then the skins are 

 removed, and the fruit is spread on the mat. Some dry 

 the fruit on a platform 10 ft. high. After lying all day 

 in the sun, the fruits are gathered in a heap in the evening 

 before the cold begins, and are left all night covered with 

 dry banana leaves and a mat. This is repeated for three 

 days and three nights, and on the fourth day the fruits 

 are ready for the market, and are wrapped in bundles of a 

 dozen each in banana leaves. The yearly yield at Agashi 

 is estimated at 160 tons, valued at Us. 27,000. 



The United States Consul at Calcutta reported in 1908 

 that many banana growers in India were giving attention 

 to the question of an export to Great Britain. He writes : 



44 It is claimed that vessels properly fitted up can reach 

 the Liverpool market from Calcutta in twenty-five days, 

 and that several kinds of fruits, especially the plantain, 

 can be laid down in Liverpool to compete with the West 

 Indian banana, which now monopolizes the English 

 market. 



" The native East Indian banana is smaller by half than 

 the fruit grown in Jamaica, Costa Rica, and along the 

 coast lines of Central America, but the former is as rich 



