SOUTH AMERICA 235 



the average was reduced to eighty-five bunches per acre. 

 The Panama and Surinam diseases are the chief trouble, 

 but great damage has been caused by bees, and also by 

 wind in exposed situations. 



In 1910 the size of the bunches fell off * considerably ; 

 the contributing causes have been disease, faulty cultiva- 

 tion, too close planting, and insufficient drainage. The 

 importance of good and careful cultivation, of at least 

 4 ft. good drainage, and of not planting closer than 16 ft. 

 by 16 ft. was particularly noticeable in the Surinam 

 cultivations, and growers who attempted planting closely, 

 not cultivating, or not attending to drainage, only obtained 

 poor results. 



COLOMBIA. The United States Consul at Barranquilla 

 stated in his Report for 1906 : " The banana industry 

 has developed wonderfully, and although yet in its infancy, 

 it is by far the greatest industry in the district, the output 

 having increased from 171,891 bunches in 1892 the first 

 year of any recorded export to 1,397,388 bunches in 1906. 

 The present area devoted to bananas is about 7000 acres, 

 of which an American corporation owns 25 per cent., the 

 balance belonging to individuals. All the fruit is purchased 

 and exported by the American company. For climatic 

 and geological reasons, Santa Marta cannot be said to be a 

 banana country, such, for example, as Costa Rica. Irriga- 

 tion has to be carried out here during at least seven months 

 in the year ; the lands also require drainage, and the 

 winds often cause serious damage to the crop, but labour 

 is cheap, averaging 50 c. per day, and very good results 

 are obtained. These results, indeed, compare favourably 

 with those of Costa Rica, where winds are practically un- 

 known, and rainfall is plentiful all the year round, but 

 where labour is dear, averaging $1.00 a day. Jamaican 

 labourers are alone available on the Costa Rica plantations, 

 whereas native labour is used almost exclusively in Santa 

 Marta, and is proving satisfactory. The total amount of 

 banana land conveniently situated for irrigation in the 

 * Journ. B. Agrie., B. Guiana, iv. 19 (1910). 



