250 THE BANANA 



large scale at St. Augustine estate, and the results obtained 

 are sufficiently encouraging to justify the Department in 

 recommending the extension of the banana industry on the 

 lines now adopted by the manager of St. Augustine estate. 



"... Manurial experiments with bananas are an impor- 

 tant feature of the cultivation. It has been proved 

 conclusively that heavy dressings of pen manure (40 tons 

 per acre) are very beneficial and remunerative. Rough 

 temporary pens are erected on the banana fields in order 

 to reduce the cost of the manure, and, as the supply of pen 

 manure is usually small in comparison with the area under 

 cultivation, experiments with artificial manure, with and 

 without a light dressing of pen manure, are being made." 



CUBA. About 2,500,000 bunches of bananas were ex- 

 ported during 1911. The production of bananas is second 

 in importance among the agricultural industries of Santiago 

 de Cuba. There are three districts where bananas are 

 grown for export: Saetia on Nipe Bay, Sagua de Tanamo 

 on Tanamo Bay, and in the region about Baracoa. But 

 there has been a large decrease in banana growing for 

 export during the last few years, as the winters of Cuba 

 are too cold and dry, and the fruit produced cannot com- 

 pete with that from Jamaica and the Central American 

 States. All the bananas produced are sent to the United 

 States. There are several different kinds cultivated for 

 local use; amongst these is the variety known as " Ciento 

 a la boca," with yellow pulp, sweet and pleasant to the 

 taste, but the delicate skin renders it incapable of exporta- 

 tion. The varieties " Nino " and " Maukano " are also 

 known in Porto Rico. 



HISPANIOLA.* Sloane says of the banana: " This tree 

 was no native in the West Indies, but brought thither 

 from the Canary Isles by one Thomas di Berlanga, a 

 friar, to Santo Domingo in the year 1516, from whence 

 they were sent to the other isles and Main, and they, being 

 very useful and taking extremely, were planted every- 



* This is the old name, and the most convenient one, for the island divided 

 now between the Republics of Haiti and San Domingo. 



