WHERE OUR BANANAS COME FROM 



729 



As all fruit is sold delivered at the 

 railroad, each farm is provided with its 

 own tramway leading from the fields to 

 the railroad, the cars being drawn by 

 mules. Notice is given to the grower to 

 deliver a specified quantity of fruit along- 

 side the cars on a given date, for ship- 

 ment by a certain vessel, and within 12 

 to 18 hours after the fruit is cut it has 

 been transported to Port Limon and 

 loaded aboard ship ready for sea. 



At the wharf the fruit is transferred 

 from car to ship, at the rate of 2,000 

 bunches per hour, by mechanical loaders, 

 specially designed to carry it without 

 bruising, over canvas rollers and into the 

 ship's hold. Upon arriving at its over- 

 seas destination the fruit is unloaded in 

 the same manner, and within a few hours 

 after the steamer has docked its cargo 

 has been placed aboard special trains of 

 refrigerator cars, waiting to carry it to 

 interior points of distribution. 



Thus the bunch of bananas hanging 

 at the corner grocer's, in the small town 

 of the middle West, or New England, 

 has been, in most cases, less than 15 days 

 out of its native habitat in the tropics. 



The labor employed in all departments 

 of the banana industry of Costa Rica, as 

 in most banana-producing countries of 

 America, is the Jamaican negro. He not 

 only shows an almost total disregard of 

 the dangerous climatic conditions, but he 

 is experienced in the work, which he 

 learned in his Jamaican home. Indeed, 

 it may almost be said that the existence 

 of the industry — on its present magni- 

 tudinous scale at least — is dependent 

 upon the ability of the black man to work 

 year after year in an environment that 

 all too frequently is fatal to the white 

 man and from which, to preserve his life 

 and health, he is compelled to remove 

 himself at frequent intervals. 



The annual rainfall in the banana dis- 

 tricts is enormous, but the Jamaican con- 

 tinues his labors alike through torrential 

 downpour and the sweltering heat of a 

 tropical sun, rarely falling a victim to 

 the deadly fevers to which the white man 

 so readily succumbs. 



The United Fruit Company alone em- 

 ploys upwards of 5,000 negroes in its 

 Costa Rican division. The various pur- 



poses for which they are used include 

 clearing and preparing new lands for 

 cultivation, replanting, plowing, pruning, 

 draining, and cutting and loading fruit. 

 The three districts of Zent, Santa Clara, 

 and Banana River are divided into 

 farms, each of which has its white over- 

 seer, or mandador. Oxen are largely 

 used for plowing and other work in the 

 banana fields, as they are for nearly all 

 hauling in Costa Rica, both in town and 

 country. 



The banana plant grows easily and 

 has few enemies. One, however, which 

 of late is giving the growers some con- 

 cern, is called the taltuza, a small, dark- 

 brown rodent, with protruding teeth, 

 closely resembling the American gopher. 

 Like the gopher, it burrows its way under 

 the ground and attacks the roots of the 

 banana, causing the plant to wither and 

 die. This little animal has now almost 

 entirely abandoned its former home in 

 the woods for the banana fields, and no 

 means has as yet been found to extermi- 

 nate it. The United Fruit Company has 

 gone so far as to bring scientists from 

 the United States and Europe in an en- 

 deavor to devise a means of ridding the 

 districts of this pest. Experiments were 

 made by inoculating a number of the ani- 

 mals with disease germs and turning 

 them loose, but little result was noted. 

 The growers offer the laborers one dollar 

 gold per head for trapping them, and in 

 this way their increase is checked to some 

 extent. 



Wind-storms are another menace to 

 the plant, to which it falls an easy prey, 

 owing to its large foliage and the weight 

 of the fruit at its top. The danger from 

 this source is minimized by planting the 

 trees in rows diagonal to the direction 

 from which the heavy winds usually 

 blow. Excessive rainfall also is harm- 

 ful, and considerable outlays have to be 

 made for draining the surplus water from 

 the roots of the plants. Rich as the soil 

 is, it shows a tendency towards deterio- 

 ration after a few years, necessitating a, 

 rest by plowing and letting the land lie 

 idle a season. Commercial fertilizers are 

 little used in the country, but experiments 

 are being made by planting cow-peas 

 where enrichment of the soil is needed. 



