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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



small, each farmer producing enough for 

 the consumption of his own family, and 

 a little surplus which he sends to the 

 market. The Department of Agriculture 

 has interested itself in the production of 

 tea in this country, and has issued a bulle- 

 tin which reveals the fact that in South 

 Carolina and elsewhere on the southern 

 Atlantic seaboard America has proved a 

 successful grower of this plant. 



THE BANANA INDUSTRY 



It is not so many years ago that the 

 "banana was a tropical crop, grown only 

 for home consumption by residents of 

 the river valleys of the tropical countries. 

 It was sold mainly by street venders in 

 the villages and towns, and only in ex- 

 ceptional cases did any reach American 

 and European markets ; but today we are 

 importing more than 40,000,000 bunches 

 of bananas into the United States every 

 year, and the value of these importations 

 ranges around $14,000,000. 



The first bananas ever imported came 

 in 1869, and in many parts of the country 

 it was twenty years later before they came 

 to stay. It has been only in recent years 

 that the banana reached Europe. Eng- 

 land now buys about 7,000,000 bunches 

 a year (see page 89). 



A visit to a banana plantation is an in- 

 teresting experience. The banana tree 

 wants a rich soil ; but, given that, no other 

 tree known can grow faster. In prepar- 

 ing a banana plantation, the jungle is first 

 cut down, and sprouts are planted in 

 rows about six feet apart. By the time 

 the tree is ready to bear, every bit of the 

 jungle debris has disappeared, except that 

 here and there an occasional hardwood 

 tree still lies prone upon the ground. 

 One can scarcely believe his eyes when 

 he sees how quickly the processes of 

 decay so nearly obliterate the last vestige 

 of the felled tropical jungle. 



Each tree grows one bunch of bananas. 

 When they have reached maturity, but 

 are still green, the tree is cut about half 

 way up its trunk, and the upper part falls 

 gently into the hands of the banana gath- 

 erers. The bunches of green bananas are 

 put on hand-cars and hauled to central 

 places, where the banana trains come 

 along and pick them up. 



SINGING AS THEY WORK 



I have seen 35,000 bunches of bananas 

 loaded into the hold of a ship in a single 

 night, the West Indian negroes singing 

 after the fashion of the hand-drill gangs 

 on railroad and other construction work 

 in the United States. The people who 

 handle bananas on the big plantations of 

 Central America and the West Indies so 

 lose their taste for this fruit that they 

 seldom keep them on their tables at all. 



Once I was on one of the biggest plan- 

 tations in the world, in Guatemala, and, 

 although there must have been several 

 hundred thousand bunches on the trees 

 that were in sight, there was not one ripe 

 banana around the entire settlement of 

 the plantation headquarters. 



The banana and its cousin, the plan- 

 tain, are found in most tropical countries. 

 To the native of Central Africa they 

 yield not only a part of his food and 

 some of his drink, but he gets from them 

 his string, his soap, and his clothing. 



He cooks the green fruit of the plan- 

 tain as a vegetable, and serves the ripe 

 fruit as a dessert. With the banana he 

 makes his flour and sometimes his coffee. 

 He uses the leaves to thatch his house, 

 and also makes them serve him for paper, 

 table-cloths, and napkins. He often uses 

 the stems for fences, the pith as a sponge, 

 and the fiber as a string:. 



the; pineapple 



Another native of America that has 

 won favor in every part of the world 

 where it is known is the pineapple. Jack 

 Frost is its deadly enemy ; therefore it 

 grows only in tropical and subtropical 

 communities ; but the refrigerator ship 

 has enabled it to wander to every point 

 of the compass where men and women 

 who love good things to eat are to be 

 found. 



Hawaii leads the world in the produc- 

 tion of pineapples. It has brought to its 

 fields every variety of this luscious fruit 

 that might add, by cross-breeding, to the 

 size and flavor of its product, so that to- 

 day canned Hawaiian pineapple and raw 

 Hawaiian sugar serve largely to keep the 

 American flag on the high seas in Pacific 

 waters (see page 88). 



