196 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. i 
be devoted to bananas, are usually found, on careful inspection, to conceal spin- 
dling coffee plants. So many bananas are produced in this incidental manner 
that there has been little necessity for special cultivation to supply the local — 
markets. Neither has any sustained attempt been made to maintain the quality 
or productiveness of any of the varieties, so that a general deterioration has prob- 
ably taken place, instead of the rather careful though apparently desultory selec- 
tion to which bananas are subjected in many tropical countries. As the edible 
bananas are seedless, all propagation is by cuttings of buds or branches which 
arise from root stocks. It is thus usually possible for natives to select good stock 
of any desired sort when setting out new plants, and therefore In most countries 
the bearing qualities, at least, are maintained. But in Porto Rico there has been 
comparatively little incentive to care in special planting. Our failure to find any 
marketable bananas seemed at first very strange, until the local conditions were 
understood. Moreover, the deficiency is further explainable by the fact that the 
banana is extremely responsive to good treatment, and really first-class fruit can 
be produced only under favorable conditions, requiring little attention to the 
enrichment of the soil. As such care is seldom forthcoming In Porto Rico it is 
doubtful whether high-grade stock of any of the local varieties could now be 
secured in the island. 
Choice of varieties.—Accordingly, if the commercial planting of bananas is to 
be undertaken in Porto Rico it will be necessary either to make a careful choice 
of stock, which owing to special care has retained its vigor and productiveness, or 
to make new importations from other parts of the West Indies or from Central 
America. The Martinique or Jamaica banana. the variety almost exclusively 
imported into the United States. is nowhere particularly esteemed in the Tropics 
except for export purposes, and comparatively few are raised in Porto Rico, so 
that it is extremely doubtful whether plantations of any size could be stocked 
without some loss of time, unavoidable on account of the rather slow propagation 
of the superior varieties of the banana. Of course it would be useless to plant an ~ 
indiscriminate mixture of varieties, the produce of which would be quite unmarket- 
able abroad. At the same time it is proper to consider the question whether in 
view of the comparatively ready access to the American market it will not be 
wise to plant in export quantities some one of the numerous varieties superior to 
that now known in the trade. The value of the common sort lies in its shipping 
qualities, which result from the fact that it shares some of the attributes of the 
plantain in being of rather coarse texture, with a tough skin and a large quantity 
of mealy outer coating of the flesh, which gives the dry sensation and, when not 
thoroughly ripened, the astringent taste. Really fine varieties are so superior in 
flavor and texture that once regularly introduced into the trade they would cer- 
tainly secure the popular preference and command special prices. It is true that 
the more delicate texture of most of the high-grade varieties would probably ren- 
der it necessary to use somewhat greater care in shipping. But methods of pack- 
ing and ventilation are now so far improved that some of the better varieties could 
undoubtedly be brought to our markets in time to reach the consumer in good 
condition. One of the requisites of the success of such an experiment should, 
however, be kept in mind. No matter how excellent the fruit may be, the public 
will not have a chance to assert a preference until it can be sent in quantities 
large enough to give it a place in the regular fruit trade. Many failures in open- 
ing new lines of agricultural activity have resulted from the fact that trial ship- 
ments were so small that the merchants would not take the trouble necessary to 
properly introduce an unknown product to the public. 
As one instance of a superior banana which might be grown in Porto Rico may 
be mentioned a variety of the dwarf banana (Musa cavendishii), the same species 
which is cultivated in the Canary Islands for the English market. The Canary 
bananas are not, however, of particular excellence, having, if anything, even more 









