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August, as fresh fruit, especially strawberries, are then coming into the 

 market. Recently Canary bananas fetched on an average 8s. per bunch. 

 Some extra large bunches fetched as much as 15s., " and, in very 

 exceptional cases, as much as 21s. to 23s. has been realised per 

 bunch." One dealer in foreign fruit at Covent Garden has storage 

 room for 2,000 to 3,000 bunches, and sales take place three times a 

 week. 



The returns for bananas, as distinct from other fresh fruit, are not 

 given separately in the Customs' returns, hence it is impossible to form 

 an accurate idea of the total imports into the United Kingdom. 



The following information respecting fruit-growing in the West Indies 

 and on the probability of shipping fresh fruit to this country is taken 

 from a paper read before the Royal Colonial Institute by Mr. Morris 

 on " Fruit as a factor in Colonial Commerce," February 8, 1887 : — 



" A very interesting attempt was made last year to import fresh 

 tropical fruit from British Guiana by Messrs. Scrutton & Sons, who had 

 one of their steamers fitted with a cool chamber specially for the purpose. 

 Bananas and many delicate fruits were received from the West Indies 

 during the course of the Exhibition in excellent condition. 



" The fruit trade in Jamaica is the means of circulating nearly 250,000/. 

 annually amongst all classes of the community, and this large sum is 

 immediately available, without the vexatious delays formerly experienced 

 in establishing other and more permanent industries. Bananas, for 

 instance, come into bearing, at the latest, in about 15 or 18 months 

 from the time of planting, and as the return is usually from 10/ 

 to 20/. per acre, the planter is able, with a comparatively small capital, 

 to establish his land in cocoa, coffee, nutmegs, limes, oranges, and 

 cocoa-nuts, which, when the bananas are exhausted, will remain a 

 permanent source of revenue. It is on this account that I look upon 

 the fruit trade of the West Indian Islands, as indeed of many other small 

 industries, as calculated in the aggregate to build up, little by little, an 

 improved condition for the people of these islands." 



Export of Fresh Plantains. — The chief trade with the United States 

 and Canada is in bananas. So far, fresh plantains have been imported 

 only to a small extent. Plantains have, however, been grown and 

 exported to the Southern United States from British Honduras, 

 Guatemala and the Mosquito Coast, and they are much appreciated as 

 an article of food. They can be packed loosely instead of in bunches 

 as in the case of bananas, and the money value on the cultivation is 

 much larger than on bananas. For instance, as shown by Mr. Brigham, 

 the return on plantains in Guatemala is at the rate of 141 dollars per 

 acre, while the return on bananas is 10G dollars. Plantains to the value 

 of 12,191 dollars were exported from British Honduras in 1892. The 

 present Governor of British Honduras, Sir Alfred Moloney, K.C.M.G., 

 evidently looks upon the plantain as likely to be in much greater demand 

 than at present in the United States, if only to supply an acceptable 

 food to the negroes in the South. He says " the plantain is a staple 

 food over a large section of negro land in West Africa. The 

 descendants of its interesting people to the north of the Gulf of 

 Mexico represent a consuming power of nearly nine million people. 



. . . Our shipment to New Orleans rose from 50,000 plantains 

 in 1879 to 1,580,200 in 1891." 



The exports from Jamaica, Cuba, and other islands in the Carribean 

 Sea are almost entirely bananas. Plantains are regarded locally as so 



