71 



u Of all the varieties of the banana (and I have myself seen at least 

 200, including the seeding banana of Chittagong) only two or three are 

 raised for exportation in Guatemala, and these are by no means the best ; 

 but as the steamer people will give no more for a choice variety there is 

 no inducement to improve the stock. Both yellow and red varieties are 

 grown, and the former sometimes have 250 bananas on a bunch,weighing 

 unripe, 90 pounds. The plantain is yellow when ripe (I have never 

 seen a red variety), and is much larger and more curved than a banana, 

 while the bunches are looser and much smaller, seldom numbering more 

 than 35 fruits. Some plantains attain a length of 15 inches, and some 

 are quite palatable uncooked, but the usual way to eat them is either 

 baked or fried. Few of our Northerners appreciate the wonderful 

 nutritive qualities of the plantain, which in this respect surpasses the 

 banana, and it may be authoritatively stated that 1,607 square feet of 

 rich land will produce 4,000 pounds of nutritive substance from 

 plantains, which will support 50 persons, while the same land planted 

 with wheat will support but two. 



" The comparative cost and profit of cultivating bananas and plantains 

 may be thus stated : — 



Cost. 



Profit. 



Bananas Plantains. 



Cost of one acre of land 

 Clearing and planting 

 Purchase of 430 stools 

 Care of plantation per acre 



first crop 



Gathering and shipping crop 



to 



t 



1.00 



20.00 



2.50 



10.00 

 10.00 



§43.50 



300 bunches of 

 bananas at 50 

 cents, less cost. 



15,000 fruits of 

 plantains at 81.25 

 per 100, less cost. 



Total- 



$106.50 



§144.00 



" The second year the increase would be in favour of the plantain, 

 and the product has reached more than 35,000 per acre. Of the fibre, 

 no account has been taken, although this bids fair to become an im- 

 portant by-product. The plantain contains more fibre than the 

 banana ; the inner portions in both stems being much finer. At present 

 the possible four pounds of fibre in each stem is wasted ; and as the 

 stems should be cut to the ground after the fruit is gathered, these large 

 fibrous trunks are much in the way of cultivation. It will be remem- 

 bered that the Manila hemp is the product of a species of banana 

 (Musa textilis). 



u Usually bananas or plantains are planted in a cafetal or in a cacao or 

 orange orchard, to shade the young plants, and after three or four years 

 are removed as the more permanent trees attain their growth." 



Preserved Ripe Bananas. 



For some years bananas have been preserved on a small scale in 

 Jamaica, and it is hoped by this means to make use of small bunches of 

 fruit not large enough to be shipped in a fresh state. Small bunched 



