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not less than $25,000 would be necessary to launch this new product on 

 the American market, and unless this sum were forthcoming, they did 

 not see their way to dealing with it on the ground that no sales in any 

 quantity could be expected. This proposal was in due course submitted 

 to the exhibitors, whose meal had been experimented upon ; but un- 

 fortunately those gentlemen were unable at the time to adopt the course 

 proposed, and the matter is still in abeyance. I am strongly of opinion 

 that with a judicious outlay of capital, and with a reasonable certainty 

 that no sudden changes will be made in tariff regulations, there is a 

 market open for banana meal in the United States. 



" 1 have seen ripe bananas offered for sale in the streets of Chicago, 

 at almost the same price as they are in Kingston, though of course the 

 quality is distinctly inferior." 



Trinidad. 



The following account of the preparation of plantain meal at the 

 convict farm, Trinidad, by Mr. C. W. Meaden is quoted in the Bulletin 

 of the Botanical Department, Jamaica, xxvi., p. 5. The meal was pre- 

 pared from a plantain known in Trinidad as the " Moko." This is 

 usually grown as a shade for young cacao trees. It appears, otherwise, 

 to have little value. Mr. Hart refers to it in his report for the year 1887, 

 p. 18, as " the useless Moko or Jumbi plantain or Fig." It is some- 

 what remarkable that the meal prepared from this despised but very 

 widely distributed plant should prove of so good a quality. 



" No banana gives such an excellent meal as the ' Moko,' or so agree- 

 able in flavour and taste. The preparation of the meal is as follows : — 

 The green Moko was skinned, sliced thin, and dried in the fruit drier ; 

 then ground fine in an ordinary corn mill, and afterwards sifted through 

 a muslin sieve ; this latter removes any fibre, and leaves a delicate fine 

 meal. The slices dry in two hours. A 15 lb. bunch will yield 3 lbs. of 

 prepared meal, which at 6d. per pound is Is. 6d. per bunch. Two 

 women could prepare 56 lbs. of meal per day. The cost of production, 

 packing, &c, has to be considered, but the price estimated to be 

 obtained in this way for the fruit must be considered a satisfactory 

 one; at least it is better than that now obtained, which may be said to be 

 nil." 



In a letter to the Port of Spain Gazette, dated 21st October, 1892, 

 Mr. Meaden gives the following further particulars : — 



" It is proved by analysis that bananas contain 76 per cent, of starch, 

 and it is certain that an article containing this quantity must have a 

 profitable market value. Sliced bananas at a temperature of 130 per 

 cent, dry in two hours and could be packed for shipment from the green 

 bunch well within the day's work. A drying apparatus for this purpose 

 can be most cheaply and effectually built by a local workman, and it 

 would also be useful on the estate for all drying purposes." 



Dutch Guiana or Surinam. 



From information communicated to Kew by Mr. Louis Asser, of the 

 Hague, Holland, the preparation of dried bananas and of banana and 

 plantain meal is proposed to be taken up on a large scale in Dutch 

 Guiana. Already various preparations from this part of the world have 

 been shown at the International Exhibition held at Brussels by an 

 association called the " Stanley Syndicate." Preference appears to te 

 given in this case to the banana on account of its lesser value locally, and 



