BANANA 
ions of the Montana. In spite of the un- 
certainty as to just which countiy may 
claim the fruit as indigenous, all tropical 
lands assert their right to it. 
The first importation of bananas to the 
United States occurred in 1804, when the 
schooner Reynard, on a voyage from 
Cuba, brought into New York, as a com- 
mercial venture, a consignment of 30 
bunches; but the real beginning of the 
trade dates back to 1866, when Mr. Charles 
Frank undertook the importation of fruit 
from Colon to New York. Previous to 
that venture small cargoes consisting 
mainly of the red banana had been re- 
ceived at irregular intervals from Cuba. 
In 1870, Captain Baker, an owner of a 
Cape Cod schooner, took a charter to car- 
ry gold miners and machinery 300 miles 
up to Orinoco river in Venezuela. After 
discharging his cargo, Captain Baker ran 
into Jamaica to secure some cocoanuts 
as ballast to New York, carrying a few 
bunches of bananas on the deck as an ex- 
periment. The result promised a great 
future for the industry on that island, 
which has been fulfilled, the exports last 
year reaching $4,000,000. 
On the American continent, bananas are 
successfully grown through 50 degrees of 
latitude, from Tampico, Mexico, 25 degrees 
north, to Asuncion in Paraguay, in the 
Tropic of Capricorn, 25 degrees south—a 
belt over 3,000 miles in width. Cultiva- 
tion of the fruit is practically restricted 
to the eastern coast line, for the banana 
is one of the thirstiest of plants, and can 
not be expected to produce its maximum 
amount of fruit in districts where there 
are less than 100 inches of annual rain- 
fall. Unfortunately for humanity, great 
areas of the land lying within this belt 
are high, dry, and sterile, while others 
are sandy or rocky, so only a small frac- 
tion is so located that banana growing 
can be made profitable. The altitude 
must not invite danger of frost, and 
high temperature is necessary for the 
growth. The southern coast of the Mexi- 
can Gulf, the Puerto Barrios section of 
Gautemala, the Puerto Cortes district of 
Honduras, the Puerto Limon district of 
Costa Rica, the Bluefields district of 
Nicaragua, the Bocas del Torro region of 
567 
Panama, the Colombian province of San: 
ta Marta, and certain portions of Cuba, 
Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, 
and Dutch Guiana, all combine the favor- 
ed elements of soil and climate. 
The plant has two natural enemies— 
the gopher and the wind storm—but 
against almost all other tropical condi- 
tions its hardihood is remarkable. It is 
practically immune from insect pests, and 
a worm-eaten banana or the stalk of a 
bunch practically destroyed by any of 
the boring insects of the tropics is un- 
known. The damage from high winds 
can be avoided or minimized either by 
planting in locations protected from 
storms or by leaving unfelled strips of 
native forest as protective screens. Where 
the gopher interferes, it can be fought by 
the use of carbon bisulphite. There is, 
however, a “witch broom” disease which 
has affected the Gros Michel variety in 
Dutch Guiana, and a “Panama” sickness 
which has attacked certain other vari- 
eties, 
It is a matter of common observation 
that the banana is absolutely seedless, 
cultivation through innumerable genera- 
tions having led to a vegetable method of 
propagation. Some of the primitive seed- 
bearing varieties are still said to exist in 
isolated regions of the Far Hast. 
Clearing the Land 
The first step toward cultivation is the 
clearing of the land. Into the tangle 
of shrubs and vines and the thick snarl 
of tropical vegetation the laborer comes 
with an ax and “machete” and cuts low 
everything but the giant trees. When 
all of the small timber and brush has 
been felled planting is commenced. 
Planting 
Young shoots are obtained from a 
plantation already in bearing, and these 
are placed in rows about 12 feet apart. 
When the planting is finished, the only 
labor necessary is to keep down the weeds 
and carefully clean the ground about the 
root of each stalk. 
Growth 
The banana plant will grow with won- 
derful rapidity under favorable circum- 
stances. In fact, the development from a 
