BANANA--BEANS d71 
sular invoices certified at the shipping 
ports. Great Britain imported during the 
calendar year 1911 a total of 6,714,479 
bunches, value $8,943,099, an average of 
$1.33 a bunch, the value fixed at the im- 
porting ports. During the same year the 
value of bananas (including banana food 
products) imported into Germany amount- 
ed to $1,974,046. It should be stated that 
some of the bananas imported into Great 
Britain are sent to Germany and other 
countries of Northern Europe, and that 
Hamburg, which is a great distributing 
center, ships bananas arriving at that 
port to Scandinavia and _ elsewhere. 
France and other countries of Southern 
Europe receive very few bananas. 
The banana supply of the United States 
was received from the following coun- 
tries: Jamaica, 15,467,918 bunches; Hon- 
duras, 7,151,178; Costa Rica, 7,053,664; 
Panama, 4,581,500; Cuba, 2,478,581: Nic- 
aragua, 2,270,100; Gautemala, 2,017,650; 
Colombia, 1,542,988; Mexico, 817,006; 
British Honduras, 557,160; Dominican Re- 
public, 304,000; Dutch Guiana, 261,548; 
and other countries, 17,246 bunches. Hs- 
timating the average number of bananas 
at 140 to the bunch, it appears that the 
people of the United States consume over 
6,000,000,000 bananas a year, or more 
than 5 dozen for every man, woman, and 
child in the United States, including 
Alaska and Hawaii. 
The increasing consumption of bananas 
in a number of countries naturally raises 
the question of an adequate supply to meet 
the coming demand. In Jamaica, where 
the immense banana crop is produced on 
about 3 per cent of the total acreage of 
the island, there is yet plenty of suit- 
able land available. In Mexico, Central 
America, Panama and Colombia, not to 
mention the large possibilities of Haiti 
and the Dominican Republic, there are 
vast tracts of land where a fertile soil, a 
warm climate, and abundant rainfall 
favor the production of bananas on a 
large scale. Not only is there land 
enough, but the profits of the crop are 
sufficiently remunerative to attract the in- 
vestment of ample capital to meet the 
world’s demand. 
BraM TREE. See Apple, Botany of. 
Beans 
The bean is one of the most widely 
cultivated of garden plants, and includes 
several varieties, among which are the 
following: Bunch bean, kidney bean, pole 
bean, string bean, butter bean, lima bean, 
haricot bean, French bean, and Carolina 
bean. 
The following are not in common use, 
but are of historical interest. Carob 
bean, the fruit of the carob tree that grew 
in Palestine, the pod of which had a 
sweetish taste; same as locust tree. 
Buck bean, a bog herb of the gentian 
family. 
Brazilian bean, the fruit of a tree of the 
laurel family. 
Calabar bean, the highly poisonous seed 
of an African climber. It is used chiefly 
for contracting the pupil of the eye, oc- 
casionally for tetanus, epilepsy and other 
nervous disorders. With the natives of 
old Calabar, it was a test for crime, witch- 
craft, etc, whence it came to be called 
the ordeal bean. 
Egyptian, Pythagorean, or sacred bean, 
the fruit of the lotus. 
Florida bean, the fruit of a West India, 
leguminous climber often washed up on 
the coast of Florida. 
Sea bean, the fruit of a climbing shrub 
growing in tropical America. 
Goa bean, the edible seed of an Indian 
plant. 
St. Ignatius bean, the seeds of the lo- 
gania family which yield strychnin. 
Indian bean, the catalpa. 
Scarlet bean or Spanish bean, cultivat- 
ed for its scarlet flowers. 
Tonqua bean, the fragrant seed of a 
large tree of the bean family. 
The bean, usually cultivated for its 
food, is an annual, and is horticulturally 
divided into bush and pole varieties. Un- 
der the bush varieties, may be included 
all those that have stout, erect, or slight- 
ly twining stem. Under pole varieties are 
included those that have twining stems, 
and are benefited by having some kind of 
support, around which they may entwine. 
Certain varieties are often planted with 
corn, entwining around the stalk, and are 
familiarly known as “corn beans.” 
