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become weak and brittle. In sucb a case some of the dead hanging leaves 

 may be pruned away and some even of the living green leaves. In 

 pruning the green leaves a semi-circular instrument is used mounted 

 on a long handle ; the convex edge is uppermost, and with this the 

 leaf- stalk is partly cut through, when it falls over and hangs like one 

 which has died naturally. Sometimes a leaf is seen to be growing 

 through a bunch, and as it would, if left, cause some deformity or 

 discolouration of the fruit, it is carefully removed from its position 

 with the pruning tool. The hanging dead leaves should not be allowed 

 to trail on the ground, as they encourage the production of roots 

 coming to the surface. 



HARVESTING. 



When ihe bunch is to be cut, lhe stem is partly cut through five or 

 six feet from the ground, and the bunch with the whole top of the 

 plant topples slowly over. Care is taken that it does not fall against 

 and injure any other plant. 



The usual custom is to cut fruit by the hundred stems, each cutter 

 by himself, without help, cutting the fruit with a cutlass, and catching 

 it. This is, perhaps, a doubtful practice, as owing to want of method, 

 cutters running through the walks miss or roughly cut much cf the 

 fruit. A better plan is to employ a cutter and a helper who work 

 together. The cutters with their helpers, twelve or fourteen in number, 

 work in line, each cutter having three rows assigned him, or, in close 

 planting, only two rows. 



On some estates particular care is taken in harvesting ; one man 

 with his pruning tool cuts and manipulates the fall of the head, while 

 another catches the bunch and when the stalk is cut, hands it to one 

 of the women who are employed to carry it to a particular spot. This 

 is necessary when we remember that a bunch weighs from 80 to 100 

 lbs. Here a book- keeper enters it in his book under its proper de- 

 nomination as a bunch or of 8, 7 or 6 hands, or he rejects it if necessary, 

 as not full enough or too full. Several book-keepers on a large estate 

 will thus be entering up the bunches, while the owner or the manager, 

 riding from one to the other, controls the number cut for delivery that 

 night or in the early morning at the wharf. The bunches are wrapped in 

 trash and handed up by two men to another in a waggon, who packs 

 them in carefully so that there shall be no bruising. It is singularly 

 picturesque to ride through the shady rows of bananas, with here and 

 there, all round, majestic heads falling, and figures moving swiftly at 

 their work,— to note the quick movements of the men with keen up- 

 ward glances, the stately walk of the women with a bunch balanced 

 on their heads, all accompanied by the noise of the large leaves in their 

 descent, the cries of the men, and the peculiar call for the women when 

 they are wanted. 



When the bunch is cut off, the head is completely severed from the 

 the stem 2 or 3 feet above where it was partly cut in order that the 

 bunch might fall. Thus an elbow remains on the stem, and the whole 

 is left to decay while the top part of the stem and the leaves as well are 

 cut up into small pieces with a cutlass. When both are fresh cut, a 

 man can easily chop 100 stems a day. The chopped up stems are 

 spread over the land which can then be ploughed without obstruction, 

 while they help to manure it. 



