Edible Products. 



216 



[March, 1910. 



is left the following February. It is 

 calculated that the first suckers should 

 fruit in the following March, the June 

 suckers in May, the October ones in 

 February or March twelve months, and 

 the February one in May or June twelve 

 months. This system for timing is the 

 outcome of long experience and could 

 not be adopted in this colony without 

 modification, on account of differences 

 in climatic and rainfall conditions. 



Irrigation and After-Cultivation. 

 When the suckers are first planted 

 the smaller water-channels are put close 

 to the suckers, so that they may get 

 the benefit of all the water, but after 

 they have become well established it 

 is^the usual practice to run the water 

 channels in the centre of the rows, for 

 the bananas benefit more thereby, and 

 the stools do not produce such a large 

 number of suckers as if the water were 

 actually around the stools. 



When the suckers have become estab- 

 lished, shallow ploughing is generally 

 carried on until November once every 

 eight or ten weeks, one ploughing with 

 the rows and the next aci^oss the rows. 

 Each ploughiug is followed by a light 

 harrowing to break down the soil and 

 to keep the land clear of weeds. After 

 November, ploughing is generally stop- 

 ped until after the main crop for the 

 American market has been picked. Dur- 

 ing this period, as also during such 

 rainy weather that the plough cannot 

 be vised, the weeds are kept down with 

 a cutlass or hoe. 



In those parts of the island where 

 ploughing is not generally practised, 

 or on those lands where ploughing is 

 impossible, constant forkings are given 

 during the earlier growth of the suckers, 

 while during the fruiting period all 

 weeds are kept down with the cutlass. 

 Very particular attention is given to 

 cultivation in order that the maximum 

 quantity of large bunches may be 

 obtained. It is useless to expect good 

 results unless good tillage is given fre- 

 quently ; for it has been found that 

 bananas cannot be made to yield satis- 

 factory profits if cultivation is carried 

 out "on the cheap." 



In some districts, artificial manures 

 are applied to bananas, but the most 

 satisfactory results have been obtained 

 from pen manure and other humus-form- 

 ing substances. All the old banana 

 stems, trash, etc., are cut up and 

 ploughed in with beneficial results. 

 Their application improves the general 

 texture of the soil and makes it drain 

 more readily. 



Removal op Leaves and Suckers. 



As the leaves decay, they hang down 

 around the stem. It is the usual prac- 

 tice to allow a few of these to remain 

 as they protect the stem from the sun, 

 but if they become numerous some of 

 them are removed, or otherwise they 

 tend to cause the stem to shoot up 

 rapidly and to become weak and slender, 

 incapable of bearing a full bunch of 

 fruits. In no case are hanging leaves 

 allowed to trail upon the ground. Such 

 leaves are pruned away. 



All suckers that are not intended to 

 yield fruit are carefully removed. They 

 are usually pruned away from their 

 parent bulbs when they are quite young, 

 for if they are allowed to grow large 

 they drain food-materials from the main 

 stems, and small bunches result. In 

 all cases every effort is made to cut 

 the suckers away from the parent bulbs 

 or otherwise they I'apidly spring again. 



Picking the Fruit, 



The picking of the fruit is done by 

 the hundred stems. Each plant is partly 

 cut through some five or six feet from 

 the ground, so that the top of the 

 plant, with the bunch, slowly falls over. 

 The bunch is caught so that it does 

 not get bruised and is then severed 

 and handed to women, who carry it 

 to a certain place in the plantation. 

 Here a book-keeper enters it up as being 

 a bunch ot a certain size, or discards 

 it as being unsuited for export. 



The bunches are then wrapped in 

 trash, and handed into a cart, where 

 they are carefully packed for trans- 

 port either to the sea-board for ship- 

 ment to Kingston in punts or to 

 one of the numerous sheds along the 

 railway line for receipt by the banana 

 trains that run to the wharf and unload 

 direct into the steamships that carry 

 fruit to either the A.merican or the 

 English markets. 



In picking the bunches in the field it 

 was formerly the usual custom for men 

 to work singly, but now greater care is 

 being taken on some of the estates. 

 They work in pairs, the one to cut the 

 bunch down and the other to catch it 

 and hand it to the women who carry 

 the bananas to be noted by the book- 

 keepers. 



Cutting down Old Stems. 

 After the bunch is cut off, the head of 

 the plant is completely severed from the 

 stem some distance above where it was 

 partly cut through at the time of picking. 

 The top part of the stem and the leaves 

 that have been cut off are then chopped 

 up and spread over the land ready to be 



