Edible Products, 



422 



[November, 1909. 



• 



1906. 



1907. 



Country, 



Kilograms. 



Kilograms 



Feranado Po 



.. 1,557,864 



2,438.821 



Jamaica 



.. 2,505,608 



2,218,741 

 1,966,236 



German Colonies 



.. 1,367,977 



Haiti 



.. 2,107,905 



1,850,000 



Dutch East Indies 



1,849,847 



1,800,153 



Cuba 



.. 3,271,969 

 1,480,008 



1,689,668 



Surinam 



1,625,274 



French Colonies 



... 1,262,090 



1,387,219 



St. Lucia 



716,200 



750,0 



Dominica 



572,948 



580,000 



Congo Free States . 



402,429 



548,526 



Other Countries 



... 1,000,000 



1,000,000 



Total 



148,618,046 148,136,537 



Regarding the expectations from Ecu- 

 ador we may add that the official 

 reports have confirmed, with a difference 

 of several thousand kilograms, the figuies 

 of the " Gordian" (19,703,804 kilograms 

 instead of 19,670,571 kilograms). The 

 estimated crop for 1908 in this country 

 amounts to over 30,000,000 kilograms. 



The production of 1,387,219 kilograms 

 attributed to the French Colonies is 

 distributed as follows : — 



Kilograms. 

 Guadalupe ... ... 781,511 



Martinique „ ... 502,789 



Congo ... ... 74,733 



Madagascar ... ... 19,041 



Guiana ... ... 3,807 



New Caledonia ... ... 2,352 



Ivory Coast ... ... 1,993 



Reunion, Mayotte and Indo 

 China ... ... 953 



Among the German Colonies Cameroon 

 leads with 1,797,614 kilograms, Samoa 

 follows with 116,500 kilograms, and Togo 

 with 52,122 kilograms showing an enor- 

 mous increase over the preceding year. 



The record for the English Colonies of 

 West Africa is as follows :— Gold Coast 

 9,504,000 kilograms, and Lagos 970,745 

 kilograms. 



Consumption. 

 In consumption of cacao for the year 

 1907 the United States leads with 

 37,526,505 kilograms, then comes Germany 

 with 34,515,400 kilograms, France with 

 23,180,300 kilograms, England 20,159,472 

 kilograms, Holland 12,219,249, Switzer- 

 land 7,124,200, Spain 5,628,239, Austria 

 3,471,700, Belgium 3,253,967, Russia, Italy, 

 Canada, Denmark, etc, with a total of 

 7,619,809 kilograms. 



BANANA CULTIVATION. 



(From the Queensland Agricultural 

 Journal, Vol. XXIII., Pt. 2, August, 1909.) 



Notwithstanding the belief still held 

 by some— that the banana, the plantain, 

 the fibre-producing banana of the Philli- 

 pine Islands, and the wild banana, so 



plentiful in the scrubs of North Queens- 

 land, belong to different families — botan- 

 ists are very clear on the point that 

 all are members of one family. So 

 closely are the banana and the plantain 

 related that it is impossible to say 

 where the banana ceases and the plan- 

 tain begins. All varieties known to-day 

 sprang originally from the native wild 

 plants of the Asiatic islands known as 

 Musa sapientum. The fruit of the wild 

 banana contains scarcely any edible 

 flesh. Its leathery skin encloses a large 

 number of black seeds, adhering to a 

 mid rib, and covered with a gummy sub- 

 stance something like bird lime. In no 

 cultivated variety can any seed be de- 

 tected, although we occasionally notice 

 small black spots in the flesh in regular 

 rows. These are probably the faint 

 traces of seed which have not been en- 

 tirely eliminated by cultivation. Semler 

 says that all cultivated bananas have 

 been derived from Musa troglodytarum, 

 which is a native of the Moluccas. This 

 plant, unlike other wild bananas, bears 

 edible fruits in bunches which stand 

 upright, not hanging down like the 

 cultivated fruit. 



It is supposed by some that the wild 

 banana of North Queensland could be, 

 by cultivation, brought to bear edible 

 fruits. No doubt they could, but the ex- 

 perimenter would have to live to over one 

 hundred years to enjoy the fruits of his 

 labour. His time will be better occupied 

 in reproducing the cultivated plant. As 

 the latter have no seeds, this is done 

 by suckers from the roots. 



The rank luxuriance of the growth of 

 this class of fruits, their handsome 

 foliage (writes Mr, H. Benson, in his 

 " Fruits of Queensland "), their pro- 

 ductiveness, their high economic value 

 as food, and their universal distribution 

 throughout the tropics, all combine to 

 place them in a premier position. 



As a food, it is unequalled amongst 

 fruits, as, no matter whether it is used 

 green as a vegetable, ripe as a fruit, 

 dried and ground into flour, or preserved 

 in any other way, it is one of the most 

 wholesome and nutritious of foods for 

 human consumption. It is a staple 

 article of diet in all tropical countries, 

 and the stems of several varieties make 

 an excellent food for all kinds of stock. 



In Queensland the culture of bananas 

 is almost confined to the frostless belts 

 of the eastern seaboard, as it is a plant 

 that is extremely sensitive to cold, and 

 is injured by the slightest frost. At the 

 same time, bananas, particularly the low- 

 growing kinds, thrive in the Southern 

 parts of the State where frosts are of 

 frequent occurrence. Good crops of 



