Edible Froducts. 



30 



[JtJLY, 1911. 



off all suckers till June, then to leave 

 one just coming out of the ground which 

 will fruit in the following April; in Octo- 

 ber another is left on the opposite side 

 of the stem, and in February another 

 which will fruit in fifteen or sixteen 

 months, On the south side two suckers 

 would be left instead of one in June, 

 October and February, 



Plants vary according to soil, situation, 

 tillage, etc., in the time they take to pro- 

 duce fruit, under favourable conditions 

 the time may be ten months to shoot, 

 and two and one-half to four months 

 more to ripen ; but the growing period is 

 frequently longer than this. Ratoons 

 usually bear in fifteen or sixteen months. 

 Judging from experience of his own 

 estate, the planter can by careful prun- 

 ing so regulate his banana walk when 

 once established that the great propor- 

 tion of the crop shall come in dining the 

 months ol high prices from March to 

 June. Unless soil and climate, however, 

 be of the best, it is not sound policy to 

 attempt too much in this direction, or 

 disappointment will ensue. Where there 

 is a check to the banana crop in the win- 

 ter months due to cold or lack of favour- 

 able rains it will be found better policy 

 to cultivate and prune for rather a later 

 crop than the earliest to suit the Ameri- 

 can market. 



Pruning Leaves. 



As the first leaves decay, they hang 

 down all round, protecting the stem 

 from the full glare of the sun. If they 

 are cut away, the sheathing leaf -stalks 

 on the outside of the stem dry up, and 

 do not perform their proper function, It 

 is well to leave them even in the shade 

 of a banana walk unless it happens that 

 the plants are clustered closely together, 

 when too much shade causes the stem 

 to lengthen out and become weak and 

 brittle. In such 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 leal is seen to be growing 

 through a bunch, and as it would, if left, 

 cause some defoimatiou or discolour- 

 ation of the fruit, it is carefully removed 

 with the pruning tool from its position. 



Harvesting. 

 When the bunch is to be cut, the stem 

 is partly cut through some 9—10 feet 

 from the ground, and the bunch with 

 the whole top ol 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, per- 

 haps, a doubtful practice, as owing to 

 want of method, cutters running 

 through the walks miss or roughly cut 

 much of the fruit. A better plan is to 

 employ a cutter and a helper who work 

 together. The cutters with their helpers 

 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 tools cut and manipulates 

 the fail 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 re- 

 member that a bunch weighs from 50 to 

 00 ib. Here a book-keeper enters it in 

 his book under its proper denomination 

 as a ' bunch ' or of • 8,' ' 7 ' or "6 hands,' 

 or he rejects it if necessary as not full 

 enough or too full. 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. 



When the bunch is cut off, the head is 

 completely severed from the stem 2 or 8 

 feet above where it was partly cut in 

 order that the bunch miglft 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 one hundred 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. 



Replanting. 

 It is considered advisable to replant 

 a banana walk after an interval which 

 varies from three to six years. A 

 certain proportion is taken each year, 

 so that everv year some planting is 

 going on. It is the custom with some to 

 sow velvet beans and bonavist beans 

 (Dolichos Lablab,veLi\ albiflora—Sem, Sim 

 or Sembi ol Iudia) or the Jerusalem pea 

 (Phaseolus trinervius) in the field tnat 

 is to be thrown up. These leguminous 

 climbers soon cover up the old suckers 

 and kill them, and after some time the 

 whole may be ploughed up and re- 

 planted. Some are trying planting 

 between the rows of first ratoons, as it 



