July, 1911.] 



31 



Edible Products. 



is easier to regulate plants and first 

 ratoons for the American market than 

 later ratoons. 



The question of replanting must be 

 decided from various considerations ; 

 the field may be getting out of shape 

 from the various ways in which the 

 suckers have sprung from the parent 

 pl.iUti, making ifc difficult to cultivate ; 

 the soil may require rest or a more 

 thorough ploughing than can be given 

 while stems are growing ; and there is 

 the commercial question of its paying 

 better to plant for the American market. 

 After the hurricane in August of 1903, 

 it was demonstrated that replanting 

 in the following spring was the soundest 

 policy, although it sacrified immediate 

 prospects of a return. 



Cost of Cultivation and Receipts. 



In considering the cost of preparing 

 land and of cultivation afterwards, cer- 

 tain expenditure, for instance that on 

 building, road, fences, tram-lines, may 

 well be entered as charges to be spread 

 over a certain number of years. 



In the irrigated district of St. Cather- 

 ine a fair average amount that should 

 be allowed for preparation of land and 

 cultivation until the bananas begin to 

 bear, is £15 an acre, and the annual 

 expenditure afterwards would be £10 

 an acre. 



The yield ought to be at the rate of 

 225 to 230 bunches paid for per acre, and 

 taking the contract price all the year 

 round at £8 15=!. per 100, the receipts 

 would average £20 an acre. 



Whether the same price is paid for 

 bananas throughout the year, or 

 whether it varies as it does for the 

 American market, the total annual 

 receipts for a number of years have 

 averaged double the amount of the ex- 

 penditure on certain favourable estates 



In the banana districts of the north- 

 side, taking the average of the whole 

 run of estates from Port Antonio west- 

 wards to Rio Bueno, the cost to bring an 

 estate into bearing would be about £10, 

 and the maintenance afterwards £7 10^. 

 The yield maybe put down at 175 to 180 

 payable bunches per acre. 



We have been favoured by a banana 

 planter with the following abstract of 

 accounts for one year. It refers to an 

 estate of 200 acres in an irrigated district 

 no the southside : — 



Expenditure. 



Cultivation — 



Lining 

 Planting 

 Trenching 

 Forking 240 acres 

 Stumping 

 Weeding 775 acres 

 Pruning 

 Propping 

 Suckers : carting, 

 supplying, etc. 

 Manure 



Irriga tion — 



Cleaning trenches 

 N >w trenches 

 Irrigating 

 Water Rat3s 



Removing Crop — 

 Cutting and carry- 

 ing 

 Carting 



Carriage by rail- 

 way 



Wharfage 



Supervision 



Rents, Taxes and 

 Insurance 



Miscellaneous- 

 Fences, Carts, 



Posts, etc. 

 Roads 

 Buildings 

 Supplies 

 Tax on Coolies 

 Headmen, Watch- 

 men Messengers 

 Sundries 



&. 



s. 



d. 



1 1 



1 L 



l 'i 



1 L 







15 



<f 



1 



12 



6 





A 



li 



52 



10 



4i 







4 



6 



252 



18 



5 



75 



I 







1 



11 



3 



26 



17 



8 



1 

 1 



1 L 



l n 



11 



is 



U 



3 



16 



3 



124 



19 



9 



176 



2 



2 



•>n"i 



S 





123 



3 



Hi 



206 



10 



1 



1 78 



3 104 



7 



4 



44 



4 



17 



9 



9 



11 



6 



16 



8 



7 



19 



3 







44 



16 



9 



12 



7 



7 



316 16 3h 



203 12 6 

 260 9 8 



— 114 9 64 



2,037 14 44 



Banana Account. 



§ .SF 



so 



.3 



43 



o 



to 

 a 



"3 



oi 



4a 

 O 



c? 



H 



a< 



57,612 



43,827 



Average of payables out of total cut — 76 

 per cent. 



Receipts. 



£. s. d. 



Bananas ... 3,589 13 5 



Suckers ' ... 35 15 5 



Miscellaneous ... 10 1 10$ 



Total 



,£3,635 10 8J 



On Another Estate. 



The following selected details from a 

 non-irrigated district on the north-side 



