20 BULLETIN 55, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
bunch while it is being severed. The bunches are then collected and 
placed on light autotrucks and taken to the packing shed, where they 
are set upright on straw. 
The packing shed, usually a rectangular structure with corrugated 
iron roof, has two open sides to permit convenient handling of the 
fruit. The earthen floor is covered with a liberal supply of straw to 
protect the fruit from bruising. The dimensions of the structure 
depend upon the size of the field to be accommodated, a convenient 
size being 20 to 40 feet, with one packing shed to each 20-acre unit of 
the plantation. Near the shed is the washing rack, consisting of 
a long ridgepole supported horizontally at about 7 feet above a 
slat floor, and from which are suspended ropes looped to support the 
bunches conveniently. The fruit is carried to the washing rack, 
where it is hung and then washed to remove dust, trash, and insects 
(pi. G, B). The fruit is finally returned to its place in the packing 
shed for weighing, marking, and grading. Four or five hours later, 
when the bunches have thoroughly dried, the fruit is inspected in 
accordance with the plant quarantine regulations of the United 
States Department of Agriculture and is ready for wrapping. 
In Hawaii each standard bunch of bananas used for exportation is 
wrapped separately in a protective covering consisting of (1) paper, 
(2) rice straw, and (3) banana leaves. The leaves are long, tough, 
and very light, and are bound about with cheap cord or the fibrous 
midrib of the banana leaf. Such wrapping material permits free 
circulation of fresh air about the fruit, and is deemed very necessary 
when shipping the fruit without refrigeration. The cost of wrap- 
ping is estimated to be about 5 cents per bunch of fruit. 
The local banana industry has developed slowly with the steady 
increase of proper shipping facilities between the islands and the 
mainland. Commercial production amounts to about *200,000 
bunches annually. Table 7 gives the number of bunches and valua- 
tion of bananas exported from the islands since 1856, when the first 
shipment was made. 
As the banana industry in Hawaii continues to develop, methods 
of shipping the fruit will probably improve. The industry can 
not make rapid growth until shipping facilities are increased, and 
steamship companies are not likely to increase their special shipping 
equipment unless they are assured of a steady supply of freight. 
The interests of the two are mutual. The local banana grower has 
long been compelled to export his fruit as deck freight, which is 
not always a satisfactory method. A change of schedule, made re- 
gardless of perishable freight, may result in partial or complete 
spoilage of bananas, the loss of which the grower must stand. Venti- 
lation afforded deck freight may be better than that in the holds 
of some vessels, but neither the circulation nor the temperature of 
the air can be regulated as desired. Specially designed steamers 
having a part of their freighting capacity equipped with the modern 
cooling system, such as is used in transporting fruit similar dis- 
tances from Central American ports, would seem adaptable to 
Hawaiian banana transportation. The cooling system makes it 
possible to maintain the desirable temperature of 5G° F., in mod- 
erately warm climates such as occur between Hawaii and Pacific 
coast ports of the mainland. 
