10 
THE PAN AMERICAN UNION. 
closely in an area which may be several feet in diameter; thus the 
alignment of a young plantation is gradually lost and the rows become 
irregular. 
As the seeds of the banana are practically atrophied in the culti¬ 
vated varieties, the planting is done with a piece of rhizome or bulb- 
root, containing a bud or eye, very much as potatoes are planted. 
A shallow hole about 12 inches deep is dug at each stake and a section 
of the rhizome, with the eye toward the bottom, is placed in the hole 
and covered with earth. These portions of seed-bulbs or “bits 7 ’ 
weigh from three to four pounds each and are usually cut from 
rhizomes taken from adjacent vigorous cultivations. 
When digging bits for planting, care is taken to see that each has 
at least one good eye. Only the larger bits are used, as a small bit 
produces a weak plant and requires more time and labor to yield 
fruit. After the bits have been carried to the place where they are 
to be planted, they are again inspected, any with a bruised eye being 
rejected. 
With the completion of the planting and before the young plants 
have appeared above the surface of the ground, the felling of the larger 
trees is done, the dense tropical growth making this operation labori¬ 
ous and expensive. The tropical forest usually contains a large 
variety of trees, many of them of great size. It is not unusual to 
encounter giants of the jungle which requires considerable time for 
one man to chop down. Of these huge trees the Ceiba and the Guana- 
caste are the most frequently found. Where irrigation is necessary 
for the successful cultivation of bananas, the felling usually follows 
immediately after the underbrushing, and the whole mass is then 
burned, after which the land is lined, staked, and planted. 
After the felling, the future plantation is an almost impassable 
tangle of stumps and trees, with interlocked branches and matted 
vines. In fact, its aspect at this stage is one of a heavy forest shorn off 
at the ground and laid flat in a tangled mass. The felled land gives the 
impression that one is in the wake of some devastating agent instead 
of in the midst of a plantation in the making. Through this mass 
must be cut the right of way for railway lines, narrow-gauge tramways, 
and roads. This stage is a very critical one in the building of a plan¬ 
tation; in case of a drought many of the bulbs may not germinate, 
which necessitates replanting later on, or the felled timber may catch 
on fire, which is disastrous to the planting. On the other hand, in 
the event of heavy rains, the areas may become flooded, which is 
equally disastrous to the young plants. To the outsider it might 
appear that felling the forest trees on the newly planted ground would 
entirely destroy the young plants; this, however, is not the case. 
The felling is done before the bits have started to sprout, and even if 
a log crashes down on the top of one of these bits, the plant will usu- 
