6 
THE PAN AMERICAN UNION. 
300 individual bananas, weighing approximately 150 pounds, but this 
is extremely rare. 2 
The heaviest and the best developed fruit comes from Panama and 
the lightest fruit from Cuba, the difference being explained by the 
differences in the agricultural conditions, which, as we have seen 
above, similarly affect the size of the tree itself. 
One will readily appreciate the necessity for infinite care in handling 
a bunch of bananas when he pauses to consider that this fruit, which 
is cut from the tree in a green state, is, until fully ripe, practically a 
living organism drawing sustenance from its stalk, with sap flowing 
and tissues changing; that it generates heat within itself in the 
ripening process; that a few degrees of temperature above or below 
normal may stimulate too rapid ripening on the one hand, or pro¬ 
duce checked vitality and chill on the other; and that from the 
plantation to the ripening room it is shipped 11 loose, 7 ’ i. e., without 
box, crate, or wrapping of any kind. 3 * * * 
WHERE GROWN. 
Bananas are now cultivated in most tropical countries, where they 
constitute one of the principal foods. They can be grown in sub¬ 
tropical zones, but to produce the fruit to the best advantage a trop¬ 
ical climate and considerable rainfall are necessary. In addition to 
the immense production of bananas in Central and South America, 
the West Indies, and Mexico, they are grown (in some localities for 
export but chiefly for local consumption) in the tropical sections of 
Africa, Asia, and Australia where the rainfall is abundant; also in the 
Canary Islands, Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, Malay Archi¬ 
pelago, Fiji Islands, and the various islands of the Pacific within the 
2 Commercial banana terms. —“Variety” indicates the country where produced and exported. For 
example: “Limons” are grown in the vicinity of Port Limon, Costa Rica. “Changuinolas” are grown 
in the Changuinola district of Panama, etc. 
Bananas are divided into classes based on the number of hands to each stem. 
(а) “Nines” are bunches of Dananas containing nine or more fully developed hands. 
(б) “Eights” are bunches of bananas containing eight fully developed hands. 
(c) “Sevens” are bunches of bananas containing seven fully developed hands. 
(i d ) “Sixes” are bunches of bananas containing six fully developed hands. 
“Stems” is a general term applied to bananas regardless of class and has exactly the same meaning as 
“bunches of bananas.” 
“ Grade” refers distinctly to the fullness of the fruit when cut and is expressed as follows: Three-quarter, 
full three-quarter, and full. Thin fruit, the fingers of which are not sufficiently filled out, is the exact 
opposite of full fruit. 
3 Canary and Hawaiian bananas are exceptions. Hawaiian bananas, which arc shipped in small quan¬ 
tities to San Francisco, are wrapped first in a layer of soft paper, usually newspapers, then in a padding 
of rice straw, with finally an outer covering of banana fibre or leaves, the bundle itself being tied securely 
with a heavy hemp cord. Each bunch is baled separately and the curved end of the stem is allowed to 
extend through the wrapping to facilitate handling. 
Canary bananas, which are shipped in limited quantities to British and Continental ports, are packed 
in strongly made wooden crates—the larger fruit one bunch to a crate, the smaller fruit two and some¬ 
times three bunches to a crate. The bottom of the crate is first covered with a layer of straw; then the 
bunch is wrapped in a large sheet of paper and carefully placed in the crate, which is thereupon stuffed 
with straw. In the last few years cylindrical leatherboard drums have been used to a considerable extent 
in the place of wooden crates. 
