2 
THE PAN AMERICAN UNION. 
The first known importations of bananas into the United States 
were in the late sixties, when small quantities were brought to New 
Orleans by schooners from the Bay Islands off the coast of Spanish 
Honduras, and shipments on a very small scale were made by steamer 
to New York from Colon (within the present Panama Canal Zone). 
In 1870 a few bunches were brought into Boston from Jamaica by 
schooner. In the years immediately following further small quan¬ 
tities were brought by schooners from Jamaica and Cuba into Bos- 
FLOWER BUD A FEW DAYS AFTER EMERGING AT TOP OF TRUNK 
AND BEFORE ANY BRACTS HAVE FALLEN. 
ton, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. In 1872 the first 
steamer shipment (250 bunches) was made from Colon to New 
Orleans, which resulted in flooding that market. About 1879 
bananas were first shipped from Costa Rica to New York by steamer. 
The fruit, even at this time, was looked upon as a curiosity, no one 
dreaming of its later becoming an important factor in the food supply 
of the United States. In the eighties, schooners generally gave way 
to steamers for carrying bananas, but it was not until the formation 
of the United Fruit Co. in 1899 that the banana industry really 
assumed large proportions. 
