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The Cultiyation ol the Banana 
DOMINICA. 
BY H. A. ALFORD NICIIOLLS, M.D., F.L.S. 
« , 4 7 7 
ITHIN the last ten years a large trade in ban- 
anas has been developed between the West 
Indies and the United States; and, until recently, 
nearly the whole of the fruit has been exported from 
Jamaica. Indeed, in that island, the growth of bana¬ 
nas has become a very important industry, giving 
profitable employment to great numbers of persons, 
and adding considerably to the commercial prosperity 
of the colony. 
The greater portion of the fruit is shipped to the 
northern ports of the Eastern States, and from thence 
it is carried inland by the fast railway trains, so that 
the people of the cities of the “ far west” are now 
able to purchase the ripe luscious bananas grown in 
the distant West Indies. This trade with the United 
States is capable of immense development, for the 
fruit is much esteemed by all classes of the citizens 
of the great Republic; the population, moreover, is 
increasing by leaps and bounds, and every year the 
admirable railway system widens its ramifications, 
and gives cheaper and faster means for the transport 
of fruit from the coast to the interior. 
Now that the government have made arrange¬ 
ments with the Quebec Steamship Company for 
