J Srpr., 1901.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 821 
The Orchard. 
A TOOL USEFUL IN THE CULTIVATION OF BANANAS. 
The digging out of banana stems either for plants or to get rid of the old 
root which has produced stem. and fruit is rather heavy work to a novice. 
There is an implement in use in some of the States of Central America called a 
baraton. ‘Vhe meaning of the word is along lever, but the Spanish word for a 
lever is palanca. The correspondent of the Jamaica Journal of Agriculture, 
whence we derive our information, says that the word is found in only one 
Spanish dictionary. However that may be, it is claimed by cultivators of the 
banana in Central America that by the use of this implement stronger plants 
can be grown, which are more firmly rooted and fixed in the soil, and are thereby 
better able to resist the force of strong winds. The plants so treated are also 
held to be more vigorous and to produce superior bunches of fruit. 
In shape and appearance the tool resembles somewhat a long-handled 
spade, but the blade instead of being flat, as in the spade, is made in the form 
of a vertical section of a cylinder, being curved or hollowed laterally. Its 
form thus adapts it to the circular contour of the stem, and it is forced into 
the soil pretty close to the decaying stem, and the adjacent earth is loosened by 
moving the long handle as a lever. It is then withdrawn and applied to the 
stem in a similar manner on the opposite side. Finally, the mass of dead and 
decaying stem is removed by using the implement in front as if it were a spade. 
The soil is then filled in. 
The steel part of the implement is about 53 inches wide; its height or 
depth is about 19 inches, and the handle is very long, in order to be used as a 
lever. ‘The tool is sold by Messrs. Collins, of New York, and is numbered in 
their catalogue No. 404. 
WEST INDIAN PRODUCE IN BIRMINGHAM. 
Although shipments of soft fruits from Australia to England have often 
proved failures, still the time is not far distant when, owing to quicker means 
of transit, more careful selection and packing, and a better knowledge of the 
requirements of the home markets, the fruitgrowers of this State will be enabled 
to open up a profitable trade in such fruits as pineapples, bananas, oranges, 
lemons, and perhaps passion-fruit and Cape gooseberries. 
Mangoes will also eventually find their way to the London market. 
We in Australia are too prone to look to the Government to do all that 
is necessary to establish a new trade, but it must be clear that the Govern- 
ment with all its goodwill cannot command a payable market. That lies with 
the producers. The Department of Agriculture is always ready to help those 
who help themselves; but, as in the case of Jupiter and the wagoner, it 
mare “Put your own shoulder to the wheel, and then you may depend on my 
e me 
i In the case of West Indian produce, the Government has made arrange- 
ments for the encouragement of the fruit trade, and part of the fruit consign- 
ments under those arrangements reached the Birmingham market on the 21st 
March last in the shape of 800 bunches of bananas. 
The Birmingham Post writes on this subject :— 
_ _ The pineapples and oranges, so far, have gone to other markets, principally 
in London; but this part of the cargo, it is expected, will be represented in 
Birmingham. As far as the bananas are concerned, the experiment has 
not proved entirely satisfactory. The bananas have come from Jamaica 
im san wb 
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