THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: SEPTEMBER 15, 19U
5-B
One of the World's Biggest Banana- Plantations
(Copyright, 1S12. by Frank O. Carpenter.)
HAKi-ST'TKm.A Panama.-I am
1 1 writing this In the center of
I j I one of the biggest banana
1- I nlonta f1rT-i o nr no t K
hill on which I am sitting
Is 300 feet high and It com
mands a view of more than 15,000 acres
of the greenest of green. The green 1
all made up of bananas and the fields
stretch as far as I can 'see to the west.
Beyond them is another plantation of 3a,000
acres more. The twa plantations belong
to the big banana trust, known as the
United Fruit company, and they are only
a part of the mighty estate which this
company owns In Central and South
America and in the islands of the Carib
bean sea. It has taken up about the
best banana lands of these sections and
it annually ships" bananas by the hun
dreds .of millions. From its farms come
something like three-fourths of all th
bananas we use, and it is due to it
good business methods that we are' able
to buy this fruit much cheaper than the
apples we raise In our own back yards.
Bananas from Panama are sold in New
Tork, Washington and Chicago at from
15 to 20' cents, a dozen. Whereas
apples of equal excellence from Oregon,
New Tork or Virginia bring 2 cents and
upward apiece,
A Sea of Bananas.
But as to the extent of the banana
business and the part that this fruit
has in the American stomach, I shall
write later. Let me give you a view
of the great banana sea as it is spread
out below me. At my right are the
mountains, the upper end of the Andes,
which at this golnt are about as high as
the Blue Ridglrand of much the same
color. They slope down to the green and
bound what, as I look, seems a, vast
sea of green bushes.
Now turn and look to the left. The
sea -of green extends for fifteen miles
in that direction without a break, and
it is the same at the front and the back.
Almost as far as you can see there is
green everywhere, except here and there
where one of the high trees of the Jungle
was too big for cutting.
Now take your glass and look more
closely at the plantations below you. Tho
green is not solid. You can see that it
is divided up into great fk-ids or
each of which contains about 1,000 acres,
and that there are narrow lines of rail
roads running through it, with wagon
roads here and there. These roads were
built to get out the bananas. There are
170 miles of railways on, this banana
plantation and they run through the
farms like the veins of one's body, reach
ing all parts. . The roads are about three
feet wide. With a glass you can see the
steel track? shining out of the green. On
some of the roads are cars loaded with
x green bunches and on the trunk line
which crosses, the estate are piles if
bananas corded up for the trains.
Hott Banana Are Handled
Now take a look at that train which is
approaching the hill. See, It has stopped
and is taking on fruit The gang of Ja
maica negroes Is. transferring the piles
to the cars. They handle the fruit very
carefully. The cars have been lind with
leaves to prevent bruising the bananas
as the train goes Oyer the rails. Eacfi
bunch is lifted up lijto the air and passed
from hand to hand to the men on the
train. There is no throwing or dropping
the bunches. Each is raised as tenderly
as though if were a baby and is laid
softly down on the car. The bunches
are packed Just so .and the men know
Just how many carloads it will take for
the steamer which is to, carry them to the
United states. I am told that 10 car
losds will be shipped off today. The
trains will carry them down to the port
and the bananas wjll go from the cars
on endless belts of canvas right Into the
steamers. They are put in cold storage,
and remain there until they begin to fly
out ort similar carriers into the cold
storage cars at New Orleans or ' New
Tork. These bananas will, go to New
Orleans or to Mobile, from where thej;
wilj fly to the chief cities of the &iis
tlssippl valley and the lands farther
west. The United Fruit Company H
to supply our wh6le country. It has . It
divided Into sections and there Is a port
for, each section. I am told that the
bananas from Port Limon. Costs,' Rica,
which lies sixty miles away up the coast,
all go to New York and Boston, and that
those of Jamaica are shipped largely to
Europe.
The European business is extending anil
the fruit company Is trying, to educatt
the people to eating bananas. They hay
dona this in the United States and have
bullt'up an immense market For som
time they have had to send fruit to
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In the Banana Plantations.
But let us go down and take a" r dt
through this vast banana plantation.' Wi
have special cars and can stop where we
please. We , pass 'for miles through
nothing but bananas. The 'trees eprom
from the ground and rise to the height
of a two-story house. Each is composea
of broad ribbon-like leaves eight or nint
Inches wide. The leaves sprout from tht
base of the plant, around which the)
form a short trunk and then go out In
a most graceful curve, bending over so
that their ends rustle and wave in thi
breeze. .
Now we have left the cars and are
walking through the fruit forest. HO
dark it is. The leaves are so thick ann
so many that they keep out the sun. Ou
every side pfus the view is the same.
There are stalks and trunks of bananas
as far as we can sse, and we wondet
what we should do If we should get lost,
and whether we should not go round anij
round in a Circle, as men have been
known to act when lost in the wilder
ness. '.
Haw the Trees took.
Now take a close look at the plants,
This is . nef" Ejocaa , del Toro. and the
bananas grow nowhere aiore luxuriantly
than here. The trees at. the. base are ik
big around as the th'gh of President
Taft and the topmost leaves are. Jwenty
or thirty feet from the ground. Tht
bananas are of great size, and tht
bunches or stems are bigger than those
of other parts of the world. Each stem
Is known as a hand, and the Individual
bananas are called fingers. In mans
places a bunch of eight or nine hands is
fairly good yield, but here the averagt
Is eleven or twelve, and some of the
bunches 'have as many as seventeen
hands, each containing ten or twelve
fngers, as the bananas are called.
The bunches range all the way from
2f0 to 300 bananas, and this means the
yield of one plant. Th banana plan)
The banana plant yields Only one crop
ef fruit. As soon as the bunch is cut
off the stem is cut down and other plants
sprout up from the tootsi There is no
such thing as planting the banana from
the seed. If bananas ever had seed! ?.'iy
havajong slnfe disappeared from the lack
of use. All the plants now grow, from
suckers or sprouts, and they come up so
readily that an estate will yield a con
tinuous harvest from year to year with
out replanting. On some spots banana
trees have reproduced their Wnd for fifty
years, without replanting, and at the end
the yield was quite, as great as at first.
. Cntttna; the Frnlt.
Now, let us stop and watch .them cut
ting fruit. This requires skill The
bananas must not fall on the ground,
as the slightest bruise will make them
unfit for shipping. The cutting is dona
by negroes, who are skilled in the busi
ness. They use long lancet with sharp
steel blades, and cut half way through
the stem at one stroke. This makes tlrs
bunch Jail and the cutter catches It as
It gently drops down. He now cuts off
the rest of the stem and the bunch is
handed to the men who carry It off to
the cars.
I suppose It makes your mouth water
to think of eating a banana fresh from
the tree. Such a banana rs-ould surely
cause colic. The fruit ripens best by be
ing cut green, and on all these thousand
acres t cannot see a single yellow banapa.
It Is only at the ports that I have been
able to get frult to eat The green
bananas will keep two or three weeks
after cutting, and If cut at Just the right
time they taste better by being allowed
to ripen on the way, to the markets. i
Six Thousand Workmen.
Many people think that .there is but lit
tle labor In raising bananas. There was
never a greater mistake. When tho
United-. Fruit company took up these
thousands of acres they were covered
with a Jungle as dense as that on the
slopes of the Himalaya mountains. Th9
ground was covered with ml&hty trees,
some of which were 150 feet high. Theso
trees were1 bound together with vines and
jianas, which were matted together and
formed a network of woven vegetation.
There were palms of a score of varieties,
and the mass of green was so dense thai
you could only cut your way thrpugh
with a knife and an ax. All of this Jungle
had to b cut down and turned over.' The
big trees, some of which were aa large
around as a flour barrel, and some had
even the diamter of a hogshead, were
left to rot where they fell.
After the land was cleared and burned
over, the plants had to be set out at 300
hills to the acre. They had to be kept
clean of weeds, and this notwithstanding
that nature here is so generous that If
the land is left free for six months it
will be all Jungle again.
And then some of the land)! were
swampy- and they had to be ditched. The
rainfall here is ten Inches a month, or
72lw are 170 zailcs o nilroad on. (fas Jxznajza. pl&iUfioii
120 inches a. year, and the banana tree
wUl nof grow .with itseet In tho water,
In some other banana plantations the
land Is so dry that Irrigation Is needed,
but here the rainfall I Just right.. In
planning the plantations, roads and rail
roads were, built. Farmhouses and homes
for the men tvera put up at every few
miles, and blacksmith's shops, stores and
offices erected.
Altogether it takes about 6,000 men to
wprk these plantations, and the commun
ity has to be houred, eared for and ruled
How the Labor la Handled,
The most of (lie men who work on (his
banana estate are Jamaica negroes, who
were brought here for the purpose. They
live in little shacks scattered here and
there along the railroad and they go out
from ihem to their labor. The officials
and foreman are whites, and the respons
ible parts of the work are done by
Americans sent here from th United
States. These men are the best of their
kind and they receive excellent wages.
The negroes '. are- paid about the same
that the Jamaclans-receive on the Pan
ama' ca.nal, and their labor is about as
efficient. ' "
A great deal of .work is don by th
piece, and the man gets so much for
clearing, so much for planting and clean
ing and so much for picking the fruit.
As it is now, it 'costs about $20 per acre
to clear the land,' and the managers can
tell you Just how much every plant costs.
They have cost" sheets like those of a
great factory and can tell to the tenth
of a cent the outlay spent on each bunch
of bajanas and where every cent goes.
It Is only by such methods that bananas
can be sold at the prices they bring in
the states and still give a profit. The
whole business is on the petty economies,
which In the aggregate mean a saving
of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
' Not a Whittling Baslnesa.
As I walked through tha fields and
watched the great green bunches bein
cut by the hundreds and carrlfd off to
the cars I asked one of the foremen If
there would not bo big money for an
American to come here and start a rival
fruit trust, and whether a man with a
small amount Of money could not en
gage in the business at a profit. He re
plied: "It might teem so If you did not know
the facts. The truth Is this is no whit
tling business. Tou have got to have
a big capital, and enough to take- care
of all kinds of accidents. Sometimes a
disease will wipe out a plantation, and
again a storm blows up and we loss the
whole crop. Just a few months ago we
had a hurricane hero which destroyed
18'J.OOO bunches of bananas in the space of
five minutes. That happens every now
and then, and If the property was that
at a small farmer it Would mean" total
ruin. - A big concern like this can stand
it on account of the profit it receives
from its other plantations. Aa It is now,
there are many small plantations, but
they sell their bananas to us. We pay
them 28 cents a bunch, and at that they
can do very well. Nevertheless the total
product of such men about here Is only
2.C00 bunches a 'ek. which is a bagatelle
in comparison with the 100,000 bunches we
ship during that time. At to a rival
trust, that might succeed, but it needs
good lands and a fleet of ship and also
good marketing facilities in the United
States.
Oar Bis; Banana Baslnesa.
One hundred thousand bunches a week.
"The men utter these words as thougn
they meant nothing. Nevertheless, they
were astounding to me. Havs you any
Idea what 100.000 bunches a weak means?
It means 6,300,000 bunches of bananas a
year, for the banana business goes on all
the year through. A single bunch con
tains 150 bananas, and from this place
alone they are sending forth something
like 7iV,0(io,000 per' annum. We" have
10ft,nOO.Wi people In ' the United fitat 'S.
Including Alaska and the Philippine
Islands. These plantations could glvn
every one of us seven bananas anil have
50,000,000 to spare. It ' could give thirty
five to every family.
But this la only one of the estates of
the ITnlted Fruit company.5 The banana
trust has scores of others,, snd It Ships
from Cofeta Rica almost double aa many
bananas as from here.
It ships a vast deal from Cartagena,
and It Is building up In Guatemala big
plantations, which I hope to visit within
the next lew months. The. business 's
Increasing and the demand for bananas
is Increasing as well.
The United States is now using 60,000.000
bunches of bananas every twelve months,
or about WW.OOQ.OOO fingers,-, per annum.
You can now get a good banana for a
cent or twa almost anywhere In our
country, and- the business has to be big
in order to pay. , .....
I am told that ! P" WH- It pays
not only the capitalists who handle It,
but also , the countries where the ba
nanas are grown. It Is one of. the chief
sourefs of revenue of the treasuries of
Panama, Costa rtlca, Honduras and
Guatemala, and It Is giving the working
men of the West India Islands wages
beyond what they can obtain anywhere
else. Indeed, much of the development
which Is now going on this part of the
world com8 from the banana, and the
future of these ro'tntries Is bright
through the Increase of the consumption
of bananas abroad. Their use la grow
ing by leaps and bounds in the United
States, and they are now making their
way into the thickly populated coun
tries of Europe as well,
FRANK O. CARPENTER.
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