The banana is an annual, the fruit coming to maturity about a year from the time that the shoot is planted, the stem of the plant then attaining a height of eight or ten feet and perhaps thirty-six inches in girth. There are a good many Plantian walks in the island of Jamaica, varying in size from 25,000 to 200,000trees; but they are for the most part cultivated by the small settlers in the different parishes, and prove a source of great profit to them. The method of cultivation is simple. The land is cleared by the aid of a primitive and ponderous hoe, a hole is dug in which is placed a "sucker," and Nature is left to do the rest. Unless the season be one of exceeding drought the plant is certain to grow and to bring forth its fruit in from nine to twelve months. In well ordered plantations the trees are usually planted from 12 to 15 feet apart in the form of squares. The bananas are taken to market, not unfrequently a distance of 20 miles, by means of clumsy, springless drays and carts, upon which thirty or forty bunches are indiscriminately placed with some attempt at wrapping them in the dried leaves of the plant, and are chafed and scarred by the wheels of the vehicle, and the weight of the driver, who generally makes a comfortable perch for himself on the top of the whole.

The defects do not present themselves until the fruit has been in the ship's hold some days, when they result in unsightly dark patches.

The total value of the green fruit imported into New York in 1882 was given as follows in the Custom House returns, in dollars :