Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0241Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is of a banana plantation, a man is cutting down a cluters of bananas while a mule stands nearby with several clusters strapped on it. Above the image "T245 (Star)" is printed, below the image "12804 T Harvesting Bananas, Costa Rica, Central America." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
12804
HARVESTING BANANAS, COST RICA, CENTRAL AMERICA
As we look at this luxuriant plantation we get the feeling of actually breathing the hot and humind atmosphere of a tropical jungle. It is typical of Central America. From here come great quantities of the bananas that reach our market. The little "banana railroad" that we see in the distance is owned by the United Fruit Company, whose fast steamers carry vast quantities of the fruit direct to our ports.
It is something of a problem to deliver bananas to distant consumers in the best possible condition. The banana must be picked green. When the heavy cluster is cut the skin is not filled out but the fruit sucks strength from the thick stem and becomes plumper on its voyage, and at the same time ripens. The holds of the vessel which carry the fruit are kept at a tempture of 48 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature were higher than this the furit would ripen too fast. In the Unied States there are large warming-houses in the large railroad centers where the fruit has the chill taken off it is has traveled in our winter cold.
The tree-like banana plant is a great sucker or shoot from an underground rootstock. It bears from 50 to 150 flowers in a cluster - blossoms each with long, tube-like ovary crowned by colored petals. After the petals have fallen the energy of the plant goes to enlarging the ovary and filling it with pulpy matter around the seeds - sometimes increasing the pulpy matter to the neglect of the seeds. The fruits mature in three or four months time and other suckers grow up. When suckers are transplanted, they are set in rows as we see them here.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompanyCollection
Photograph Collection