Where Fruit is Produced 
Figs. 58, 59. Coconuts and bananas are the most valuable of the tropical fruits, and both are 
grown throughout the tropics, except in regions of slight rainfall. Although coconuts are much 
used for food in tropical countries, their value to the rest of the world comes from the dried meat 
(called copra) and the oil pressed from it. Coconut products form one of the leading exports of 
the Philippine Islands. Bananas are an export crop chiefly in Central America and the West 
Indies. 
mala, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. From this region we 
import about 60,000,000 bunches of bananas annually, or about 
half a bunch for each person in the United States. Ask the fruit 
dealer how many bananas an ordinary bunch contains; then 
decide whether you eat your share. 
Western Europe draws its banana supply largely from the small 
islands off the northwestern coast of Africa, such as Madeira, the 
Canary Islands, and the Cape Verde Islands. Recently it has 
drawn some from the West Indies. 
Europeans do not eat nearly so many bananas and oranges as we do. 
On the other hand, they consume far more grapes, partly fresh and 
partly in the form of wine. 
Transportation costs. It might be thought that because bananas 
are raised so easily they ought to be much cheaper than they are on 
our market. But when we consider the railroad system that must 
be built and maintained to collect the fruit from the great 
plantations and carry it to tropical ports, the fleet of ships to bring