COSTA RICA: The Rediscovery of Lim

When Christopher Columbus reached the place he named Costa Rica in 1502, he found a friendly tribe of prosperous Indians who decked themselves out with golden ornaments.* In dilapidated Puerto Limón last week, their poverty-stricken descendants celebrated the 450th anniversary of Columbus’ visit with a new hope that the white men’s civilization might bring back the prosperity of their ancestors. In the second growth of jungle forest along the coast, United Fruit Co. engineers were studying the soil as the first step toward developing the area with banana plantations.

At the beginning of this century, Unifruit men leased a strip of coastland 30 miles wide north of Puerto Limón, cleared the jungle and planted bananas. By 1913 it was one of the most productive banana regions in the world; it shipped 11 million stems that year. But soon virulent Panama disease (a fungus that gets into the ground and destroys the plant roots) appeared and ruined plantation after plantation. There was no defense against the fungus; the company simply abandoned plantations as they became unprofitable and moved on. During the 1930s Unifruit moved to the Pacific coast, and depression settled on Limón province.

Since 1940, company engineers have tested a new method of eliminating the fungus by drowning it. In Honduras they cleared infected plantations, built dikes and flood gates, and turned the fields into lakes for a season. The water kept air out and smothered the fungus. When the lakes were drained off, the fields were disease-free and ready for replanting. The engineers know that in time the fungus will return, but they hope that periodic flooding will keep the area productive. Unifruit hopes to have the first of some 20,000 acres in Limón province under cultivation by 1954. For the future it is planning a $50,000,000 program that will give work to some 7,000 workers.

* They presented Columbus with two luscious virgins clad only in gold necklaces. The pious Columbus clothed them and sent them back ashore. The disgusted natives tore the Spanish finery from the girls, went off to their huts and sulked. Some modern Spaniards seem more susceptible. Last week, the Spanish naval-training bark Juan Sebastian de Elcano left Puerto Limón short 15 members of the crew. They had jumped ship.