September i, 1884] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



25S 



investment. The original cost of this incline, I am told, 

 was about $7,000, but has been recently sold for $14,000 to a 

 stock company, of which the shippers of bananas to the firm 

 of Gomez and Pearsall of New York are large shareholders. 

 I understand it is expected that another and similar incline 

 is about to be started near the present one, which will 

 make another stop forward in advancing the facilil 

 bauaua transportation, 



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Among all known plants that produce a wholesome and 

 agreeable food, the bauaua offers the greatest return for the 

 least labor. Life being so easily sustained by its bounty in 

 those favored regions, where it flourishes, one of the chief 

 incentives to exertion is removed and people are content to 

 sit down in idleness, knowing that when hungry a never-fail- 

 ing supply of bread hangs over them ready to be plucked 

 and eaten, for which reason it is a debatable question whe- 

 ther the banana and plantain arc not to be considered a curse 

 rather than a blessing to mankind, and as encouraging in- 

 activity, instead of industry and progress, for so long as a 

 native darkey of the tropics has a handful of rice and a 

 piece of tobacco the size of his thumb, you can hardly induce 

 him to work at auy price ; having but few artificial wants to 

 supply, he has no need for money, a coffee sack furnishing 

 him with a year's wearing apparel. 



Let us see what uses have been found for the fruit, leaf 

 and stem of the banana. As an article of food the banana 

 is very nutritious and wholesome, furnishing the staple 

 article of diet for many families in the tropies. It is eaten 

 cooked or raw. It is said that many Mexican tribes subsist 

 almost entirely upon its flour or paste, which is made by 

 cutting the banana into strips, dried and pounded into a 

 paste. In Jamaica a very superior farina is made from 

 it. It is sliced when green, dried in the sun. afterwards 

 heated into a powder and sifted. It is used largely among 

 the negroes, who feed their babies with it, and speak 

 highly of its nutritious properties. "When made into " Pap, 

 or Johnny cake," is excellent food for the most delicate 

 stomach. Some idea of the nutritive qualities of the 

 banana may be obtained from Humboldt's analysis of 

 the banana. He tells us that he finds it to contain 

 forty times as much nutriment as the potatoe; he also 

 says that one acre of bananas will produce as much actual 

 food as forty acres of potatoes, and comparing it to wheat, 

 he says that a surface bearing wheat enough to feed one 

 man, will, when planted with bananas, feed twenty-five men. 



The young shoots are cooked as greens anil said to lie 

 much relished by those who have eaten them. In India 

 the natives serve it up in many ways. A favorite dish 

 is prepared by taking a number of thoroughly ripe plant- 

 ains or bananas ; after removing the skin, the fruit is mashed 

 and mixed with fine wheaten flour, a sufficient quantity 

 of sugar and a little pounded cardamom seed : it is then 

 mixed with milk and water, formed into small cakes of 

 any desired shape, and when fried in olive oil is said to be 

 highly nutritious and palatable. The rind of the banana in 

 Iudia is greedily eaten by all manner of live stock, when 

 mixed with straw, oil cake and other ingredients, and is 

 looked upon as valuable stock food. As an article of food 

 for table dessert, it is used largely by many Southern hotels 

 and families. Bananas also make a delicious addition to 

 ice cream, sliced thin and stirred in just as the cream is 

 beginning to freeze, or served with it without being frozen; 

 to have them nice they should be cut up and set on ice about 

 an hour before serving. On shipboard it is used la 

 a dessert, being made into pies, puddings, short-cake and 

 fritters ; in fact they are now advertised in our city restaurant 

 bill of fares. They are also dried i?i slices for export resembl- 

 ing in appearance a dried herring, but to the present time 

 have not met with favor in New York. From the banana an 

 excellent starch, wine, flour, vinegar, farina and sugar is 

 also procured. 



Prom Hie young leaf au excellent healing quality i 

 tained for a cut or wound. 



From the stalk and leaf is obtained a beautiful silk. Bl 

 from which can bemadeafin 

 ■ closely the Irish poplin, and when the suitabl 



is made for decordicating the fibre in its entirety; fch 

 . no doubt lie wonderful developments in imitatii 



goo,!.. \n excellent paper pulp can also be made from the 

 stalk. In Jamaica much interest is manifested by some of 



iterprising citizens, as well as the Jamaica Institute, 

 regarding fibre, and a few months ago Mr. George Roe, a 

 native of Jamaica, whom I had the pleasure of entertaining, 

 told me that for years this important branch of industry has 

 oc arpied a great deal of his time and attention, but as ho 

 never found anyone willing or sufficiently interested in the 

 matter to giye an attentive ear to the opinions and views he 

 had on the subject, and not haviug the necessary capital to 

 carry on the experiment, he was obliged to abandon the en- 

 terprise that he firmly believes will at no distant day com- 

 mand large commercial attention, and that the thousands 

 of acres of land bearing millions of tons of banana fibre now 

 allowed to rot and decay will ho utilized for fibre, from which 

 will be made beautiful fabrics, as well as paper pulp, &c. At 

 present the natives make use of the fibre of tie- banana, 

 stalk ;n\*\ leaf obtained in a rude way for making door and 

 sleeping mats, mule saddles, rope, cordage, &c. 



Mr. Roe told us how desirous the Jamaica Institute was 

 to encourage the utilization of the large quantities of bark 

 and fibre growing so luxuriantly in a wild as well as cult- 

 ivated stale, throughout the entire island, and which have 

 hitherto been suffered to fall to waste and decay. The 

 interest taken in this matter by the Institute is forcibly 

 evinced by the very liberal offer of a premium of £10 for the 

 best essay on the subject, as well as a further award of £50 

 for 100 weight of fibre produced by machinery invented in 

 that country. These offers were publicly made known to 

 the natives and inhabitants generally through the columns 

 of several newspapers, but up to the present time, Mr. Roe 

 informs us. but little consideration has been paid to this 

 liberal offer. The sap of the banana stock may be used as 

 writing fluid or indelible dye, which no series of washing 

 will remove, and is made by pressing a quantity of juice 

 from the stack, which, when boiled in an iron vessel, is 

 converted into tannate of iron, and, with sulphate of iron 

 added, produces a beautiful ink or dye. 



Haviug found food in its sprouts, starch, sugar, wine- 

 vinegar and flour in its fruit, medicinal qualities in its leaf, 

 ink and dye stuffs in its sap, and from its stalk a fibre from 

 which choice fabrics can be made, I feel confident in claim- 

 ing for the banana, viewing it botanically aesthetically and 

 gastronomically, that it has no peer. — American Grocer. 



Orange Souffle' — Peel and slice six oranges, put in a 

 glass dish a layer of oranges, then one of sugar, and so 

 on until all the oranges are used, and let stand two hours ; 

 make a soft-boiled custard of yolks of two eggs, a pint of 

 milk, sugar to taste, with grating of orange peel for flavor, 

 and pour over the oranges when cool enough not to break the 

 dish. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, sweeten 

 to taste and pour over the top. Serve cold. — Bvrrtl Call- 

 foruufu. 



Root-Pruning Trees. — When fruit trees have a tendency 

 to luxuriant branches, and a meagre crop of fruit, root- 

 pruning is advisable. The operation consists ill digging a 

 circular trench at a distance of from three to six feet from 

 the tree, according to its size and growth, cutting away all 

 the roots that may he encountered, afterward returning the 

 soil. TIu- best season of the year for this pruning is just 

 before the comp] ition of tin annual growth in the fall, so 

 that a cheek will have the effect to lessen the flow of sap, 

 and promote the formation of flower buds instead of wood 

 buds. — Rural Calif ornian. 



The gum of a species of Grevillea acclimatized in Algeria 

 has recently been examined, by M. G. Fleury (Jouni. <Ik 

 PTiarm., p. •l~0). The gum is of a yellowish or reddish 

 brown colour, and horny consistence. In water it swells, 

 diffuses slowly, and produces a white emulsion of a very 

 persistent character, which easily passes through the filter. 

 It is found by M. Fleury to consist of a gum approaching 

 in character that of gum arable, and a fluid reddish trans- 

 parent resin without odour soluble in alcohol. This resin 

 is also soluble in alkalies, in methylic alcohol and bisulphide 

 of carbon: it possi acid ] iperties and forms 



about ■" to 8 p c I of the gum. T fced gum 



dissolve in water, but if a little potash, 

 of potash lie added to it when swelled 

 . i .:; . solution takes place immediately, I 



us upon the addition of a ferric sill. An 

 alkilin i r. noes darker and more viscous if exp 



to the air /'' vii < 'i utical Tow'nal, 



