DIMORPHIC BRANCHES OF THE BANANA PLANT. 47 



plantations, unless it could be made to jdeld more numerous offshoots 

 when these Avere required. 



The use of the hardened resting tubers may be considered as the 

 ideal condition for shipping- propagating stock of the banana from 

 one country to another. The question of diversifying the American 

 banana industry by the importation of some of the superior types of 

 banana of the Old World has often been raised. One of the diffi- 

 culties has been to obtain new stocks in sufficient quantity, even for 

 adequate experiments to be made. This has appeared to stand in the 

 way of any immediate practical results being obtained, and has un- 

 doubtedly tended to discourage attempts to obtain superior varieties. 

 It is also possible that the broad-leaved suckers may be found 

 useful in dealing with some of the banana diseases that appear to 

 indicate a weakening of the vitality of some of the best strains of 

 the commercial banana, as in the case of some of the superior varieties 

 of sugar cane. The sugar planters of Java bring down new stock 

 from the mountains, because the mountain-grown canes have been 

 found more resistant to disease than the same variety grown con- 

 tinuousl}^ in the lowland plantations. 



The tuber-like, broad-leaved suckers that are formed on uprooted 

 banana plants ma}^ be looked upon as a resting state, and may be 

 expected to have a relation to subsequent vigor of growth. An 

 interruption of growth might be directly beneficial, or if different 

 conditions prove to be necessary, as in the case of the sugar cane, the 

 tubers would greatly facilitate the exchange of propagating material. 

 They could be collected and transported from one district to another 

 much more readily and cheaply than the large, heavy sword suckers. 



As a means of testing the possible effect of the resting stage upon 

 the subsequent behavior of the plants, a suggestion was made in 1903 

 to Prof. H. Pittier, who soon after took charge of the experimental 

 plantations of the United Fruit Company in Costa Rica, that plant- 

 ings be made of these potato-like tubers to see whether any differ- 

 ences of behavior would be shown. In 1904 a hectare (about 2| 

 acres) of land was planted with these small resting tubers, instead 

 of the usual sword suckers. The growth of the plants was unex- 

 pectedly rapid and did not fall behind that of the neighboring fields 

 that were planted with large sword suckers. The first crop was 

 matured in about nine months, the usual time under the Costa Rican 

 conditions, and with more than usual uniformity, each plant pro- 

 ducing a large, well-formed cluster of fruit. It was also noticed 

 that the plants of this field produced very few suckers around the 

 base until after fruiting, in very distinct contrast with adjoining 

 fields planted with the sword suckers. When Professor Pittier made 

 a visit to Costa Rica in 1907, three years after the beginning of the 

 198 



