While on the subject of jrnrdens. we must not omit that of one of our friends, 



N. J. (lOiiicz, Esfj., on tlie Corro Kond, near the town. Mr. Ciouiez is an enthu- 

 siastic horticulturist, and is likt-ly to do much where so much is wanted to intro- 

 duce a taste for the best kinds of fruit ; he works alone, but with knowledfi^e. At 

 his ]iremises, we had the pleasure of tasting the chcrimoyer, the apple banana, and 

 various others, and of fcastinj? our eyes on roses and "queer things" in the way 

 of vegetation, so numerous that we were quite discouraged, and put by our jjencil 

 in despair I What a pity the island has no Jlorticulturist, nor a single print that 

 gives any attention to the topic. 



lite liaiutna and Plitntain. — Indifferent observers will scarcely detect a differ- 

 ence between the banana and plantain, except in the fruit, and here the likeness 

 is great ; but the plantain bears a longer fruit, somewhat differently shai)ed. This 

 splendid and valuable genus, 3Iusa, consists of species which have perennial, 

 roundish, solid, watery l)nll)s, with biennial, and sometimes longer enduring stems. 

 The stems are straight, erect, varying from five to twenty-five feet in height, sim])le, 

 thick, round, smooth, fungous, watery, and lamellated. The leaves are oblong, 

 and, till split with the winds, entire, from three to ten feet in length, and under two 

 feet in width. The flowers are in large terminating racemes, without a calyx or 

 perianthium, generally whitish, the fertile flowers occupying the lower, and the 

 barren the upper part of the raceme. They arc cultivated in great perfection by 

 Mr. Dundas in his noble palm-house in Philadelphia, and succeed tolerably well 

 in sheltered situations in New Orleans. 



In the plant most cultivated in the West Indies and Cuba, the herbaceous stalk 

 is fifteen or twenty feet high, with leaves often more than six feet long, and two 

 broad. When the fruit is cut, the stalk is also destroyed, and new sprouts soon 

 appear, one or two only being allowed to grow, and tluis a continuous supply is 

 afforded. The skin of the fruit is tough, and within is a soft pulp, of a luscious, 

 sweet flavor that it is very easy to become fond of. The spikes of fruit are often 

 so large as to weigh upwards of forty pounds. Gerarde, and other old authors, name 

 it Adam's Apple, from a notion that it was the forbidden fruit of Eden ; whilst 

 others supposed it to be the grapes brought out of the promised land by the spies 

 of Moses. It is certainly one of the most useful fruits in the world, and seems to 

 have migrated with mankind into all the climates in which it can be cultivated ; 

 some or other of the plants are bearing most parts of the year, and their fruit is 

 often the whole food of a family. The plantain is roasted, boiled, and fried, when 

 just full grown ; it is also eaten boiled with salt meat or fish, and, when ripe, it is 

 made into tarts, or dried as a sweetmeat. A fermented liquor is made from them, 

 and, in some places, a cloth from the fibres of the trunk ; the leaves make excel- 

 lent mats, or serve for stuffing mattresses. Its value may be judged of by the 

 fact that three dozen plantains are sufficient to serve one man for a week instead 

 of bread, and will support him much longer. 



Mr. Sauvalle, the botanist of the island, assured us that in the banana would be 

 found the long sought substitute for rags in paper making, and we have but little 

 doubt respecting this. The amount of fibre contained in the stalk is very great — 

 certainly not less than forty per cent. — and this is easily reduced to pulp. So con- 

 fident is Mr. S. respecting this (and his opinion will have great weight with all wdio 

 know him), that he would be willing to enter into arrangements with a practical 

 paper-maker to establish the manufacture, for which the greatest abundance of 

 material, now wasted or thrown away, could be had. From Mr. Sauvalle's posi- 

 tion and wealth, this is a feasible project. He does not doubt that the premium 

 offered, in London, of a thousand pounds sterling, for a substitute for the 

 at present so scarce, could be obtained after a fair experiment. 



