CULTIVATION OF THE BANANA. 223 



the wet and dry bulb thermometers is at noon from 4° to 8°. 

 The night air at this season is usually saturated. The soil is a 

 light loam formed from decomposed lava and volcanic cinders 

 ■with a small percentage of rotted vegetable matter. 



The principal growing season is during the hot, dry weather, 

 and the plants make such rapid advances that the smallest 

 sucker becomes a large fruit-bearing tree in the space of eighteen 

 months. 



A plantation once made requires no renewal. As the plants 

 advance to maturity, a new progeny of " suckers " rises around 

 their bases, one of which is retained to occupy the place of its 

 parent, which, when the fruit is ripe, is cut down with the axe, 

 the bunch of fruit conveyed to the storehouse, and the old stem 

 with its foliage buried in the soil to assist in supplying nutriment 

 to the young generation. 



The manner in which the above conditions of growth, and the 

 practices adopted, may be imitated in our own country is familiar 

 to every gardener. But, for the information of those less con- 

 versant with such matters, I submit the following plan, being one 

 which I conceive well adapted to ensure a successful result, viz. : — 



The plants are to be cultivated by themselves in a Banana-house, 

 which should be constructed as near of one height as possible, say 

 about twelve feet above the surface of the soil. A house with 

 ridge and furrow roof would perhaps be best — such an one 

 as may be seen in the Gardens of the Horticultural Society, — 

 erected by (if I remember rightly) Hartley and Co., of Sunderland. 



The ridge-rafters of this house should be made to close firmly 

 on a ridge-board, and the sashes be made by means of hinges, or 

 other contrivances, to move about the axis of the furrow-rafter, in 

 order that the sashes may be made to fold upwards from either 

 side, and give the plants the benefit of the greatest possible 

 amount of air. 



In this house, a border should be made about two feet in depth, 

 of common garden mould, and capable of being heated from a 

 chamber constructed immediately beneath ; the trees to be 

 planted in this border about four feet apart from each other, and 

 directly under the ridge-rafter. Before planting, cut off all 

 expanded leaves to prevent evaporation, press in the plants 

 with the foot slightly, and give no water whatever. Admit all 

 possible air (when above 55°j, and never under any circumstances 

 let them be shaded from the sun. The best time to plant is in 

 the hottest weather of spring or summer. 



