46 



The Canadian Horticulturist. 



soon begets a taste that enables one to 

 highly appreciate it, and how nourishing 

 an article of diet it is acknowledged to 

 be ; but few of our Canadian growers 

 of the apple, pear and peach know any- 

 thing about growing bananas. The 

 following particulars are from the 

 Philadelphia Press : — 



BANANA PLANT IN FRLIT. 



The stem or trunk of a banana is 

 about fifteen feet high, and of a pithy 

 nature. It reminds me of an overgrown 

 corn stalk, although the joints are not so 

 plainly marked. The sheaths, indicat- 

 ing leaves which have fallen off, are 

 faintly visible from the ground almost 

 to the top. The stem is eight or ten 

 inches in diameter at the base and 

 diminishes very slowly toward the top. 



The leaves, of which the number 

 varies, do not spring from the trunk as 

 do the limbs of trees, but encircle the 

 stalk, forming a kind of sheath, which, 

 as it grows, partakes less and less of the 

 nature of a sheath, until, springing up- 

 ward and outward, it forms a stem and 

 leaves the stalk or trunk. The stem, 

 itself, is of peculiar form, having, near 



its base, a circular under-suiface while 

 through the upper surface runs a 

 groove. This form extends some eight 

 or fen inches, when the groove disap- 

 pears and the stem presents a circular 

 appearance. 



The leaf is of a deep green color, re- 

 gular in form and about ten feet long 

 by two or three in width. Several of 

 them spring in a bunch from near the 

 top of the stalk and hang in graceful 

 curves on all sides. 



Directly from the top projects a sort of 

 stem upon which the fruit grows and 

 ripens. As the fruit matures this stem 

 .is inclined downward, sometimes hang- 

 ing parallel with the trunk. This stem 

 is from three to five feet long, and the 

 fruit which it produces much resembles 

 the pawpaw in shape and color. At 

 the extreme end of the stem hangs a 

 beautiful flower of purplish hue, the 

 faint perfume of which we were denied 

 by its inaccessibility. 



Such is the appearance of the banana 

 plant. There is no doubt that in its 

 native home its foliage is much more 

 luxuriant and its beanty much en- 

 hanced. 



From conversations had with parlies 

 who have visited its native clime its 

 cultivation is as follows : The plants 

 are set out about ten feet apart. So 

 rapidly do they grow that in eight 

 months a crop is ready to gather. 

 During this time suckers have been 

 springing up from the base. All but 

 two or three of these are destroyed. A 

 second crop from the old stock is 

 harvested when it is cut away to make 

 room for the new ones, which con- 

 tribute each their bunch of bananas 

 about eight months later. 



This process is kept up until the 

 ground is exhausted, when a new 

 planting in a dififerent place is made 

 and the process is repeated. The 

 bananas, being gathered while yet 

 green, are able to reach foreign markets 

 in good condition. There they are 

 ripened under different processes. 



