186 FLORIDA FRUITS GUAVAS AND BANANAS. 



Sooner or later, for it varies greatly as to time, the ba- 

 nana plant will send up suckers from its roots, which in 

 due time are to take its place; for the banana, like the 

 pine-apple, bears fruit but once, and then, if not cut down 

 when the latter is removed, it will soon fall prone on the 

 ground. The best plan is to chop it up (an easy matter) 

 in small pieces, and bury them near the growing plant, as 

 the decaying leaves and stems of a banana plantation fur- 

 nish it with no small amount of fertilizing material. 



The banana will often send up from five to ten suckers, 

 and these should not all be allowed to remain ; if they are 

 the result will be small, stunted plants and fruit. Two 

 are enough to leave with the parent plant; the others 

 should be transplanted when about three feet high. 



It is a fact not generally known or noted, that from 

 transplanted suckers no great results in fruit will be ob- 

 tained. The planter must look for the heaviest fruiting to 

 those stalks that have come up from the parent root and 

 have never been disturbed. Heavy mulching during the 

 summer months will be found of great utility. 



