MUSA 



SAPIENTUM 



Plantain 



Name 



" Banana." 



1 Plantain." 



Cultiva- 

 tion. 



Gardens. 



Kach-kela. 



First Crop. 



Propagation. 



Pendent 

 Inflorescence. 



Eemoyal of 

 Stem. 



Madras. 



History. The name " Banana " is very seldom used by the English in India, 

 though it is universal in the fruit-shops of England. In India all kinds are indis- 

 criminately called plantains. But neither name would appear to be originally 

 Indian. The plant grew in Palestine before the Crusades. Garcia de Orta, 1563 

 (Coll., xxii.), says the word came from Guinea, and that the Arabs call " these 

 figs " " Musa " or " Amusa," names which of course come from the Sanskrit 

 mocha. The origin of the name " Plantain " is perhaps even more obscure. In 

 Hobson-Jobson it is said that according to Oviedo (1516), "it or rather platano 

 appears to have been the name under which the fruit was first carried to 

 the W. Indies." But according to Oviedo the plant was improperly so 

 called, as it was quite another thing from the platanus described by Pliny. 

 Early mediaeval travellers generally call the fruit either " Fig of Paradise " 

 or " Fig of India," and in the West Indies to-day the common small plantains 

 are called figs. Ligon (Hist. Barbados, 1657, 80-2) is perhaps the first author 

 who attempted to describe and figure the two plants, calling them by the names 

 of banana and plantain. \Cf. Joret, Les PL dans L'Antiq., etc., 1904, ii., 301-2.] 



Cultivation. The plantain is cultivated very nearly throughout India, 

 except in the extreme north-west and from sea-level up to 5,000 or 6,000 

 feet in altitude. In certain localities large gardens (of many acres) are 

 planted almost exclusively with the fruit, and the produce is systematically 

 sent to Calcutta, Bombay and other large towns. More frequently it is 

 cultivated merely in small patches around the homesteads and for home 

 consumption. Throughout the plains of India the plantain is extensively 

 produced, especially along the banks of rivers, canals and tanks. Many 

 distinct races exist and these may be grouped under two heads, those 

 grown for their ripe and those for their half-ripe fruits ; the latter 

 being used as green vegetables. The vegetable forms are known by the 

 general name of Jcach-kela and are raised on inferior lands as field crops. 

 The fruit forms require more careful cultivation and on garden soils. Kach- 

 kela plantains will grow on almost any soil except stiff clay and barren 

 sand, but both field and garden varieties do best on newly raised earth, as, 

 for example, on embankments. On laying out a garden it is customary to 

 excavate a tank and to plant as a first crop, on the new soil spread on the 

 surface around, a quantity of plantains. 



Propagation is entirely by rooted cuttings or portions secured from old 

 stools. These may be deposited in holes made within fields of standing aus 

 paddy, Jcachu (Colocasia antiquoruni), began (Solanivm Melonyena) 

 or turmeric (Ciirctitnalonga). The pits or holes are ordinarily 12 to 15 feet 

 apart and the transplanting is usually made in the rainy season (beginning 

 of June to end of July). The pits should be about a cubit deep and manured 

 with cow-dung. When the secondary crop is off the field (April 15 to 

 June 15) the ground is ploughed two or three times. The plantains begin 

 to bear fruit one year after setting, and the ground is then usually devoted 

 to the plantain crop alone. When a sufficient bunch of fruit has set, the 

 pendent extremity of the inflorescence, with its remaining flowers and con- 

 spicuous bracts, should be cut away, so that all the available nourishment 

 may go to the formation of fruit. No clump should at one time have 

 more than three suckers at the base. Extra suckers that appear must be 

 removed in June or July and transplanted into fresh ground. When the 

 bunch of fruit has ripened and been cut off, the stem should be severed at 

 the base, so as to make room for the other fruiting stems of the stool. The 

 cost of cultivating 100 trees has been estimated at Ks. 12-12 annas, and 

 from 300 to 600 bunches of fruit may be obtained, which fetch about 

 Ks. 150 per acre per annum. 



Of the Madras Presidency it is stated that plantains are grown chiefly 



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