BAN 



567 



BANANA 



charming bamboo greenhouses, and of bamboo 

 stems used as waterpipes in connection with 

 bath houses. The outer layer of the stem the 

 Japanese cut into thin strips to be used in 

 basket making, and the bamboo fibers are 

 employed in the manufacture of paper. 

 The Chinese have bamboo beds, couches, 

 tables and stools; children in China 

 I>l:iy with bamboo toys, the workman uses tools 

 with bamboo handles, and the boatman has 

 bamboo ribs for the sails of his ship. Bamboo 



SOME USES OF BAMBOO 



The building, the pier, and even the boat, are 

 made from the indispensable bamboo. 



cooking utensils, life-preservers, bows, arrows, 

 quivers, fishing rods, mats, canes, musical 

 instruments, fans, parasols, pipes and playing 

 cards are other examples of the extreme useful- 

 ness of this interesting plant. 



The grains of the bamboo are valued as food, 

 and in China they take the place of rice when 

 the crop of the latter fails. The young shoots 

 of some species are pickled in vinegar and are 

 sometimes cooked like asparagus. The bamboo 

 also has ornamental qualities, and some of the 

 hardier varieties are cultivated in England and 

 tli* United States in landscape gardens and 

 greenhouses. B.M.W. 



BAN, a word with an interesting history and 

 a variety of meanings, used at the present tim< 

 in the sense of to prohibit or condemn. Thus, 

 a person who has rude, coarse manners is said 

 to be banned by society, or to be under its ban. 

 In its earliest use ban meant a proclamation, 

 and also the fine imposed for disobeying it. 

 Later, in France, the term was applied to a 

 inons to arms, and from this, to the vassals 

 I* kiiiu' who were called upon to perform 

 military service. During the Middle Ages a 

 person under the ban was one who had been 

 outlawed, and this expression was also applied 

 to tli.- outl.iwmi: f . ntire cities. In the history 

 of the Church those who suffered excommunica- 



tion were said to be under the Papal ban. In 

 the course of time ban came to be used in the 

 sense of curse, and so occurs in Hamlet : 



With Hecate's ban thrice blasted, thrice In- 

 fected. 



The earliest meaning of the word, that is, a 

 proclamation, survives in the expression 

 banns of marriage (which see). 



BANANA, banah'na or banan'a, is the 

 name borne by a tropical fruit which is now 

 relished the world over, though scarcely known 

 as late as 1870. To say that the great heavy 

 bunches of bananas which are so familiar a 

 sight in the markets do not grow on trees, but 

 upon herbs, sounds at first absurd and impos- 

 sible. It is, however, the truth, but in the 

 tropics herbs grow to such great size that they 

 would not be recognized as such by people in 

 temperate regions. 



How It Grows. The banana has an under- 

 ground stem which sends up suckers or sprouts 

 that attain their full growth in a year and a 

 half or two years (see PERENNIAL). Its "trunk" 

 is not really a trunk at all, but a false stalk 

 formed by the curled bases of the leaves, which 

 wrap themselves about the flower stem. This 

 stalk, almost a foot in diameter at the bottom, 

 rises to a height of from ten to forty feet, its 

 great leaves, a foot or two in width and from 

 six to ten feet in length, drooping outward. 

 When the plant has reached its full growth 



HOW BANANAS GROW 

 At left la shown an opening flower. 



there appears a huge flower bud, which 

 and shows a bunch of little purple flowers, 

 each of \\ln.-h makes way for a tiny banana. 

 The great flower cluster hangs toward the earth, 

 but as the separate fruits begin to grow they 



