426 [ THE BANAKA. 



of the weather. The fruit also keeps long in good con- 

 dition and ships well. The tall banana of Jamaica is 

 probably the best of the tall-stemmed sorts from the 

 commercial standpoint, as it possesses all the qualities of 

 the Chinese banana, but it has not been introduced in 

 these Islands and is not likely to bear well the cold 

 weather. 



PROPAGATION. The cultivated edible bananas do 

 not produce seed, or do so very rarely, and are propa- 

 gated exclusively by suckers and by truncheons or pieces 

 of the rootstock or base of the stem having a bud or 

 suckers in process of formation. Only the strongest 

 suckers should be selected for propagation, preferring 

 those which are 15 to 20 c.m. high, for the dwarf banana, 

 and about 30 c.m. for the tall sorts, which have not yet 

 developed the leaf blades, and therefore have a conical 

 shape surmounted perhaps by one or more petiolar pro- 

 longations of the leaf sheaths. The suckers are separated 

 from the mother plant by a clean cut, and are taken up 

 with care in older to preserve the few roots which they 

 may have, but are equally good even if they have no 

 roots at all. The suckers are allowed to remain for a few 

 hours in the shade, so that the wound may dry. Suckers 

 are best transplanted in April or May, but the operation 

 may be done with success also throughout the summer 

 and early autumn. It is almost a general practice with 

 planters to cut back the suckers to within a few centi- 

 metres from the base, taking care not to injure the 

 central bud or plumule, so that when planted the suckers 

 are entirely covered with earth; but this operation is not 

 necessary except in the case of weak suckers or of 

 suckers which have already formed the leaf blades. 



Propagation by means of truncheons of the root- 

 stock with one or more likely buds, is best done in the 

 course of summer from June to September. For this 

 object it is possible to make use of the plant which has 



