428 t THE BANANA. 



first summer or early in the second, the plant in its turn 

 begins to produce suckers, and these may be stronger 

 than the mother plant. If the plant is exceptionally 

 vigorous two suckers may be allowed to remain, and 

 the others are removed and made use of for new planta- 

 tions, but as a rule it is better to leave only one sucker 

 in the first year. However after the second or third 

 summer the plant if strong enough may be allowed to 

 retain three or four suckers including those which are in 

 fruit or about to fruit, otherwise their excessive number 

 may weaken the plant too much to produce bunches of 

 good commercial size. All dry foliage should be removed, 

 cutting it away without injuring the living tissues. 



The formation of the bunch may take place at any 

 time during active growth. Should it appear too early 

 in the growing season, especially in the case of the 

 Chinese or dwarf banana, the bunch will be comparatively 

 small, with few and small fruits, thickly set together, and 

 the stalk of the bunch is often so short that the bunch 

 remains in a semi-erect position, partly wrapped up in 

 the new foliage, and therefore very liable to rot. To 

 avoid this danger it will be necessary to open up the 

 foliage without cutting it, or cutting off only just enough 

 to admit air and light. When the banana is about to 

 fruit, it forms a swelling at the upper part of the stem, 

 which is due to the presence of the bunch already formed 

 and in course of active development. The last leaf is 

 generally shorter than the others, and this is followed by 

 the floral leaf or spathe which is very short and acute 

 and wraps up the bunch, coming out and unfolding along 

 with it. As soon as the bunch appears it begins to bend 

 downwards with the flowers still closed within their 

 purplish green bracts, but these soon expand showing 

 the fertile flowers united together in "hands" or second- 

 ary clusters, with the fruit already half developed. In 

 the case of the edible bananas no fertilization is neces- 



