Q4 THE FRUIT GROWERS GUIDE. 



EEQUIREMENTS OF CULTURE. 



Musa sapientum and its varieties, Martinique, the Ladies' Fingers, also the Apple 

 variety, need lofty structures. A house 24 feet wide, 15 to 18 feet high at the sides, 

 and 21 to 24 feet from the floor to the ridge, accommodates two rows of plants in a 

 bed 12 feet wide in the middle of the house. This bed should have a 4|-inch wall up 

 the centre, and be divided into rectangular compartments by cross-walls at every 12 feet. 

 Six feet space all round the bed remains for paths, but granadillas may be grown on 

 one side of the house, trained to a trellis 9 inches from the glass ; and monsteras on 

 the other, trained to the wall, or to hardwood tree-trunks set about 9 feet apart. This 

 arrangement occasions the placing of the hot- water pipes in channels below the floor, 

 covered with iron gratings, eight rows of 4-inch pipes being required on each side. 



M. Cavendishi is the most cultivated in this country. Plants grown in pots or 

 tubs produce fruit in twelve to eighteen months weighing 18 to 24 pounds per plant. A 

 plant in the corner of a stove, where it received rough treatment and the leaves broken, 

 bore a cluster of 136 fruits, weighing 27 J pounds, in eighteen months ; another small 

 plant set in April, in a narrow bed, with ample room for its splendid foliage, gave, 

 in the following April, a bunch of 126 fruits, weighing 36f pounds. The cultivator, 

 however, should aim higher, for clusters of 212 to 220 fully-swelled fruits, weighing 

 50 to 56 pounds, free of all superfluous stem, may be grown in narrow beds in a house 

 devoted to banana culture ; and with a sufficient number of plants fruit may be had at 

 all seasons, for the period of bearing depends upon the time of planting. The heaviest 

 bunch grown in this country was exhibited at a meeting of the Eoyal Horticultural 

 Society on May 8th, 1877, by Mr. J. Ollerhead, gardener to Sir Henry Peek, Wim- 

 bledon House. It weighed 97 pounds, and a gold medal was voted to the cultivator. The 

 chief desiderata are : 1, rich compost in a limited area, giving complete control over the 

 growth; 2, high feeding at the right time; 3, proper space for development; 4, 

 unobstructed light, and close proximity to the glass without touching; 5, free 

 ventilation ; 6, ample heat. 



Propagation. All the varieties are readily increased by suckers, but those appearing 

 on plants in bearing, and not needed for stock, should be removed. This assists the 

 fruit in swelling and perfecting. Strong suckers should be taken off and potted, yet 

 allowing them to obtain a good size and become well rooted before detaching from the 

 parent. Suckers, however, do not always appear before the fruit is cut. Then cut off 

 the leaves and leave the stump, which will soon produce offsets for potting ; or the old 



