THE BANANA. 22Q 



above. First-rate bananas, however, are strictly a 

 production of the torrid zones; and if grown in semi- 

 tropical countries, and cut in an unripe green state 

 (for carriage to the London market for instance), can- 

 not be expected to prove lair examples of the banana 

 such as are grown tc perfection at places like Colombo , 

 Batavia, Madras, or other warm and equable tropical 

 stations. At Bombay a large variety of the banana, 

 with a deep-red rind, is to be met with, worth taking 

 note of as a special variety of this fruit ; but it cannot, 

 we think, bear comparison as to excellence with the 

 smaller, yellow varieties, grown within the equatorial 

 zone : the smaller fruits (short and thick in shape) being, 

 as far as our experience goes, in general superior to 

 those of a larger, and usually coarser, growth. 



At the same time, long continued efforts at acclimati- 

 zation have been so far successful, that the banana 

 has been transplanted from its natural habitat, the 

 equatorial zone, to colder regions, far beyond even the 

 limits of the tropics. Bananas, for instance, are found 

 growing all over che North Western provinces in 

 India; and we have even seen them growing in cold 

 elevated stations like Darjeeling, in Sikkim, and far to 

 the north in places like Peshawar, on the northern 

 frontier of the Punjab. It is sufficient, however, to note 

 the fact of their existing there their fruit of course, 

 even in the North Western provinces, being to our 

 mind so inferior as to be almost uneatable. 



The great leaves of the banana tribe are, as most 

 people are now aware, among the most wonderful and 

 beautiful examples of tropical foliage. Like the bamboo, 

 the banana is perhaps seen at its best by twilight, 

 and standing aloft, motionless in the still glory of the 



