512 CULTURE OF THE BANANA. 



permitted to extend themselves over the bed, a very different process must 

 be followed. Nothing is more common than to take a water-pot to a pump 

 and fill it with water, the temperature of which does not in all probability 

 exceed that of the mean temperature of the earth, viz. 48, and directly 

 proceed to sprinkle the cucumbers. Now the soil in the open garden, from 

 May to September, will, if open and porous, seldom be below 60 in heat, 

 and therefore to apply water at 48 will reduce it to 54, or, according to 

 Mr. Gregor Drummond (823-1) several degrees lower, and consequently 

 check the plants ; but if water is applied, the temperature of which is 70, 

 the heat of the soil will be raised to 65, or, according to Mr. Gregor Drum- 

 mond (ibid.), some degrees higher, and the plant will, as the cucumber 

 requires bottom heat, be much accelerated in growth. Water, therefore, 

 on a warm dull day, and as seldom as possible, but when it is done do it 

 effectually ; that is, saturate the ground to the depth of a foot at least, and 

 with water which, either by admixture with warm water, or by exposure 

 to the solar influence, has attained the same temperature as the soil in 

 which the plants are growing (ibid. p. 40). 



1087. Cucumber and melon culture compared. Much of what has been 

 advanced on the culture of the cucumber may be applied to the culture of 

 the melon, but their treatment differs in the following particulars. The 

 melon cannot be ripened in this country in the winter-time, and therefore 

 the seeds need never be sown before February. The soil for the melon 

 should be of a firm texture, loamy, and should lie solid in the bed rather 

 than loose like that of the cucumber. It is often covered with gravel, 

 pebbles, tiles, or slates (1047). When the fruit of the melon is advancing to 

 maturity, water must be gradually withheld so as not to deteriorate the 

 flavour ; whereas in cucumber culture the supply of water must be unin- 

 terrupted. The melon, in hot, dry seasons, can be brought to a higher 

 degree of perfection than the cucumber, because the atmosphere cannot in 

 general be kept sufficiently moist for the latter fruit. In the highest state 

 of cultivation, the cucumber requires as much heat as the melon ; but it may 

 be grown in a much lower temperature, more especially as compared with 

 that required by the Persian varieties of the melon, for these require a 

 greater heat than the Cantaloups. 



SECTION IX. Culture of the Banana. 



1088. The banana (Musa paradisiaca, L.) is a scitamineous (50) herba- 

 ceous evergreen, a native of Asia, in forests, in soil formed of rich masses of 

 vegetable matter, kept moist by the shade of trees. There are many 

 varieties cultivated in India and other warm regions of the East, varying in 

 height from three feet to twenty feet ; but those which are in most esteem 

 in British gardens are the Musa p. Cavendishii, from the Isle of France, and 

 the M. p. dacca, from the East Indies, neither of which exceed the height 

 of three feet or four feet. The culture of these plants for their fruit in 

 British stoves is of very recent date, but as the fruit is excellent, and is 

 produced great part of the year, it may probably become as general as that of 

 the pine-apple. The culture of the banana for the dessert was first com- 

 menced by Mr. Paxton in 1836, who, after two years' trial at Chatsworth, 

 said that we " might recommend it advantageously for a suburban garden ;" 

 and this, as will be afterwards seen, is confirmed by five years' experience. 



