84 TROPICAL AGRICULTURE 



ably low. At elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 feet, however, con- 

 siderable success has been had in several tropical countries in 

 growing apples, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries. Straw- 

 berries and grapes thrive fairly well in nearly all tropical coun- 

 tries but, for the most part, neither one of these fruits has 

 acquired much commercial importance in any strictly tropical 

 country. Considerable interest has been added to the study of 

 tropical fruits within the past 15 or 20 years by the quite 

 important developments which have taken place in Florida 

 and southern California, particularly in Florida. Practically 

 all of the well known tropical fruits, except perhaps bread- 

 fruit, have been successfully grown to a bearing age in Florida 

 and some of these fruits will doubtless acquire enough com- 

 mercial importance to attract serious attention. This is, of 

 course, particularly the case with avocados and mangos. 



BANANAS 



The banana is a native of India and southern China. It is 

 a rapid-growing, herbaceous, treelike plant attaining a height 

 of 4 to 25 feet, according to variety and location. The large, 

 glossy, and graceful leaves have an even entire margin and 

 attain a length of 2 to 6 feet and a width of I to 2 feet. The 

 stem or false trunk is succulent and is composed of concen- 

 tric layers, being really made up of the bases of leaf sheaths. 

 When the plant reaches the flowering age a flowering stem 

 rapidly grows upward from the bulb through the center of 

 the trunk, appearing at the center of the crown of leaves and 

 bearing several clusters of irregular flowers protected by large 

 purple bracts which later fall off. The clusters of flowers pro- 

 duce the "hands" of the future bunch of bananas. The male 

 flowers appear near the tip of the flowering stem and later fall 

 off, leaving the tip of the flowering stem quite bare. With the 

 growing weight of the bananas, the fruiting stem turns down, 

 becoming pendulous, while the individual bananas stand up- 



