566 



KNCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



certain diseases, as in the case of the 

 Negro in relation to malarial diseases. 

 In certain physical conditions, persons 

 and plants are more susceptible than 

 others, as in the case of fatigue, starva- 

 tion, exposure to cold and whatever would 

 tend to lower the vitality. This has been 

 observed to be true in plants as well as 

 in animals. A tree that is not proper- 

 ly nourished, is susceptible to manj- forms 

 of disease, to which the healthy tree is 

 immune. On this general subject. Pro- 

 fessor Muir, of the University of Glas- 

 gow, says: 



"In this way conditions formerly be- 

 lieved to be the causes of disease, are 

 now recognized as playing their part in 

 predisposing to the action of the true 

 causal agent, viz.: the bacterium. In 

 health the blood and internal tissues, are 

 bacterium free; after death, they offer 

 a most suitable pabulum for various bac- 

 teria; but between these two extreme 

 states are conditions of varying liability 

 to infection. It is also probable that in 

 a state of health, organisms do gain en- 

 trance to the blood from time to time 

 and are rapidly killed off. Immunity is 

 generally spoken of under three distinct 

 heads: 



"First. Natural immunity. 

 "Second. Active immunity. 

 "Third. Passive immunity. 

 "Natural immunity may depend upon 

 lack of sensitiveness to the bacteria or 

 its toxins: as in the case of pear blight, 

 which might enter the tips of the 

 branches or the flowers, but could not 

 enter where the bark is thick, unless in- 

 jected by some insect or instrument. 



"Active immunity is illustrated in the 

 case of persons who after recovering 

 from an attack of certain infective dis- 

 ease, such as smallpox, are not suscept- 

 ible to subsequent attacks. Or, it may be 

 illustrated again, by persons who have 

 been inoculated with bacteria, that pro- 

 duce a modified attack of the disease as 

 a prevention from attack in its more 

 virulent form. Sometimes the injections 

 are small at first, and are increased from 

 time to time, and in this manner per- 

 sons have been rendered free from snakes. 



scorpions and certain vegetable toxins. 

 It is noted that the stings of bees, which 

 to some persons are very poisonous, are 

 not so to the same persons, after having 

 been stung a number of times. 



"Passive immunity is secured by giving 

 anti-toxins or anti-sera." 



Granville Lowtiier 



B.\LAXCED Soils. See Soil. 



Banana 



The fruit of the banana plant Musa 

 sapientum grows in clusters of large 

 finger-like forms, upon a very large spike 

 or stem, containing, within a red or 

 yellow rind, a nutritious pulp. This 

 pulp is usually seedless and constitutes 

 an important article of food. In some 

 of the islands of the Pacific, it is a staple 

 article of diet for the natives. 



Scientists have recognized and classi- 

 fied as many as 40 different species, rang- 

 ing from the ornamental groups that do 

 not develop fruit, to the giant bananas, 

 the Platano of the Spaniards. 



The red banana is not common in the 

 American markets. "There is a reason." 

 In the United States it is used only to 

 "dress" fancy baskets of fruit, but in the 

 tropical countries it is quite a favorite. 

 The individual banana is large, but the 

 stalk does not carry as many "hands" as 

 the yellow varieties, so as it does not 

 bring as large a price to the grower and 

 wholesaler, its extensive cultivation is 

 not encouraged. 



Banana culture is one of the oldest of 

 industries. It has been known since the 

 origin of the human race. Long before 

 the dawn of history in the Old World, 

 perhaps long before the Old World rose 

 from the waters, man lived on the fruit 

 of the Miisas. The banana was generally 

 considered a native of Southern Asia and 

 to have been carried into America by 

 Europeans, until Humboldt threw doubt 

 upon its purely Asiatic origin, quoting 

 early authors who asserted that the 

 banana was cultivated in America long 

 before the Conquest. It is claimed that 

 at the time of the Incas in Peru, bana- 

 nas formed one of the staple foods of the 

 natives of the warm and temperate reg- 



