24 THE USES OF PLANTS. 



1879, has enormously increased, though nothing more 

 has been heard of the ' Plantado passado/ or dried 

 plantain-fruit, recommended by Mr. P. L. Simmonds 

 in 1854.* The Plantain (Musa paradisiaca, L.) and the 

 Banana (M. sapientum, L.) are generally considered 

 distinct species, but vary so as to defy discrimination. 

 They produce far more food, in proportion to the 

 space they occupy, than any other plant. One 

 Banana plant will yield three bunches, each weighing 

 44 lb., in the year, which is equal to 140,000 to 

 400,000 lb. on three acres. Thus the same area 

 that yields 33 lb. of Wheat, or 99 lb. of Potatoes, 

 will produce 4,400 lb. of these fruits, f Mr. Simmonds 

 calculated that the almost imperishable food-substance 

 referred to could be sold in London at threepence a 

 pound. Professor ChurchJ speaks of the Banana as 

 ' a nutritious food, having less water and more nitro- 

 genous matter than is commonly found in fresh fruits. 

 It contains, when ripe, much sugar, but very little 

 starch.' 



As in many other departments of the present 

 inquiry, the progress made in the half-century can be 

 to a great extent gauged by a comparison of the 

 articles now in commercial use with those reported 

 upon at the time of the Great Exhibition of 1851. 

 Undoubtedly the greatest change that has taken 

 place in our food-supply, so far as derived from the 

 plant-world, during this period, is the enormously 

 increased consumption of Maize, and the introduction 



* 'Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom,' 1854. 

 f J. Smith, ' Domestic Botany/ p. 174. 

 J 'Food/ 1876, p. 123. 



