178 GAKDEN PLANTS. PART II. 



are, in Bengal at least, only a few, and those very distinct and 

 marked kinds, which are worth cultivating in the garden. 



Sir J. Paxton states that " the plants which have fruited in 

 England have been uniformly insipid or nearly tasteless, which 

 indeed is almost the general character given them by Europeans, 

 even by many of those who have eaten them in the tropics."* 

 This, no doubt, is the true character of the inferior kinds, of 

 which immense quantities are grown in this country, and 

 which possibly are the only ones which many Europeans who 

 come here ever taste. But most unquestionably there is not a 

 more delicious fruit in the world than that of some of the finer 

 sorts described below. 



The Plantain delights in a very rich soil. Plants should be 

 put out six or eight feet apart in a trench, about a foot or more 

 deep and three feet wide, which should be well supplied from 

 time to time with fresh cow-dung, and abundantly watered. 

 There should not be allowed to remain more than three stems 

 to each plant, and the suckers, which will be constantly spring- 

 ing up, should be removed as soon as they make their appear- 

 ance. . The stem that has once borne fruit should be cut down 

 close to the ground, as it will never bear a second time, and a 

 fresh sucker should be allowed to grow up to replace it. The 

 Plantain, however, as it appears to me, soon wears out the soil 

 in which it grows, and is immensely benefited, I consider, by 

 removal about every two or three years into entirely new ground. 



The fruit should not be gathered until two or three of the 

 uppermost on the bunch have ripened. The bunch should 

 then be cut down, and hung up by a cord in the house, where 

 in a few days the rest on the bunch will gradually ripen. The 

 Plantain is in the last stage of ripeness before it attains to the 

 perfection of its flavour. 



A curious notion is prevalent among the natives, that the 

 Plantain may be made to bear two or more kinds of fruit upon 

 the same bunch. This result they affirm is brought to pass as 

 follows. A young sucker is dug up from each of two kinds of 

 Plantain. The suckers must be as near as possible of the same 

 size. These are split up cleanly in half with a sharp knife. 

 A half of one of the kinds is then applied and closely bound to 

 a half of the other kind, and then planted in the ground in the 



* ' Magazine of Botany,' vol. iv. 54. 



