70 SPICES 



CHAP. 



several reasons. In the first place, he says, it is in- 

 securely attached to the ground, and is uprooted by the 

 least puff of wind and in falling will crush the vines. 

 In Bourbon as well as the Antilles, people talk of a 

 banana -wind (coup de vent banane), a wind strong 

 enough to upset the bananas, but not strong enough 

 to uproot ordinary trees. The violence of wind and 

 its action in different parts of the world is extremely 

 variable, but the author has seldom, if ever, seen banana 

 plants uprooted by wind in the Malay region, even 

 where big trees have been blown down. 



A second objection raised is that thieves who are 

 tempted by the bananas cut down the stems of the 

 plants to get the fruits, thus crushing the vines ; and 

 thirdly, that the banana exhausts the soil of important 

 elements of nutrition, such as potassium and lime, to 

 the injury of the vanilla. 



I doubt if, provided the planter restores to the soil 

 the remains of the leaves and dead stems of the bananas, 

 this loss of plant food will affect the vanilla to any 

 extent. Bananas are often used as shade for other 

 plants, and do not seem to injure the ground at all, but 

 on the contrary rather improve it by breaking up the 

 soil, and at the same time the planter has the benefit 

 of the fruit. However, M. des Grottes observes that 

 bananas can be used as temporary shade until the other 

 shade trees are grown up, and admits having seen very 

 fine vines grown under the shade of bananas. 



Some recommend the Moringa pterygosperma (often 

 known as the horse-radish tree) on account of its rapid 

 growth from seed or cuttings, and its light, open, lattice- 

 like foliage. This would be satisfactory in a country 

 where the natives are not so fond of the foliage and 

 bark as vegetables as they are all over the East, where 

 the tree is very quickly despoiled. Papaya, again, sug- 

 gested by some of the Nossibe planters, is objected to 

 on the ground that it grows so luxuriantly in and 

 about old walls and house rubbish, which suggests that 

 it would deprive the soil too extensively of its lime. 



