WEST INDIES AND BERMUDA 247 



experiments with them. So far no great hopes have been 

 raised, but the experiments should be continued and en- 

 larged, other varieties from Porto Rico, Cuba, and other 

 West Indian islands might be tried, as well as a more 

 extensive collection from the East. 



The Annual Report for 1907 of the Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station gives the following information about the 

 experiments with bananas: 



;< The banana plantation is showing excellent growth and 

 a number of the new varieties are now fruiting. These new 

 types are being described and tested for their economic value. 



" The chief and vital objection to the growing of bananas 

 for export has been the fact that the bunches were too 

 small. In Porto Rico a bunch with six or eight full hands 

 is considered large. Whether this characteristic of small 

 bunches is due to the variety, soil, or cultural methods is 

 yet to be determined. The quality of the fruit is excellent, 

 and the number of bunches produced on a given acreage 

 is fairly large, so that if the size of the bunch could be 

 increased, or more prolific varieties grown, bananas could 

 well be raised for export." 



TRINIDAD. Dr. de Verteuil thus described the three 

 varieties of plantains in Trinidad: " The horn plantain, 

 from the resemblance the fruit bears to the horn of a young 

 bull, is more extensively cultivated than the other sorts, 

 being hardier and not requiring frequent replanting; but 

 though the fruit is much larger, whence it also obtains the 

 sobriquet of horse plantain, its bunch is not so well supplied, 

 having ordinarily but twenty-five, and often fewer, plan- 

 tains or fingers to the bunch; as an edible it is also much 

 coarser than the other species. French or maid plantain: 

 the body of this plant is of a dark violet colour, as also 

 the nerves of the leaves; the fruit is smaller than that 

 of the former, but the bunch is supplied with a much 

 greater number of plantain fingers, averaging about sixty 

 to eighty, and sometimes 100 to 130. This species is 

 regarded as more delicate than the others, particularly 

 when ripe. Dominica plantain: this is a variety of the 



