and humidity, a temper- 

 ature below 75 degrees 

 Fahrenheit or an eleva- 

 tion more than 1,500 

 feet above sea-level re- 

 tarding its development. 



The frequent showers, 

 interspersed with hot 

 sunshine, peculiar t o 

 eastern shores in the 

 tropics, give the plant its 

 ideal environment, and it 

 may be counted a cer- 

 tainty that where clima 

 tic conditions favor the 

 banana it is extremely 

 unhealthful for the white 

 man. Of prime impor- 

 tance, also, is a rich soil, 

 clayey and sandy soils 

 rich in humus and allu- 

 vial deposits being re- 

 quired. 



Given the requisite soil 

 and climate, the banana 

 requires little attention, 

 producing fruit every 

 month in the year, and 

 is self - propagating by 

 means of suckers, which 

 continually shoot off 

 from the mat at the root 

 of the mother plant. 

 Under cultivation these 

 suckers are kept down, 

 as the welfare of the 

 mother plant demands, 

 from three to five to each 

 mat being allowed to re- 

 main, coming on from 

 three to five months be- 

 hind the parent, and so 

 on in perpetual succession. Sometimes 

 more than a dozen suckers, in groups of 

 dift'erent ages, may be seen in a single 

 mat. 



At the age of 10 to 11 months the fruit 

 is gathered, and consists of one bunch or 

 stem to each plant, the fruit being ar- 

 ranged around a fibrous stem in layers, 

 called hands, with 7 to 12 hands, or 15 to 

 25 fingers to the stem, the total averaging 

 12 dozen bananas. This stem grows out 

 of the top of the plant, being, in fact, 

 a continuation of it, and, by the great 

 weight which it bears, shoots over to the 

 side, with its upper end extending down- 

 ward (see pictures, pages 716, 717). 



I'lioto by Ivdwiu R. Fraser 

 THE FI.OWER OF THK BANANA GROWS AT THE TIP OE THE 

 STEM, BEYOND THE ERUIT 



The occurrence of four flowers on a stem is extraordinary, one 

 being- the rule 



The stem is elongated from two to three 

 feet beyond the fruit and is tipped by a 

 formation of matted purple leaves, in the 

 shape of a spear point, which is called 

 the flower. 



The plant, now shortly dying naturally, 

 under cultivation is cut down, to give . 

 place to its three to five successors, that 

 being the number usually grown in each 

 mat. For planting new areas the young 

 suckers are cut off close to the mat and 

 transplanted in holes 20 inches deep and 

 15 feet apart each way. 



Several distinct species, known as the 

 plantains, the Musa paridisiaca being 

 the most common, occur in numerous 



717 



