Musa.-paradisiaca, "which fruited near Exeter. 429 



ning of April, when they are shifted into pots of 7 in. or 8 in. 

 diameter, and remain in them until the roots have filled the 

 pots ; they are then finally shifted into pots 1 2 in. in diameter, 

 where they remain to flower. The subsequent treatment is 

 the same as that described by your able correspondent, A. C. 

 Lambie. (Vol. III. p. 291.) I remain, Sir, &c. 



A constant Reader and Subscriber. 

 January 23. 1830. 



Art. XVII. Notice of a Plant ofMiisa paradismca (the Plantain), 

 which has flowered and ripened Fruit in the Garden of John 

 Milford, Esq., Conver, near Exeter. Abridged from three Com- 

 munications by Mr. Henry Dalgleish, Gardener to Mr. Mil- 

 ford, dated July 25., November 9., and December 23. 



The plant grows in a tub, and was only 2 ft. high when it 

 was received into Mr. Milford's hot-house about three years 

 since. It showed flower about the beginning of July last, 

 and on the 25th of that month the spike of fruit, flowers, 

 and unopened buds measured 3 ft. 5 in. long, and contained 

 21 spikelets, or hands, as they are called by the natives of 

 tropical climates, each hand having or showing eight fruit ; 

 in all ] 68 fruit, 50 of which were at this time set, though the 

 upper half of the spike had not then blossomed. 



By the 9th of November the flowering of the spike was 

 completed, and it was found to measure from the base to the 

 extremity 3 ft. 8 in., and to contain 75 bunches of fruit. Two 

 suckers which the plant sent up after it began to flower, and 

 which were 9 ft. high in July, were now 1 1 ft. 7 in. high, their 

 leaves 8 ft. long and 2 ft. 5 in. wide, and there were about 

 seven leaves on each plant. The fruit is getting soft, and 

 changing colour. 



On December 23., Mr. Dalgleish sent us two of the fruit, 

 perfectly ripe. Half of one of them we boiled, and the other 

 half we tasted in its raw state. The taste in both cases was 

 rather insipid ; the flavour, if any, seemed to be not unlike 

 that of the sweet potato. The other fruit we kept, in order 

 to note its decay, which took place in about a fortnight. 



This is, as far as we have been able to learn, the first time 

 that the plantain has been fruited in the west of England. It 

 had before been fruited at Messrs. Loddiges', Sir Watkin 

 William Wynne's, the Earl of Haddington's (East Lothian), 

 and other places ; and, we believe, there is now a plant in fruit 

 in the magnificent conservatory of Mrs. Beaumont, at Bretton 

 Hall. Mr. Dalgleish is so good as to say, that if any one 



