TROPICAL FRUITS 211 



Plants of the best mangoes can be purchased in India for about 2s. each, and 

 they are easily sent to England in a Wardian case, as has been recently shown 

 by the collections obtained for Trinidad from Calcutta, and which were trans- 

 ported vid Kew. The cost of a house suitable for their cultivation would not 

 be greater than that of a large peach-house or vinery, and the labour of cultiva- 

 tion certainly no more than that of forced peaches. A house filled with mangoes 

 in fruit would be highly creditable, especially as it might be the means of adding 

 to the list of English dessert fruits another which in flavour and quality is unlike 

 any fruit we have. 



BANANA 



Bananas are largely consumed by the inhabitants of tropical countries, 

 being excellent food. They are also now a popular article of food in tem- 

 perate countries, large quantities of them being imported all the year round 

 from the West Indies and the Canary Islands for consumption in the British 

 Islands. They are cheap, conveniently portable, and so wholesome that they 

 will soon rival, if they do not surpass, the orange and even the apple for general 

 use among all classes. 



The imported banana, from the fact that it has to be cut before it is ripe, 

 and for other reasons, is necessarily inferior in quality to fruit that has been 

 allowed to mature on the plant. Consequently high-class bananas can only be 

 obtained in this country from home-grown plants. A good banana is one of 

 the most enjoyable of fruits. At Kew and in a few other large gardens in 

 England where they can be conveniently cultivated they are grown to per- 

 fection. There are numerous varieties, varying in size from 9 inches in length 

 by 3 inches in diameter to dainty little thin-skinned fruits no bigger than a 

 man's thumb. They are either angular or smooth and regular, their colour is 

 either yellow or russet-red, and their flesh resembles that of a ripe apricot in 

 colour and mellowness or is pale yellow and less juicy. Some sorts are said to 

 be of a bright green colour when ripe. There are about forty species of Musa, 

 only few of which have edible fruits, the best of these being M. sapientum, of 

 which there are many varieties, and M. Cavendishii or chinensis, the Chinese 

 banana. The plantain is distinguished only by having fruits that require 

 cooking to be palatable. The best of those tried at Kew are Champa, Medji, 

 Raja, Ramkela, Guindy, Arracan, Martaban, and Ladies' Finger. Other sorts 

 have recently been obtained from the Malay Archipelago and are being tested 

 at Kew and also in the West Indies. The Chinese banana is the principal 

 variety grown in the Canary Islands ; it is also a favourite with English 

 cultivators, because of its comparatively dwarf stature and the enormous size 

 of its bunch of fruits, weighing nearly a hundredweight and bearing about two 

 hundred and fifty " fingers " (fruits). Such a bunch may be developed in a house 

 not more than 10 feet high. Each stem produces one bunch of fruit and then 

 dies, to be succeeded by several other stems from the same root-stock. It is not 

 advisable to allow more than one stem to each stool, the others may be removed 

 and grown singly in pots or tubs. The bunches should be cut when the fruits 

 begin to change colour and hung in a warm room to ripen. They are at their 



