CHAPTER, 22XIL 
MINOR SEMITROPICAL FRUITS. 
A number of interesting fruits are now grown in this State 
which, for one reason or another, have not yet attained any 
great commercial importance. Some of them are quite likely to 
advance in popular esteem and to gain a higher place in the 
markets. Others will probably never be grown except for 
home use and garden ornament. 
THE BANANA, 
The banana has been a favorite plant for experimental cul- 
ture for many years, and though good fruit has been grown at 
various points in the State, the culture is too hazardous to war- 
rant large investment, and if this danger was not present, the 
abundant supplies available from the islands of the Pacific would 
probably reduce the profits to a narrow margin. The banana 
can be trusted only in protected situations and in small numbers 
which can be given special attention. With these conditions 
the banana may yield very acceptable fruit for home use and be 
an ornament to the garden. Its beauty is, however, seriously 
impaired by winds, which whip its tender leaves into shreds and 
give the plant an unkempt appearance. 
The largest number of bananas are seen in Los Angeles 
and Santa Barbara, and one grower at an elevation near the lat- 
ter place reports his table supplied daily throughout the year 
with the fruit of the Cavendish species. The Yellow Mar- 
tinique or Yellow Costa Rica, Golden Tahiti, Hart’s Choice, and 
a large-fruited variety known in Los Angeles County as the 
Baldwin, are also approved by growers. How to grow bananas 
in the garden, according to the experience of the late S. H. Ger- 
rish, of Sacramento, is as follows:— 
By experiment I have found that the banana will live—if in a proper 
soil—without injury to the roots, at a temperature as low as sixteen 
degrees Fahr.; the stalk will stand a temperature of twenty-five degrees 
without injury, and the leaves are not wilted until the air is chilled to 
thirty degrees. My method has been to supply the richest food for this 
gigantic plant and force it to its extreme growth. Every one has old 
chip dirt, ashes, boots, shoes, clothes, and manure, which are often a 
nuisance. Dig a big hole, bury this up, in the center of the mass place a 
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