CULTIVATION OF THE PLANTAIN. 75 
that our present knowledge indicates the advantage of a mixture of food, as 
the most conducive to health and strength, but experience shows that, how- 
ever desirable, this is not absolutely necessary. The oat alone in Scotland 
raises and supports strong men; rye alone does so in the north of Europe; 
and the potato alone does so in Ireland. This result of experience in the 
case of the potato justifies us, were there no experience on the subject in 
tropical countries, in believing that the banana, which resembles it, will do 
the same. Whatever other reasons may lead us to recommend a mixture of 
other food with it, especially where hard labour, perhaps not a natural con- 
dition of things, is required of him, we ought not to base this recommenda- 
tion upon any belief that the banana, when eaten alone, will not fully supply 
all the ordinary wants of the living animal. 
Cultivation.—The Plantain has thus been proved to be 
valuable on account of its fruit, both in its unripe and ripe 
state, the latter both when fresh and when preserved, and for 
yielding nutritious meal. The plant is also to be esteemed 
on account of the fibre with which every part of it abounds. 
Though both the Plantain and the Banana are to be found 
near the huts of the poor and in the gardens of the rich, the 
most profitable mode of culture has, probably, in few places 
been as yet ascertained. In the first place, of the great varieties 
to be found in cultivation, it would be necessary to select those 
which abound most in the products we chiefly require. 
The small Banana is most esteemed as a fruit by Europeans, 
but the large-fruited and, in comparison with the other, coarse- 
tasted Plantain is preferred by the natives of India, as is the 
long yellow Plantain in Jamaica. Both of the latter abound in 
fibre, and are therefore to be preferred when both this and the 
fruit are objects of desire. 
The culture of the Plantain is, upon the whole, very simple, 
as it will succeed in almost any soil where the climate is warm 
and moist. The vicinity of water, for cleansing and washing 
the fibre, will, of course, be an essential. Professor Key, of 
Madras, has stated that in India the Plantain will flourish in 
the poorest soil and near brackish water, and that its culture 
might be extended with very little trouble and expense. A 
sucker being planted, rapidly attains maturity; some varieties 
in eight months, others within the year. Each producing a 
bunch of fruit which may weigh from twenty-five to forty, and 
even ninety pounds; and each throwing out from its roots and 
around its stem, from six and seven to eight and ten fresh 
suckers. These will each form a distinct plant, producing its 
own bunch of fruit ; all requiring to be cut down annually, in 
