200 



BANANA 



BANANA 



portant place in the United States than in the 

 regions in which it is grown. Thus, in Porto Rico, 

 it would be classed fourth or fifth in a list of the 

 most popular fruits, while as a vegetable it would 

 rank second or perhaps first. 



Botanical discussion. 



The banana plant, or tree, as it is often called, is 

 a large herb with a perennial rootstock. The part 

 above the base, which reaches a height of ten to 

 thirty feet, consists entirely of the leaves and their 

 clasping, sheath-like petioles. The inflorescence 

 forces its way through this stem-like growth and 

 appears as a large raceme, which soon becomes 

 pendent. The flowers are borne in clusters of eight 

 to fifteen, which when mature are known as "hands." 

 Each cluster is enclo.sed in a large subtending 



^j^Sf^s^g^^^^^-jgr^aaaa^^-^gryi 



Fig. 285. Iioading bananas on a plantation in Costa Rica. 



bract, purple in most species, that rolls back and 

 drops as the flowers open. The basal flowers, which 

 open first, are pistillate, with only aborted stamens. 

 Toward the apex the stamens become larger and 

 more perfect, while the pistil is gradually reduced, 

 until at the apex the flowers are entirely staminate. 

 Usually less than half of the flower-clusters de- 

 velop as fruit, though the opening of the staminate 

 flowers toward the apex continues until the fruit 

 at the base is mature. The closely packed clusters 

 of unopened flowers at the end of the fruit-stalk 

 are known as the "navel." (For accounts of the 

 botanical characters, see Cyclopedia of American 

 Horticulture, under Baiuma and Musa.) 



Varieties. 



The almost countless varieties of bananas and 

 plantains are all olassifled under species of the 

 genus Musa, which, with five other genera, com- 

 prises the family Musacese. In the latest revision 

 by Schumann the genus is divided into forty-two 

 species. The various varieties of edible bananas 

 are usually all included under the two species 

 M. paradisiaca and M. Cavendishii. The latter is 

 the dwarf banana, grown in the Canary islands for 

 the English market and also in Hawaii. M. para- 

 disiaca has two sub-species : normalis, comprising 



the plantains or cooking bananas, which are of 

 coarse texture and only slightly sweet, and sapien- 

 tum, comprising the majority of the varieties of 

 sweet - fruited bananas that may be eaten raw. 

 By many writers the plantain (normalis) and the 

 common banana (sapientum) are regarded as dis- 

 tinct botanical species. Practically the only va- 

 riety that appears in the northern markets is the 

 Martinique or Jamaica, also known as Gros Michel 

 and Bluefields. The chief advantage of this va- 

 riety is the superior shipping quality of the fruit. 

 It is to be regretted that this one desirable char- 

 acter has been allowed to exclude all the other 

 varieties, many of which are decidedly superior as 

 table fruit. 



The plantains or cooking bananas are worthy of 

 greater consideration than they receive in this 

 country. Throughout all tropical countries they 

 are preferred for cooking, and it would seem only 

 a question of time until they will be added to our 

 list of vegetables. In New Orleans the population 

 is sufiiciently in touch with the tropics to afford 

 a limited market for plantains, and about 6,000,000 

 individual plantains are annually shipped to that 

 city from British Honduras. 



Propagation and growth. 



The banana is entirely seedless, and propagation 

 is accomplished by planting the suckers or sprouts 

 that arise from the base of old plants. These are 

 of two kinds, known as " broad leaf " and " sword " 

 suckers. The former arise from short, thick, 

 sessile bulbs borne at the surface of the ground 

 around the parent plant, the latter from stalked 

 bulbs that arise lower down. Sword suckers are 

 usually considered the more desirable. For plant- 

 ing, these are removed when about six feet high 

 and the bulbs four or five inches in diameter. As 

 soon as they are taken up they are cut back to 

 about one foot in length, and in this condition they 

 can be kept for a month or more before planting. 



The banana is very exacting with respect to 

 soil. To do well the land must be very rich in 

 humus, moist, but very well drained. In poor 

 situations the plants may do well at first, but will 

 run out in a few years and need to be replanted, 

 whereas on good land they will continue to produce 

 fine crops for fifteen or twenty years. 



The plants are usually spaced fourteen to twenty 

 feet each way, except in parts of Costa Rica, where 

 a system of block planting, originated by Mr. John 

 Keith, is practiced. This system, which has shown 

 an increased yield wherever tried, is to plant in 

 blocks of four plants each, the individual plants 

 being about four feet apart, in the form of a 

 square ; the blocks are 25 x 25 feet. This pro- 

 vides a better shade for the base of the plant 

 during the early stages of its growth, and thus 

 prevents excessive suckering. 



The plants usually require about twelve months 

 to produce a mature bunch. Before the bunch 

 appears, suckers will start from the base which 

 will take the place of the old plant or trunk, when 

 it is cut down in harvesting the bunch. Only enough 

 suckers are allowed to develop to keep up the sue- 



