278 
and abundantly watered. There should not be allowed to remain more 
than three stems to each plant, and the suckers, which will be constantly 
springing up, should be removed as soon as they make their ipee 
The stem that has once borne fruit should be cut down. close the 
ground, as it will never qe a second time, and a fresh sucker should 
be allowed to grow up to replace it. The p antain, however, as it 
appears to me, soon wears out the soil in which it grows, and is 
immensely benefited, I consider, by removal about every two or three 
years into entirely new ground." 
In Ceylon the cultivation of bananas is almost oai (s in ig hands of 
natives who grow them around their dwellings for shad well as for 
the fruit. The Ceylon Directory states that while the. mbar jam 
and several other fruits are particularised in the MaAávansa (a metrical 
chronicle in Pali of Ceylon from B.C. 543 to A.D. 1750) no mention is 
made of the plantain. The area under cultivation now in the island is 
said to be not less than 24,000 acres. “It affords to some extent here, 
as in almost every other country in which it is grown, an excuse for 
idleness. Dilke calls it ‘the devil’s agent’ so little labour is required 
for the rich return in fruit.” In the absence of a pen abroad for 
the fresh fruit, only enough is grown to supply local w 
In 1892 the “Jamaica banana” (known also in the: “West Indies 
as the Martinique banana, in Dominica as the figue la rose, and in 
Trinidad as the Gros Michel banana) was successfully introduced 
through the sid of Kew from Jamaica to British Sir 
William MacGregor, K.C.M.G., in acknowledging the safe arrival of 
the shoots and suckers, mentioned that in September 1892 they were 
growing at the Government Station in the Mekes district. He adds, 
“I have hopes that in the future they may become a valuable export 
from this place.” 
A great many different kinds of Musas are cultivated in the Islands 
of Polynesia. ‘They may be arranged in two natural groups under the 
native names “fei” (Musa Fehi, Vieill.) and “ maya” (Musa gua 
he dwarf or Chinese banana, known in Fiji as * Vudi ni papalagi " 
(/.e., foreign banana), though introduced, as already adai within 
the last 50 years is now widely cultivated everywhere. 
In 1889 the Governor of Fiji reported that “ the quantity of bananas 
exported from the islands is now considerably over half a million 
bunches per annum, and in the Colony the trade may be said to have 
been thoroughly established." 
As described by Mr. John Bie F.L.S., in A Year in Fiji, p. 81 :— 
* Banana plantations abound everywhere, and arg wes so in Colo, 
in the mountain districts of. Vit Levu. They are planted along the 
sides of the dp to shade the traveller from the sun, sometimes PME 
avenues miles in length or more. The fruit o ese trees bu, that 
is fe m dden to travellers. The tabu is Ae ara Fane by the 
nati 
" dtes are planted in rows, 8 feet apart, and the same e 
is allowed between each tree. Suckers from the sides of old roots are 
used as plants, the pa gs eut off before pape ee soil i in the 
place where the young t to be planted is dug rele of about 
3 gans in diameter, and to ‘the ‘dept of 2 feet, and ini manipulated ? 
000/. 
more than doubled. Care and attention have been latterly bestowed 
