279 
of manure where the ground is per manently. "i are all. essential con- 
ditions to the production of first-class frui When stable dung is 
procurabl its application pays well. In the AiE serapan we have tried 
with artificial manures, sulphate of ammonia, applied about 2 cwt. to 
the acre ie a time, appears to have produced the best results. Enormous 
show buuches of any of the heavier yielding kinds may be obtained by 
PADO in a stable-manure heap or ordinary dung-hill. One caution 
be mentioned. The peus tillers (or suckers) so freely that 
ug: attention is required to keep down the superabundant shoots. 
The taller kinds should not exceed 300 stools to the d and if allowed 
: much, less would be advantageously plan ted. 
stick or two, placed under the neck of the bunch on the side which it 
hangs and leans to, strong enough to support the weight. 
* Plantains require much the same system of cultivation as that de- 
seribed for bananas, but give a heavier yield from the same land. The 
jecting to the slightly saline pud found where the sea or river has 
invaded the place periodically at spring tides while it was lying fallow 
under the natural bush growth. Such lands yield heavily, but the crop is 
liable to suffer, if the seasons for the first two ine after planting 
prove very wet, from the plantain disease of the color 
Again * new lands produce the most luxnriant eae growth, and 
rst 
to th f sug 
cultivation. Plantains growing on *pegass' land (containing a large 
admixture of vegetable iei are reported to be better flavoured 
than those grown on purely clay land, upon mue, however, for 
commercial purposes they are almost exclusively grow 
Mr. A. D. Van Der Gon Netscher, when e iin of plantation 
Klein Pouderoyen, on the west bank of the River Demerara, in 1855, 
furnished the olio owing interesting particulars relative to the cultivation 
of the plantain : * The experience of ten years on a cultivation of from 
a 
oved to be injurious to the growth of the fruit and the development 
of ‘the stem. 3. Of the suckers planted not more than 75 out of 100 
succeed, and the deficiencies require to be supplied. The cultivation 
will give on an average five good 7 of fruit in two years. 4. The 
keeping up of a plantain estate, on a large scale, costs about 67. per 
acre per annum, supposing the. ostate to be already in good working 
order," . 
CULTIVATION OF BANANAS IN ENGLAND. 
Bananas are common objects of cultivation under glass in this 
country, but they are grown more for their handsome foliage than for 
the fruit, since they occupy considerable space in hot-houses, and require 
D 2 
