280 
a high temperature all the year round. At Kew, Sion House, Chats- 
worth, and many other establishments with spacious * palm” houses, 
plants of large size are grown, and under these circumstances they fruit 
reely. 
— M. Ensete and M. Basjoo form very striking plants at Kew in the 
Temperate House. M. Ensete, according to Sir Joseph Hooker (in 
Gard. Chron. 1860, p. 1105) ripened a few seeds in the Palm House in 
that year. The femaie flowers were specially fertilised with pollen 
taken from the scarcely opened male flowers. e Palm House affords 
the most suitable conditions for the tropical species. Some fine 
specimens of Musa sapientum attain a height of 18 feet to 20 feet. 
Their large, emerald green leaves remain unbroken, in marked contrast 
to their usual condition in the tropics, until they begin to fade. The 
most esteemed sorts for fruit purposes are selected from time to time for 
distribution to botanical institutions in the Colonies. Of these the 
“champa” and “ram kela” (or rubra), two choice Indian sorts 
described by Firminger, have been distributed from Kew during the 
year 1893. A Malayan sort, “ pisang medji” (M. mensaria, Rumph.), 
with a sub-globose fruit, as large as an apple, and soft yellow flesh is 
very palatable. Another Malayan sort “pisang raja” (M. regia, 
: dE 
sweet and delicate in taste. "Io these may be added a sort from 
Madras called “rustali,” generally sold as a table plantain in that 
A bunch of tie Chinese banana grown by Sir Henry Peek, exhibited 
at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1877, weighed 
98 pounds, “a result," according to the Garden, XI. p. 345, “ which 
proves that we may enjoy this, and possibly other tropical fruits, 
` s 3) 
the immense quantity of high-flavoured fruit which had been produced. 
At P. 
1894 [1], p. 340, two plants of Musa Cavendishii “were carrying 
gardens, but all the forms of M. sapientum fruit well at Kew. The 
are planted either in large tubs or in a border on the south-east side of 
the house in a compost of rich loam and cow manure. Suckers about 
6 feet high, when planted singly, fruit in from two to three years. 
The bunches are cut as soon as the fruit shows signs of changing from 
green to yellow and hung in a warm room to ripen. This they do in 
about a fortnight after cutting. Fruit ripened on the plants is not nearly 
so rich in flavour as when it is cut and ripened in a room; it also 
ripens much more slowly if left on the plants, As soon as a bunch is 
