44 



amongst the cultivated fruits of the Islands. He adds, " there is also a 

 dwarf variety," possibly the Chinese banana (Musa Cavendishii). 



In Borneo, Burbidge says : — 



" That most generous of all food-giving plants, the banana, is every- 

 where naturalised in Borneo up to an altitude of 3,000 ft. It fruits all 

 the year. . . ." 



Seemann, in the Botany of the Herald, p. 336, speaks of M. sapientum 

 as succeeding well in the lower coast of north-west Mexico, "but it never 

 bears fruit at Durango, 21° N. lat., where it is cultivated only for its 

 ornamental foliage." 



It is recognised everywhere that the dwarf banana (M. Cavendishii) 

 does not require so much heat as varieties of M. sapientum, and on this 

 account it is usually selected for cultivation in sub-tropical countries. 



" This sort," remarks Sagot, " I have seen in the Canaries, cultivated 

 in abundance, with the help of irrigation. It grows well, and gives 

 an abundance of fine spikes. The growth is suspended from November 

 to April ; its leaves, however, remain green and fresh, and unless the 

 wind, too much laden with saline spray from the sea, olackens them." In 

 Algiers the banana is merely cultivated as a curiosity in some of the 

 gardens near the coast. Musa Ensete, however, grows well there, and 

 fruits freely. In lower Egypt, according to Bromfield, the banana 

 succeeds well, but it is principally confined to the gardens of the 

 wealthy. 



In what are known as the Gulf or the Southern United States of 

 America, just outside the tropics, the banana is often grown, although 

 fruit is not expected more than once in four or five years. It is met 

 with in the open air (in sheltered gardens) from Southern Texas to 

 South Carolina. In Florida its culture for profit is not carried on 

 farther north than Putnam County, and even in parts of South Florida 

 there are few large patches, though nearly everyone has a few plants. 

 The fruit is generally inferior in quality compared with tropical fruit. 

 Often, as in the severe frost of 1886, all the banana plants in Florida 

 are killed to the ground. In the exceptionally mild climate of Cali- 

 fornia in N. lat. 34° (corresponding to that of Cyprus), bananas have 

 ripened in the open air, as, for instance, at Tustin in Los Angeles 

 County. The principal Musa grown in California is the ornamental 

 Abyssinian banana {Musa Ensete). This has produced seed from 

 which plants are now growing in many parts of the State. The Abys- 

 sinian banana also flowered and fruited at Palermo in South Europe in 

 1873. The flower spike was over 5^ feet long. The seeds ripened and 

 produced plants. A plant at Pare Monceaux near Paris also flowered in 

 the open air, but did not produce fertile seed. 



As to Australasia, in New Zealand, Tasmania, Victoria, the southern 

 parts of South Australia and Western Australia, the climate is too cold 

 for growing bananas for fruit purposes. In the more tropical parts of 

 New South Wales, in S. lat. 28° to 30°, the banana is said to " grow 

 well and produce excellent fruit, some localities being better suited 

 than others .... but notwithstanding the ease with which the 

 plant can be grown very few settlers seem to grow it." In Queens- 

 land, and especially the northern parts within the tropics (as also in 

 corresponding parts of South and Western Australia), the banana 

 flourishes with great luxuriance. 



The cultivation of "plantains " in India is thus discussed by Firminger 

 {Gardening for India, p. 178) : — 



" The plantain delights in a very rich soil. Plants should be put out 

 6 or 8 feet apart in a trench, about a foot or more deep and 3 feet wide, 

 which should be well supplied from time to time with fresh cow-dung, 



