53 



cut the stem which bore it is cut off level with the ground and a sucker 

 of which there are generally several in various stages of growth, is 

 selected to take its place. 



" Travellers who have tasted some of the best of the Kew-grown 

 bananas, say that they are superior in flavour to what are obtainable in 

 the tropics." 



Mr. George Wythes, gardener at Sion House, has lately given the 

 results of his experience in growing bananas, in the Garden, Vol. XLIV., 

 pp. 496-497. One of the best sorts recommended to grow for fruiting 

 purposes is the Chinese banana, M. Cavendishii. A sort grown at 

 Panshanger Gardens called Lady's Finger is also described as a first-class 

 fruit with an excellent flavour. The taller sorts are not in favour in 

 conservatories as they take up too much room. 



" When grown in a high temperature bananas require an abundance of 

 moisture. Plants may be fruited in 12 months if well cultivated and 

 large suckers are planted in the first instance. They like good stout 

 loam and an abundance of food. As soon as the fruit is formed surface 

 dressing with cow manure is recommended and Thomson's vine manure 

 mixed with the compost. Fish manure is also excellent. After fruiting 

 the old stem or stool should be removed and the sucker detached. The 

 border is then cleared out and filled with new soil for subsequent 

 planting." 



The plantain is not usually grown under glass for the sake of its 

 fruit. Should it be accidentally introduced and fruited it is regarded by 

 those not acquainted with its merits as simply an inferior sort of banana 

 and it is discarded. If there were such a plant as a dwarf plantain 

 yielding a first-class fruit suitable for cooking it would be very desirable 

 to introduce it. 



Diseases of Plantains and Bananas. 



As a rule, both plantains and bananas are singularly free from disease. 

 Taking into account the immense areas over which these plants are 

 cultivated, and the lengthened period during which they have been 

 subject to the control of man it is remarkable that no chronic disease 

 has manifested itself amongst them except in one or two localities. 



Queensland. — Dr. Bancroft in 1879 investigated a disease in the 

 neighbourhood of Brisbane. The plants were said to be Musa maculata, 

 the figue mignonne of Mauritius and Bourbon, and the "sugar 

 banana," possibly a form of M. sapientum. He found the roots affected 

 with what he called the "flash worm," a species of nematoid worm 

 allied to the well-known paste eel Anguillula. He recommended as a 

 remedy ik ploughing up and summer fallow." Of late years little has 

 been heard of this disease. Nothing apparently is so efficacious as 

 changing the ground from time to time and planting with healthy 

 suckers from unaffected districts. 



A fungus (Glceosporium Musarum, Cooke and Massee) affecting ripe 

 bar anas in Queensland was forwarded to Kew by Mr. F. M. Bailey, 

 F.L.S. (No. 520). This disease is capable of spreading very rapidly on 

 living plants, and as a " black smut " it may be readily detected. The 

 only effective treatment is to destroy the plants immediately by burning 

 or by the liberal use of lime. 



Fiji. — In the Governor's report for the year 1889 it was stated, "A 

 disease has appeared among the banana plantations in theso islands 



