M 



years, and as many more can be had if required. The purchasers of 

 these plants are principally large planters, and this shows that there 

 is money in bananas. 



I recommend with confidence to the purchasers of these plants and 

 to others interested, the advantages of a dried fruit trade. I do so 

 from the facts I have learnt in the experiments made in aid of the 

 fruit trade. 



C. W. Meaden. 



Mr. C. W. Meaden adds that drying ripe bananas in the open air has 

 proved a failure. This, however, has been remedied by the use of a hot 

 air fruit-drier known as the " Etna Pneumatic Drier." The fruit in 

 this " can be dried within 24 hours at a temperature from 130° to 160° F. 

 A higher temperature than this is undesirable as the fruit hardens. 

 The drying is done in the daytime and the fire put out at night. Any 

 kind of fuel answers for firing, from patent fuel to cocoa-nut wood 

 chips. The fruit should be as large as possible and quite ripe ; the 

 skin to be removed and the fruit lightly scraped. Whilst in the drier 

 the fruit is to be turned twice or three times carefully to ensure even 

 drying." 



Preserved bananas from Fiji have recently been sold retail in 

 London at Id. per pound. To ensure a large demand for the fruit in 

 a preserved state it must compete successfully with figs, dates, and 

 raisins, both as regards quality and cheapness. 



Preserved bananas are represented in the Kew Museum from Mr. 

 Espeut, Jamaica, 1881, dried whole. Also from British Guiana, Col.- 

 lnd. Exhibition, 1886. " Cannore figs " from Siam, shown at the 

 Health Exhibition, 1884. ''Dried bananas" from the Straits Settle- 

 ments, 1886, neatly put up in a soft packing of dried banana leaves. 

 A torpedo-shaped package tightly tied round with banana cord containing 

 dried bananas received from Sir Ferd. von Mueller from Queens- 

 land. 



Plantain Meal. 



A good deal of interest has been taken lately in the production of 

 plantain meal for food purposes in temperate countries. This in some 

 measure is due to the frequent mention made of it in Mr. Stanley's work 

 (In Darkest Africa) giving an account of the Emin Pacha Relief 

 Expedition. But for the plantain, either in a fresh state or made into 

 meal, this expedition would probably never have accomplished its task 



For instance near the Amiri Falls (Vol. I., p. 450) " the foragers 

 returned, often in couples with an immense bunch of plantains between 

 them . . The more provident, however, bore larger quantities of the 

 fruit, peeled and sliced, ready for drying, thus avoiding the superfluous 

 stalk and skin . . The fruit when dry could be converted into 

 cakes or palatable plantain porridge or a morning's draught of plantain 

 gruel. Many of the finest specimens were reserved to ripen to make 

 a sweet pudding, or a sweet brew, or for sauce for the porridge." 



When between the Albert Edward Nyanza and the Albert Nyanza 

 (Vol. II., pp. 239-240) :— " For the first time we discovered that the 

 Awamba, whose territory we were now in, understood the art of drying 

 bananas over wooden gratings for the purpose of making flour. We 

 had often wondered, during our life in the forest region, that the 



