THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA. 



459 



more than 30,000 to 40,000 plantains per annum, as at such distance 

 the acre will hold but 430 or 440 stools. 



It will be seen that it would not recj^uire more than 220 ^cres to yield 

 the 7 million plantains wanted, nor more than 310 acres, in full yield, 

 to give the 10 millions that could be disposed of for ordinary con- 

 sumption. We say ordinary consumption, because there are other 

 applications of the plantain, by which it could be converted into an 

 article of commerce commanding a sale abroad, the amount of which 

 is entirely uncertain, but might easily exceed the local demand for the 

 raw article if it fell in with the popular taste in northern countries. 

 These applications have not yet been tested, so far as we are aware, 

 on a commercial scale, but they undoubtedly open a great possible 

 futm-e for what old Dampier called " the King of Fruit." 



With regard to its geographical distributions, the plantain is 

 an object of cultivation over an immense zone, which extends, 

 although not continuously, from 38° N. to almost 35° S. latitude. A 

 mean temperature of from 18° to 20° Cent, suits it best, provided, 

 however, the winters are not too rigorous. In Cuba the small 

 species are cultivated in situations where the thermometer falls to 7° 

 Cent., and even sometimes almost to zero. The Musa sajpientum is 

 satisfied with 18° of mean heat, but Musa paradisiaca requires at least 

 20° to 22°, and that, too, only in the climates of equatorial regions. 

 It produces the best crops in a temperature of 24° to 28°, and yields 

 no fruit at 20°, nor at an altitude of more than 3000 feet in the 

 southern latitudes from to 10° (Humboldt). 



In the Cordilleras of New Granada the banana is productive at an 

 altitude of nearly 6000 feet, but according to Boussingault, the fruit 

 never ripens at an elevation of 7000 feet. Schomburgk has seen the 

 Musa bearing fruit in British Guiana at 3000 feet above the level of 

 the sea ; the fruit was magnificent, and would have borne comparison 

 with the finest from Porto Rico. In Hindostan the Musa is culti- 

 vated at an elevation of 3700 to 5000 feet, at Kumaon and Gurhwal, 

 in the middle of the Himalaya, chain. Major Munro found a wild 

 species at Khondah (Neilgherries), nearly 7000 feet above the level 

 of the sea. Dr. Madden also discovered an indigenous Musa in the 

 Himalaya range, to the north of the province of Assam. 



Asia is, as we have seen, the native country of the banana plant ; 

 many varieties are also found in the Indian Ai'chipelago, China, 

 Cochin China, and Hindostan. On one side of the continent they are 

 spread over Polynesia, and, lately, in Australia ; and on the other, in 

 Persia, in Beloochistan, in Asia Minor, as far as Mount Taurus, and 

 in Arabia. In Africa the banana has not the same importance as in 

 Asia and America, except sometimes in Guinea and Madagascar, 

 where many indigenous Musas are cultivated. It is not to be found 

 on the eastern coast, but only in gardens higher up the country, in 

 Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt. The northern part of Africa also 

 possesses the plant, which has been carried thither by the victorious 

 Arabs, but no great attention has ever been paid to it in that region. 

 When we pass into Europe, we see the banana appear in some gardens 

 in Greece, in Sicily, and especially in the southern provinces of Spain. 

 It was introduced into the last-named country by the Moors, who 



