464 



THE PLANTAIN AND BANANA. 



unless, indeed, when there was occasion for it, recourse were Lad to 

 a kiln or stove. 



Plantain starch cannot enter into commercial competition with 

 other starches. The difficulty of separating it from the rest of the 

 constituents of the fruit, its unusual colour, and the high value of the 

 fruit in its other applications, will, probably, prevent its being con- 

 sidered but as a curiosity. The colour resists the free application 

 of chlorine water. A fev^^ particles of the starch imder the micro- 

 scope show irregularly oval corpuscles, and some oblong, varying 

 from to the of an inch in diameter, and, in most cases, the 

 of an inch in breadth. A few globules, almost spherical, are 

 observed, measuring the ^-§^0" inch. As the colour, however, 



is sufficient to identify this starch, no aid from measurements or 

 shape of its globules is required. 



Vinegar from the plantain is obtained by a very simple process. 

 When there is a temporary glut in the market, the surplus, when 

 yellow, is thrown into baskets, supported on open barrels. The fruit 

 liquifies and drops into the receiver, where the juice ferments and 

 speedily becomes vinegar. No water is used in the process. 



Let us now glance at some of the uses of the stalk. The stem is 

 filled with an abundant pith, enveloped in fibrous cases, and containing 

 much starch. This boiled might serve as human food ; animals like 

 it very much. Cattle, and especially the pig, relish this kind of 

 sustenance. 



A curious fact connected with the banana plant is that the sap is so 

 abundant that it escapes whenever an incision is made into the outer 

 coating. The sap has been examined and analysed by Fourcroy, Vau- 

 quelin, and Boussiugault. According to the last writer it contains 

 tannin, gallic acid, acetic acid, chloride of sodium, salts of lime, potass, 

 and aluminium. If cotton, linen, or flax, are dipped into it whilst 

 perfectly fresh, it deposits a colouring matter of a yellowish grey, 

 which adheres to the fibre. When exposed to the air it becomes 

 agitated, and precipitates floccules of a dirty rose colour. This pheno- 

 menon is produced by the oxygen contained in the atmospliere. The 

 banana plant is used in Annam, or Cochin China, and the Philippines, 

 in the process of refining sugar, Masses of raw sugar are placed in 

 layers 1 inch thick and 10 wide, which are covered by a layer of stalk 

 of this plant, cut into small pieces. According to Grosie, however, it 

 is the ashes of the 3Iusa pnradisiaca, which they use in this process. 

 The aqueous liquor that flows from the stalks filtrates through the 

 sugar, carrying away with it all impurities, and leaving the sugar in a 

 crystallized state. The sap is also of great value as a mordant in 

 dyeing; the Malays, by means of it, fix the green colour of the BoVi- 

 clios Lahlah. When employed alone the sap of the cochon banana 

 communicates to fabrics a purple tint, which is durable. The sap has 

 also medicinal properties. It is used in St. Domingo to stop internal 

 and external hoemorrhage, as tannin is in other countries ; and at 

 the Philippines, to heal a species of venereal disease very common in 

 the province of Bisayas. 



In Cuba, Mr. Eussell tells us, " The plantain, or banana, is seen 

 growing over the whole island, affording shade and shelter to every 



