HOCKINGS' GARDEN MANUAL. 



73 



good wine is said to be made from it. The plant being 

 hardy, its cultivation is much neglected ; and, after 

 planting it in the roughest and most careless manner, 

 it seldom receives much attention beyond gathering 

 the fruit. It is a common practice, also, to cut the 

 fruit before it is mature, and it, consequently, seldom 

 has its proper flavor. The common banana (Musa 

 Maculata J, when fully ripened on the tree, is so 

 superior in flavor to those ordinarily sent to market 

 (which are cut green and ripened in town), that a 

 stranger tasting them would scarcely credit that they 

 were the same variety. 



Propagation : The banana is increased from suckers 

 which spring up around the old root. These are 

 planted at about ten feet apart each way. Where 

 space is an object, some crop might be grown between 

 them the first season, w^hich would also pay for keeping 

 them clean until they began to bear. 



Soil : A rich, unctuous, fibry loam, inclined to sand, 

 will grow the banana to perfection, provided it is 

 deep, thoroughly trenched, and well drained. A damp 

 soil is not objectionable, but it should on no account 

 be wet. To determine if the soil is wet, and requires 

 draining, let holes be dug three feet deep in the lowest 

 parts of the ground, after a week's continuous rain ; 

 examine the holes the next day, and the ground may 

 be considered more or less wet in proportion to the 

 depth of water found in them. If they are free of 

 water, the soil does not require drainage ; but if the 

 water is within two feet of the surface, it should be 

 drained before any further cultivation is attempted. 

 The soil for bananas can scarcely be made too rich ; 

 they should have a good top dressing of manure, and 

 the surface be well forked over at least once a year ■ 

 when the fruit is gathered, the old stems should be cut 

 to the ground, and chopped up with the hoe into short 

 lengths, and laid around the clump to rot down. 



The purple variety differs from all others at present 



